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This four part series is designed for federation boards or leadership development programs within Jewish organizations. It is intended to provide an overview of trends in American Jewish life and help participants understand how they can meaningfully provide leadership to the Jewish community. The program method combines lecture presentations with interactive exercises and discussions that engage all participants in applying new ideas and concepts to their existing and future roles as stewards of the Jewish community. Participants will also be challenged to consider how their personal values and commitments can be aligned with those of the Jewish tradition and of the organized Jewish community. Each session concludes with a brief study of a Jewish text that will help participants reflect on the message of that particular evening.
Session I – Reaching the Jewish Community of the 21 st Century: A New Paradigm
This interactive workshop will challenge participants to think about the way that the organized Jewish community has traditionally reached out to Jews and offer a new model for such outreach. Using alternate models of Jewish identification, the workshop will engage participants in thinking about the “engines” of Jewish life that drive Jewish commitment and action. The workshop will help to re-conceptualize a Judaism relevant for our time and offer ideas for reaching younger and less affiliated constituencies in the Jewish community.
Session II – The Place of Israel in Contemporary Jewish Life
Surveys tell us that over the past 25 years Israel has become less and less central as a component of American Jewish identity. Today Israel has a polarizing affect in American Jewish life. For some Jews, Israel is at the center of their Jewish life; for other Jews, the less said about Israel, the better. Given the inextricable link in the mind of the American public between Israel and Jews, Jewish communal leaders must be better able to understand the interrelationship between Israel and the diaspora. That is the objective of this session.
Session III- Jewish Values and Communal Priorities
People are drawn to institutions and communities that embody values, vision and purpose. In this session, we will explore 10 core Jewish values and explore how they get manifested in people’s personal lives and in the conduct of Jewish communal life. The session will provide a basic Jewish vocabulary that will point to the importance of increasing the Jewish literacy of those who lead our community. Participants will also participate in a communal budgeting exercise that will draw connections between Jewish values and communal priorities.
Session IV- Personal Values and Communal Responsibility
American today faces a crisis in social capital. The commitment to communal responsibility, which has long been a hallmark of Judaism, is increasingly absent in American culture. This session will engage participants in an inventory of their own personal values and priorities and connect personal aspirations to the mission of the Jewish community. The effect is to inspire enthusiasm for providing leadership to help build a vibrant and exciting Jewish community.
To contract for all or part of this series please contact Hannah Lipman - (301) 770-5070 ext. 213.
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