by Yehudah Mirsky The challenge of managing and deepening relationships between Israel and world Jewry has been with us for decades. Today far-reaching changes are being rung on these familiar questions. For Diaspora Jews, Israel is one possible element of their Jewishness; for Israeli Jews, Jewishness is one possible element of their Israeliness. What has changed? We live in an historical moment which complicates perhaps as never before relationships between the particular and the universal, the global and the local. The welter of forces to which we refer in shorthand as “globalization” and “the Internet” are collapsing distances and reconfiguring the very shape of identity. Jewish identity itself is hard to define, but whatever it is, it is some synthesis of meaning and belonging, of … [Read more...]
A Fundamental Solution to the ‘Conversion Crisis’ or a Practical One?
by Shmuel Rosner The difficulty of defining who is a Jew and, accordingly, the increasingly difficult task of agreeing upon the nature of the “gateway” to the Jewish people (conversion), has accompanied the Jewish people throughout history. From time to time a crisis erupts when a change in policy is made regarding the question of conversion. Such a crisis recently arose in response to the attempt of Israel Beiteinu MK David Rotem, with the agreement of the haredi parties in the Knesset, to change the conversion law. This recent attempt was met with great criticism on the part of Diaspora communities - alleging that the proposed bill will empower the Chief Rabbinate and its ability to enforce its agenda. The first question that must be raised in every discussion related to conversion is … [Read more...]
To Open, or Close, on Shabbat
And on the Seventh Day.... an editorial from The Forward In 2007, a study by the JCC Association revealed that two-thirds of the Jewish Community Centers in America were open at some time on the Sabbath. Since then, faced with pressure from members who would rather sweat on the elliptical trainers than sway with Shabbat prayers, the number of JCCs with Saturday hours has increased. One of Baltimore’s two branches decided to open in the afternoon. The JCC in Atlanta boasts on its website that it is “open 7 days a week.” The JCC in Memphis may be one of the remaining few that takes the biblical admonition to refrain from work and commerce from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday in earnest. It’s closed. This dynamic reflects a central conundrum of modern Jewish life: Once the decision is made … [Read more...]
Jews with Special Needs: Strengthening Community Through Inclusion
by Rabbi Mitch Cohen There’s a picture in my office from a Bar Mitzvah that took place about 15 years ago. It’s of a boy named Brad, being called to read the Torah for the first time at Camp Ramah in Canada, where I was director early in my career. There are such moments across the Ramah network of summer camps each year, and I remember them all. But this one has particular resonance and meaning, and I want to be reminded of it. Brad has Down syndrome. His synagogue had determined that he couldn’t have a Bar Mitzvah because he could not properly recite the brachot. I’m quite sure that this decision, back in the mid-1990s, was not made on the basis of anything other than a lack of perspective, resources and knowledge about those with special needs. But despite all of the 21st … [Read more...]
Creating an Expectation of Excellence
from The Jewish Week: Filling The Leadership Void: A Proposal A 2009 study by the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies predicts that during the next decade 65 percent of mid-and upper-level management of Jewish organizations will retire and their replacements will increasingly be non-Jewish. That’s quite a radical concept to those of us who believe in the “soul” of our organizations. When you read the “36 Under 36” insert in The Jewish Week, or other inspiring stories of promising and committed young talent, you feel inspired and convinced that there is nothing to worry about. But if the Bronfman study is correct, there is a tremendous gap between the pool of people that show interest and potential to lead in the Jewish community and the pool of people that will lead Jewish … [Read more...]
Connecting to the Next Generation, Continually
From Generation to Generation an opinion piece by David Sax Last week, my father was looking for help. He’d recently teamed up with an Israeli nonprofit serving the mentally disabled, and wanted to recruit younger Jews to head up outreach in Canada. So naturally, he came to his 31-year-old son to help him bring young Jews aboard. I called the first friend I could think of: a passionate Zionist who’d served in the Israeli army. “I can’t,” he said. “My father’s heading up a fundraising committee for Tel Aviv University, and he’s tasked me with recruiting young Jews as well.” One friend’s parents had roped her into bringing friends to a large federation event; another’s mother had cajoled her onto the temple’s youth outreach committee. You hear it everywhere, from the bimahs of our synagogues … [Read more...]
Do Rabbi Searches Violate U.S. Law?
Rabbi Searches Are Tough, but Are They Illegal? an opinion piece by Barak D. Richman As a member of my synagogue’s rabbi search committee, I was deeply troubled to learn of the rules imposed by the Rabbinical Assembly, the Conservative movement’s governing rabbinical body, on rabbinic searches. The RA requires synagogues to enroll exclusively in its search process, filters the selection of candidates the congregations may interview, and prohibits candidates and congregations from finding each other directly. Any Conservative rabbi who seeks a pulpit outside the RA’s centralized process, and any congregation that interviews candidates from other movements, will be penalized. Such constraints were troubling to my congregation, an eclectic community that finds appeal in different Jewish … [Read more...]
Livni: We Need to Dialogue with Diaspora
Time for a new Jewish conversation by Tzipi Livni Like any good family, the Jewish people have shown time and again how we can unite in times of crisis. When Israel faced its enemies on the battlefield or when Jewish communities abroad have been threatened, we have come together and recognized our collective responsibility for one another. But if this alone is the nature of the ties that bind us, it constitutes a failure of vision and of leadership. To define ourselves only by the threats we face is to allow our adversaries to define us. It is a definition founded in fear. This may be a mechanism for Jewish survival but it is not a prescription for vibrant and meaningful Jewish living. Israel - as the homeland of the Jewish people - has a central role to play in developing a positive and … [Read more...]
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