Passover as a Vehicle for Personal Reflection and Transformation
Perhaps more than any other holiday, Passover opens wide the doors between our past and our future, between our people and all people.
This Month in The Tent: Useful Mission Statements
- Express the core values of the synagogue, including who the members are, which member needs the synagogue is attempting to fulfill, and how the synagogue plans to conduct its business
- Articulate attainable goals
- Provide a template that leaders and others can use to make decisions
Why My Congregation Hosts "A Taste of Judaism®" Classes - and Yours Should, Too
Over the past few years I have had the pleasure of hosting A Taste of Judaism® classes at Congregation Beth Elohim in Brooklyn, N.Y. The first time was at a local restaurant; the second was in the synagogue building. Over the course of teaching this class, I have learned a number of important lessons and have seen many benefits. When it works, here is what congregations and participants can get out of the class.
Four Questions to Ask Ourselves When It Comes to Youth Engagement
Show Us Your Audacious Hospitality: Apply for a URJ Belin Outreach and Membership Award
“Audacious hospitality isn’t just a temporary act of kindness so people don’t feel excluded. It’s an ongoing invitation to be part of community – and a way to spiritually transform ourselves in the process.” – Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform JudaismIt’s not always easy to offer the sort of “audacious hospitality” Rabbi Jacobs encourages, but many Reform congregations are rising to the challenge. These exceptional congregations excel at welcoming seekers and engaging prospective and current members – and the URJ is looking for the ones that do it best. Once again this year, we’ll honor eight congregations with Belin Outreach and Membership Awards for creative, original, and outstanding initiatives that promote audacious hospitality. From now through May 21, your congregation can submit an application for a 2015 Belin Outreach and Membership Award. Winning congregations will receive a $1,000 cash award and will be recognized at the URJ Biennial in Orlando, FL, in November.
Speech: Unconditionally Loving Israel and Jewish Values
This speech was given tonight at the JStreet Conference in Washington, D.C. We gather at a pivotal moment in the history of Israel. It is precisely at such a time that the North American Jewish community is in desperate need of an open, honest and serious conversation about the Jewish state. I believe that this 5th J Street conference is fertile ground for such dialogue. Hear the words of the poet Yehuda Amichai: “From the place where we are right, flowers will never grow in the spring...” But doubts and loves dig up the world like a mole, a plow.” Indeed, righteous certainty leads to closed -mindedness and stalemate; self-doubt and love open up real possibilities for peace. So let us voice our differences and speak our minds without casting aspersions upon each other’s motivations, aspirations and ahavat yisrael—love of Israel.
Relational Judaism: How Building Community Helped Us Change Our Dues Model
On 50th Anniversary of Bloody Sunday, the RAC Talks Civil Rights
Green Eggs and Hamantaschen: Creative Purim Gift Bags Bring a Community Together
Purim at Or Chadash, in Flemington, N.J., includes many of the usual traditions: putting on a Purim spiel (play), using boxes of pasta as gragers, baking hamantaschen with our students, reading the Megillah, and hosting a spectacular carnival that features Esther’s Salon, Mordecai’s March Madness, a photo booth, and plenty of prizes and food.