It’s time for the Suburban Synagogue … Again

Rabbi Danny Burkeman 0 Comments

Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in eJP in September 2019. It takes on added significance in light of the trend during the Covid-19 pandemic to leave cities and take up residence in suburban neighborhoods.   Ten years ago, I became a rabbi and, over that time, I have to confess that I have frequently broken one of the Ten Commandments. I have coveted. I have coveted as I have seen the attention and accolades that have been given to Jewish communal startups. I have coveted as I read about the programs and experiences that these communities were able to offer. And I have coveted as I have read about foundations pouring money into these emergent Jewish communities, all the while reinforcing the conventional and […]

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Organizing Congregations for Immigration Justice

Rabbi Ethan Bair 0 Comments

Over the past two years, I have been part of leading a number of campaigns at Temple Beth Sholom, Miami Beach that made a positive change in our greater community while deepening our congregation’s commitment to meaningful social justice engagement. Our work in helping to shut down the for-profit, child detention center adjacent to Homestead, FL was our most galvanizing campaign to date. Here’s how it worked in our case. In 2018, our congregants began talking about the wave of new and cruel immigration policies including family separation. We knew that the interest in this issue was explosive, but the question was where to channel this energy. Our Social Justice Network initiated a research task force and zeroed in on the Homestead Child Detention Center. […]

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When Leaning In is Not Enough: Women Rabbis in the Pulpit

Rabbi Denise Handlarski 0 Comments

Editors Note: This article was first published by Kveller on July 28, 2020 I recently left my job as a congregational rabbi. I loved the community — a dynamic, 50-year-old congregation with some 135 families that’s affiliated with the Humanistic Judaism movement. The place, and its people, have a lot of heart, and I felt I was doing good work there.  My reason for resigning from this dream job? I found it impossible to juggle the responsibilities of my job alongside caring for my children during Covid-19 — the strain had become untenable. Rabbinic work is emotionally demanding and, oftentimes, extremely time-sensitive. I was finding it increasingly difficult to speak to congregants about their anxieties, funeral planning, and ways to navigate social distancing at their son’s […]

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WITNESS ON WHEELS: A Pastor and a Rabbi Travel in a Journey of Discovery

Rabbi Neil F. Blumofe 0 Comments

When feeling overwhelmed — immersed and implicated — in the complex, amalgamated legacies of the United States, it is best to phone a friend.  Involving Rev. Dr. Daryl Horton, Youth Pastor/Assistant to the Pastor at Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Austin, Texas in my inquiry and interrogation of my place in this country immediately sharpened the focus of my existential investigation – what does it mean to inherit the various legacies of the United States?  What responsibilities, privileges, and perils do I have as a Jew, navigating both current events and encountering the ghosts on the various frontiers as this country expanded?  How am I situated in justice work – crafting a path, intellectual and activist, that enables me to be a spiritual leader and […]

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Jew it at Home: A New Business Model for Jewish Institutions

Rabbi Adam Lutz 0 Comments

It all started with a simple conversation that would frighten many in the world of Jewish institutional life. In early March 2020, my colleague, Rabbi Dara Frimmer, and I discussed the imminent closure of our synagogues due to the COVID-19 outbreak. We shared how we planned to offer digital worship, online religious school, and distance preschool programming. In our conversation, I posed a seemingly innocuous but somewhat provocative suggestion for Jewish institutions to date: “Why don’t we share resources? Share material? Share online classes? That way, while people are stuck at home, they will have plenty of opportunities to remain connected. And by sharing, we don’t have to shoulder the entire load ourselves.” And thus, JewItAtHome.com was born. We launched JewItAtHome.com as a spiritual, Jewish […]

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Synagogue Innovation in the Age of Corona

Rabbi Sid Schwarz 0 Comments

I know that I am not alone in being impressed at how quickly the Jewish community was able to provide program content via the web as much of North America moved to “shelter in place.” As we begin to adjust to our new, surreal lives, more is being written about the shape of our post-pandemic world. My particular interest is the impact on spiritual communities in North America. For years I have been working with rabbis and synagogues to re-think how they can create more compelling spiritual communities.  In recent years, the main delivery vehicle for that training has been a two-year fellowship for rabbis called the Clergy Leadership Incubator (CLI). CLI uses the discipline of adaptive leadership to equip rabbis with the tools to […]

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A Shabbat Culture Change

Rabbi Jeremy Fine 0 Comments

In 2014, I was promoted to my current position after the departure of my senior rabbi. I had only served as the assistant for a little over a year. I knew nearly nothing about running a large synagogue. I had about three years of assistantships, with two different senior rabbis. I had spent a lot of time in rabbinical school soaking up wisdom and strategy from visits, local rabbis and professionals and personal mentors. But I was not ready for the day to day responsibilities of a senior rabbi nor the stratergic planning that comes with the opportunity. I was fortunate to have a president with a very specific set of skills to help mold my thinking. At the time of my promotion, I only […]

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Disruptive Judaism: Will Your Synagogue Be Beit Blockbuster or Kehillat Netflix?

Rabbi Paul Kipnes 0 Comments

Whenever we get stuck in the midst of a synagogue brainstorming session or change project, I trot out my cherished $50 Blockbuster gift card. It reminds us that unless our synagogue is willing to reexamine, bust through sacred cows, and innovate, we are liable to fall into irrelevance and disappear. That gift card warns us all that our synagogue – every shul actually – is in danger of becoming Beit Blockbuster. Once upon a time, that $50 Blockbuster gift card would have offered a full weekend of fun: VHS movies rentals, a tub of popcorn, and a bottle of Diet Coke. Today it’s worth nothing. Its value went the way of the company itself. Blockbuster, once the darling of the business world having owned or […]

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V’Ahavta: The Caring Collectives of Temple Beth Shalom

Rabbi Sarah Freidson 0 Comments

In a world where people seem to be cold and cruel, I have witnessed my congregation’s members demonstrate kindness, compassion, and concern time and time again. When I was 33-years old, my marriage ended and I became a single parent to a toddler, six months into a new job as the solo rabbi of Temple Beth Shalom, a small synagogue in Mahopac, NY.  I had no local support system when the life I had built cracked apart. As I broke the news individually to each member of my congregation’s executive committee, they shocked me.  Every single one of them said something along the lines of, “I’m so sorry.  The details are none of my business.  How can I support you?”  And support me they did, […]

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A Playbook for Legacy Institutions That Want to Stay Relevant

Rabbi Jen Gubitz 0 Comments

It’s Shabbat morning in October 2018.  On the other side of the river from our synagogue, Temple Israel of Boston, we’re gathered for Shabbat brunch in a Cambridge co-working space to explore the question: What is a soul? The group of young adults have wandered through wisdom drawn from Shabbat morning liturgy (Elohai Neshama), Mumford & Sons (Awake My Soul), and modern experiences (SoulCycle or “That’s soul crushing!”). Some participants ask about the soul of animals, some about the souls of the departed, some just listen to the conversation and nosh on the bagels. These curious young adults are what I’ve been calling “emergent seekers”.   At morning’s end, our phones begin buzzing and the news of the tragic shooting at Tree of Life synagogue in […]

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