• ADULT EDUCATION  (return to top)

 Aron, Isa. Becoming a Congregation of Learners: Learning as a Key to Revitalizing Congregational Life . Woodstock, VT: Jewish Lights, 2000. (See description under Leadership: Organizational Learning.)

 Aron, Isa, Sara Lee, and Seymour Rossel, eds. A Congregation of Learners: Transforming the Synagogue into a Learning Community. New York: Union for Reform Judaism Press, 1998.

This book and the one below clearly detail the process of congregational transformation through education in the synagogue. The emphasis on rounding out a congregation's vision beyond the traditional religious school is considered today's best practice.

Campbell, Dennis G. Congregations as Learning Communities: Tools for Shaping Your Future. Bethesda, MD: Alban Institute, 2000.

Dennis Campbell describes congregations that are open to continuous learning and willing to respond to external and internal change. These, he says, will be the ones to achieve new vitality and health. The author provides four tools to help a congregation shape its community. Systems thinking, congregational culture, appreciative inquiry, and scenario planning are explained and illustrated, and readers will be shown how to apply these principles to their own settings.

Torahfax began as a fax service in 1992 to help busy professionals and business people learn Torah in their available time. It has since expanded to the Internet and is now available by email.

URJ Study Guides

Book group guides and weekly Torah portion guides are published by the Reform Movement (see Reform Judaism, Union for Reform Judaism) and, as part of the Perek Yomi program, by the Conservative Movement as well (see Conservative Judaism, United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism). The guides are aimed at providing accessible materials for adult groups within congregations.

birthright israel

Birthright israel is a five-year project that aims at sending 100,000 young adult Jews from all over the world to Israel as a gift. Its goals are to lessen the division between Israel and Jewish communities, to strengthen the sense of solidarity between Israeli youth and Jewish communities, to increase the number of return visits to Israel, and to promote the role of Israel as a powerful resource in Jewish learning.

Burial Societies (Hevre Kadisha)

Rabbi Mel Glazer has written a Ph.D. dissertation on Jewish burial societies and has begun Hevre Kadisha in Florida and Texas. He is available as a consultant. Rabbi Jonathan Magidovitch’s congregation created and maintains its own Hevra Kadisha. The B’nai Torah Funeral Plan operates with respect for Jewish law and custom, providing a dignified service while protecting the congregation’s families from the financial and social pressures that can arise when services are provided by for-profit enterprises.

The Florence Melton Adult Mini-School

An international, transdenominational network of community-based schools, the Florence Melton Institute of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem provides a sequential two-year curriculum specifically for adults. The four courses of this curriculum were designed by experts at the Hebrew University’s Melton Center for Jewish Education. Courses (each of which consist of 30 lessons) include “The Purposes of Jewish Living” (theological concepts from sacred texts), “The Rituals of Jewish Living” (ideas that inform rituals and observances), “The Dramas of Jewish Living Throughout the Ages” (developments in Jewish history), and “The Ethics of Jewish Living” (explorations of key ethical ideas).

Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life

Though not technically a congregational resource, Hillel is the premier student-serving organization in North America and across the Jewish world. Its Steinhardt Jewish Campus Service Corps is an increasingly popular way for students both to be involved in Jewish campus life and to give back to others. Interface between congregations and Hillels is more than welcome—it is considered beneficial to all.

Reform Havurot are active on some 50 campuses, often in cooperation with the local Hillel Foundation (see above). These campus groups hold regular Reform worship services for Shabbat and holidays and plan programs involving Jewish study, tikkun olam, and social gatherings.

Koach College Outreach

KOACH, a project of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, is dedicated to outreach to students on campus. The organization offers an on-line listserve, an e-newsletter, and grants to further student initiatives on campus. It sponsors events across the country and an annual International Kallah (conference).

The Laura and Alvin Siegal College of Judaic Studies has an extensive distance-learning program open to adults in Milwaukee, Atlanta, and elsewhere. Other institutions offering communal and congregational programs include Gratz College, the Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, and Baltimore Hebrew University.

Kesher: The Union for Reform Judaism College Education Department, a part of the URJ’s Youth Division, in conjunction with the National College Committee, establishes avenues through which college age youth can establish and maintain their Jewish identity within the Reform Movement. College Education helps prepare high school graduates for campus life by providing college kits and URJ access cards that encourage students to connect with local URJ congregations. Etone, an e-zine, is published by the movement.

• HEALTH  (return to top)

The Bay Area Jewish Healing Center is dedicated to providing Jewish spiritual care to those living with illness, their caretakers, and the bereaved through direct service, education and training, and information and referral. Rabbis Aliza Berk, Natan Fenner, and Eric Weiss focus on the use of Jewish resources to promote spiritual healing and wholeness.

The National Center for Jewish Healing

In addition to publishing material and offering consultation services, the center sponsors biannual clergy conferences and serves as the central office for the Jewish Healing Network. (There are healing centers in over a dozen cities across North America.) Rabbi Simkha Y. Weintraub is Rabbinic director.

• MARRIAGE  (return to top)

Cowan, Paul, and Rachel Cowan. Mixed Blessings: Overcoming the Stumbling Blocks in an Interfaith Marriage. New York: Penguin, 1988.

Recently reissued, this classic on the topic of interfaith marriage interweaves the authors’ life stories with a balanced look at the issue of interfaith marriage. Their emphasis on understanding differences as a result of culture and not religion is greatly helpful.

Crohn, Joel, Howard J. Markman, Susan L. Blumberg, and Janice R. Levine. Beyond the Chuppah: A Jewish Guide to Happy Marriages. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2001.

This hands-on guide shows couples how to recognize the special issues unique to Jewish and interfaith relationships and helps them learn the skills they need to create a successful marriage.

Crohn, Joel. Mixed Matches: How to Create Successful Interracial, Interethnic, and Interfaith Relationships. New York: Fawcett Books, 1995.

One of the great strengths of this book for Jewish readers is that it contextualizes inter-religious marriage as one of many kinds of intermarriage and thus approaches the topic in a way other writers do not.

Epstein, David and Sheila. The Art of Engagement : How to Build a Strong Foundation of Communication for Marriage. Woodland Hills, CA: Isaac Nathan Publishing, 1983.

Reuben, Steven Carr. Making Interfaith Marriage Work. Roseville, CA: Prima Publishing, 1994.

Out of print, but worth tracking down, this book takes a calm approach to intermarriage and concentrates on strategies for strengthening such marriages.

• YOUTH  (return to top)

See the various movements and contact their youth departments.

Jewish Nature Center

The Jewish Nature Center promotes Jewish environmental nature education in formal and informal educational settings. The center works with congregations and youth groups to design and facilitate programs.

Jewish Programs

Created by the Joint Distribution Committee in Paris, Jewish Programs maintains a clearinghouse of Jewish educational programs for congregational use.

Scouting

Both the National Jewish Girl Scout Committee and the National Jewish Committee on Scouting interface with their national and Israeli counterparts. They provide social outlets for Jewish scouts and stand ready with resource materials to help congregations encourage their scouts to earn their religious badges. The materials are quite thorough and the experience is always a positive one for the congregation as well as their students.