• DIVERSITY  (return to top)

Jewish Outreach Institute

This organization is devoted to helping congregations deal creatively and proactively with the challenges engendered by the increasing number of interfaith households seeking membership or interaction with synagogues. JOI offers a variety of programs, strategies, and interventions designed to fit the needs of individual congregations. Rabbi Kerry Olitzky, Ph.D., is executive director.

• SMALL MEMBERSHIP CONGREGATIONS  (return to top)

URJ Small Congregations Department

The URJ Small Congregations Department provides services exclusively to Reform congregations with 250 membership units or fewer. It offers on-site counsel, an informal hotline (at the number below), and an on-line forum for small congregations. New projects include the Congregational Heritage Preservation Committee, which is of service to aging congregations in the process of disestablishment and congregations that are expanding. (For information, contact Eileen Kollins at (314) 997-7566.) The Mini University of Judaica provides small congregations with the services of well-known rabbis, cantors, and educators as scholars-in-residence for the cost of expenses only on a one-time-per-year basis. Congregations that have no Torah Scroll can secure a Torah on loan for a limited period of time. The department also provides “Family Education in Small Congregations,” “Program Ideas for Small Congregations,” and other mailings. Just for You, the Small Congregations newsletter, includes programmatic ideas, columns on topics of shared concern, and materials culled from the bulletins of small congregations.

• GROWTH  (return to top)

Wagner, Jordan Lee. The Synagogue Survival Kit. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson, 1997.

The Synagogue Survival Kit can help congregations evaluate their openness and accessibility to newcomers. Strategies for change are offered.

• ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING  (return to top)

Aron, Isa. Becoming a Congregation of Learners: Learning as a Key to Revitalizing Congregational Life. Woodstock, VT: Jewish Lights, 2000.

Isa Aron, professor of Jewish education at Hebrew Union College, asserts that in many communities, synagogues are transforming themselves into houses of learning where adults as well as children can pursue a deeper understanding of their faith. Delving more deeply into Torah and other texts, they have embarked upon intergenerational learning as part of, or instead of, the traditional religious school. Becoming a Congregation of Learners instructs readers in how to go about transforming a synagogue into a congregation of learners. Beginning with an assessment of who should be involved in the process, Aron creates a clear vision of what the congregation may wish to accomplish. She proceeds through each step required to implement this vision. Case studies, sample meeting agendas, recommended study resources, and reproducible handouts make this book a complete resource for leaders of learning congregations or leaders wishing to include more learning in congregational life.

PANIM: The Institute for Jewish Leadership and Values

PANIM’s mission is threefold: first, to promote Jewish values and their application in the larger community; second, to build and support civic leaders and civic engagement; and third, to strengthen peace and social justice by forging links between the Jewish community and American public policy. Supporting this mission are the Center for Jewish Youth Leadership (focusing on fostering leadership skills for high school and college students), the Center for Jewish Service and Learning (focusing on providing tools that enable us to “live Torah” by reaching out to those in need), and the Center for Jewish Communal Renewal (focusing on developing new institutional paradigms in synagogues, schools, and communal organizations). Exciting programs have arisen from these centers, including the Jewish Civics Initiative and the Synagogue Transformation Project. Visitors to PANIM’s Web site will find detailed information about these and other programs, as well as information on upcoming events.

A Sacred Trust: A Values-Based Approach to Jewish Communal Leadership and Congregational Governance. Elkins Park, PA: Reconstructionist Press, 2001.

The Sacred Trust workshop was developed to help Reconstructionist communities balance their institutional and spiritual needs. This seminar workbook contains workshop outlines and sample documents that can be adapted for individual congregations to use, followed by a Web and text bibliography. It is available to Jewish Reconstructionist Federation affiliates only. To order, call Rabbi Shawn Zevit at (215) 782-8500, ext.24, or send an e-mail to SZevit@jrf.org

• BOARD DEVELOPMENT  (return to top)

Schechter, Daniel S. Synagogue Boards: A Sacred Trust. New York: Union of American Hebrew Congregation, 2000.

This book is a must for all congregational board members. It serves as an introduction to their duties and responsibilities, and it also serves to move boards in fruitful directions.

Bubis, Gerald. The Director Resigned and the President Had a Heart Attack. Philadelphia: Center for Jewish Community Studies, 1999.

This collection of essays ranges over the many challenges faced by nonprofit boards. Although it offers no prescriptions, the book presents lots of differing insights into the healthy interaction of board and staff.

• SYSTEMS THEORY  (return to top)

Friedman, Edwin H. Generation to Generation: Family Process in Church and Synagogue. New York: Guilford Publications, 1985.

Edwin Friedman, for twenty-five years a congregational rabbi, family therapist, and counselor to clergy of numerous faiths, applies the prism of family systems theory to three “families”: the clergy’s own family, the congregational family, and families in a congregation. With any family system, Friedman centers on behavior rather than on labeled individuals and on process rather than an “identified problem.” This book, packed with theory and example, will repay reading and rereading over the years.

The Reconstructionist Commission on the Role of the Rabbi. The Rabbi-Congregation Relationship: A Vision for the 21st Century. Elkins Park, PA: Reconstructionist Press, 2001.

This report is recommended for synagogue boards, rabbi liaison and/or evaluation committees, rabbinic search committees, and all who seek to understand the rabbi-congregation relationship. Topics include rethinking the role of the rabbi, lay leaders and other professionals in the synagogue community; a participatory approach to decision-making; support for transitions; and practical information on how to negotiate a mutually beneficial contract, make the most of a liaison committee, and integrate the rabbi into the life of the congregation.

• WORK AND FAITH  (return to top)

Salkin, Jeffrey. Being God’s Partner: How to Find the Hidden Link Between Spirituality and Your Work. Woodstock, VT: Jewish Lights, 1997.

This is a very accessible book and may be helpful for congregational discussion groups and adult education.