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Books CCAR Press

Psalms for Our Most Meaningful Moments: Rabbi Jade Sank Ross on ‘To You I Call’

Rabbi Jade Sank Ross is the author of To You I Call: Psalms Throughout Our Lives from CCAR Press. In this interview, she discusses encountering challenging aspects of psalms and how they can provide meaning during significant life moments.

What inspired you to write To You I Call?
To You I Call grew out of my rabbinic capstone project, completed in 2018. What I love most about being a rabbi is making Judaism approachable for people who feel like they don’t know enough or don’t know where to begin. I want people to understand the richness of Jewish tradition, especially its texts, and to feel personally connected with it. As I began serving as a congregational rabbi, I was most often asked questions like: “Is there something I can say when I light a yahrzeit (memorial) candle?” “Is there something authentically Jewish I can say when I am sitting in the waiting room as my doctor reviews my test results?” “It’s the Shabbat after a deeply divisive election. How can I express my relief or despair in a way that is deeply rooted in Jewish tradition, but also responds to the events and emotions of my daily life?” For me, the psalms provided the answers to these questions.

What was the most challenging part of working on this book?
As I worked on this book with the CCAR Press editorial committee, we arranged and rearranged the way that the psalms were organized many times. We reworded the section subjects and the language we used to refer to various moments over years. We assigned moments to psalms and psalms to moments, swapping them around again and again. Making decisions required making assumptions about those using this book, and that was a big challenge!

Additionally, the psalms sometimes contain problematic texts and metaphors that may not speak to us in the twenty-first century. These include, but are not limited to, descriptions of violence, vengeance against enemies, gendered language, and theologies that don’t resonate with our own (for example, Psalm 137:9: “Happy is the one who seizes your children and dashes them against the rock”). When this comes up for me, I often focus on just one or a few verses of a psalm. This approach alleviates tension and allows me to take what I need from the psalms while releasing the problematic texts. I always try to remember too that psalms are poetry, and almost all poetry is metaphor. The beauty of metaphors is that they can be redefined. Ultimately, I see this book as an invitation and a starting point. I hope that it can be a resource and a space to see the psalms as poetry, prayer, and song to inspire readers’ spiritual journeys.

Can you recall a time when a psalm spoke directly to a personal experience?
Psalm 45, which I’ve assigned to the modern life-moment of “holding a child for the first time” (p. 135 in To You I Call), spoke to me on the occasion that my children were held by their great-grandmothers for the first time. My children are named in memory of their great-grandfathers, the deceased beloveds of their living great-grandmothers. I particularly love Rabbi Richard N. Levy’s translation (used in my book) of Psalm 45. It starts as “a song of love” and continues, “a heart bubbling with good…gird yourself with glory and glitter…God has anointed you with oil of joy…” I realized that the imagery of God anointing with oil was familiar to me from Psalm 23. We say Psalm 23 in times of mourning, and Psalm 45, with the same imagery of God anointing with oil, is so strikingly for the exact opposite moment, yet still one borne of overflowing love—here bubbling, glittering, and with the hope of new beginnings.

How do you recommend that readers use To You I Call?
My vision was to make the psalms more accessible and easier to navigate so they could be seamlessly incorporated into moments of prayer and carried anywhere. To achieve this, the seventy-two psalms in the book are divided into six broad categories. Each category is further divided into specific moments and experiences. When reading the psalms, I often find myself focusing on just one or a few verses.

To guide readers, I selected one verse from each psalm included in the book, which is featured in Hebrew and bolded in the English translation. I also wrote kavanot (prayerful intentions) to help connect moments from our lives with these ancient words. Of course, by making these decisions, I made assumptions about the reader’s emotional responses to particular moments. In using this book, you might find these divisions inaccurate or one-dimensional. To help guide readers, I included suggestions in the footnotes of each psalm to at least one other psalm in the book.

I invite you to explore what you are feeling at any moment—beyond the way I’ve divided the contents and beyond the specifics of the occasions identified, even among the remaining seventy-eight psalms that are not included.

Rabbi Jade Sank Ross serves the Community Synagogue in Port Washington, New York. She is the author of To You I Call: Psalms Throughout Our Lives, published by CCAR Press.

Categories
CCAR Press Passover Pesach Poetry

‘Elijah Is with the Hostages’ and ‘Our Story’: Two Poems for Passover

Poet and liturgist Alden Solovy, a CCAR Press author, shares two poems for Passover:

At the end of the Passover Seder, people around the world say that we have told the tale, followed by “next year in Jerusalem.” Few, if any, actually act on that aspiration. In one sense, it is the impossible dream. We all—even those of us who actually reside here—aspire to live in the heavenly Jerusalem, the fantastic, archetypal dream of Messianic wholeness and peace, with the word of God radiating into all of existence. And our story is far, far from completed. I offer this, then, as a new aspiration to add to the end of our Seders. It is, in part a response to October 7, in part a call to remember the long arc of our history. My suggestion: say this prayer-poem followed by “next year in Jerusalem.”

Our Story
Our story is not complete.
Oh no.
There will be more highs
And lows,
But the ending,
Oh my,
Will be tremendous.
This is faith.
Faith knows
That our story is not complete,
And the ending
Is beyond
All our hopes
For joy and wonder.

Elijah Is with the Hostages
Elijah,
The prophet who will announce salvation and peace,
Will not visit your Pesach Seder this year.
Don’t fill the cup. Don’t waste the wine.
The prophet is exhausted,
Pleading with the heavens for the hostages
Pleading the heavens for the displaced,
The grieving and lost.

Find hope in your own hands,
In deeds of repairing the world
And acts of lovingkindness.

Elijah is not coming to your Seder.
The work of healing the world,
And bringing redemption,
He has left to us.


Alden Solovy is a liturgist and rabbinic student based in Jerusalem. He is the author of This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day, This Joyous Soul: A New Voice for Ancient Yearnings, This Precious Life: Encountering the Divine in Poetry and Prayer, These Words: Poetic Midrash on the Language of Torah, and Enter These Gates: Meditations for the Days of Awe, all published by CCAR Press. His poetry can also be found at ToBendLight.com.

Categories
Books CCAR Press Poetry

‘Planting Evermore’ by Rabbi Heather Miller

CCAR Press and Women of Reform Judaism have copublished Covenant of Justice: Prayers, Poems, and Meditations from Women of Reform Judaism. This powerful collection amplifies the voices of female, nonbinary, and genderfluid contributors, addressing vital topics such as racial equity, climate justice, gender equality, and reproductive rights. Grounded in the Jewish value of tikkun olam (repairing the world), the book serves as both an inspiring resource and a call to action.

In this excerpt from the volume, Rabbi Heather Miller shares her poem, which presents planting as a metaphor for tikkun olam.

Planting Evermore

There is earth under my fingernails.
Just like the ones who came before me
and those who came before them as well.

We are a people who work the land.
Tilling it with swing after swing of sharp objects
under the blazing sun.

We are committed to the blistering work,
dedicated to the process of opening things up.
Dedicated to transforming hardened land to
soft earth ready to receive seeds. The seeds
of all that we wish to grow. Seeds of compassion.
Seeds of intellect. Seeds of justice.

We tend the land knowing that it demands of us
the keenest of attention.
We remember when once something else got
in the way. And our labors were lost.
As if erased by entropy encroaching in.

And so we plow and till and plant and tend.
Diligently.
The seeds of compassion, intellect, and justice.
And we wait patiently for the fruits of our labors,
sweet peace, to ripen on the branch,
for all children to taste.

Rabbi Heather Miller is the founder of Keeping It Sacred, a global progressive Jewish community dedicated to exploring sacred Jewish texts, deep learning experiences, ritual practice, and the pursuit of social justice. She is a contributor to Covenant of Justice: Prayers, Poems, and Meditations from Women of Reform Judaism.

Categories
Rabbinic Innovation Rabbinic Reflections

Rabbi Jill Avrin’s Innovative Rabbinate: Community Outreach Through Hope and Challah

The Central Conference of American Rabbis, Reform Judaism’s rabbinic professional leadership organization, is home to more than 2,000 Reform rabbis across North America and beyond. And while Reform rabbis wear many hats, often at the same time—Torah scholar, officiant, pastoral counselor, chaplain, educator, organizational leader, activist—they also serve in a wider range of settings, changing the shape of the sacred work of the rabbinate with innovative new visions for Jewish communal life.

We’re proud to share the stories of CCAR members who are taking our ancient Jewish traditions and imaginatively and courageously building new programs, practices, collaborations, communities, and transformational approaches to Reform Judaism. We’re also sharing how, even in dark times, so many CCAR members find joy as rabbis, and we share their hopes for the future of the Reform rabbinate and Reform Judaism.

Rabbi Jill Avrin was ordained by Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 2013. After a decade working as a congregational rabbi, she ventured out on a mission to create YourJewish, a Minnesota-based Jewish nonprofit that focuses on community outreach to engage local Jews in creative programming, life cycle options, and group gathering.

Here, she shares her innovative approach to communal engagement (with challah!), the words that inspire her work, and her hopes for the a bright Jewish future, despite our many hardships.

How do you describe your approach to the rabbinate?
As the child of an interfaith and unaffiliated family, my decision to pursue the rabbinate was grounded in a desire to serve those who grew up like me, on the margins of the organized Jewish community. I strive to be a rabbi who opens doors and invites people in, wherever they are on their Jewish journey. My rabbinate is one of validation and affirmation. I want people to know that affiliation, level of observance, or Jewish literacy do not make a person more or less Jewish than anyone else. 

As a rabbi, I hope to help people find ways to connect to Judaism and other Jews in ways that make sense to them without making them feel guilty that they are not doing enough or giving enough. I believe that there are many ways to develop a sense of community and belonging, and I hope my rabbinate will serve as a central gathering space for those who have yet to find their place. 

What is your rabbinic motto or words that guide your rabbinate?
First: Olam chesed yibaneh. I have always centered the value of kindness in my life, in my parenting, and in my rabbinic work; and one of the proudest moments of my career was when someone told me that kindness is my superpower. In my rabbinate, I express kindness by being gentle, affirming, and inclusive of those seeking to engage in Jewish life and believe that this basic value can often be the determining factor in whether someone will return to a Jewish space a second time.

Second: Im tirtzu ein zo agadah. I have always been inspired by the courage of those who came before me to do something that nobody thought could ever be done. In my rabbinate, I lean in to trying new things, taking risks, and experimenting with new ways of gathering and connecting. To me, being a Reform rabbi means adding to the canon of Jewish literature and the canon of Jewish experiences of those who came before me. Judaism has always been a religion of innovation, and the only way we will survive is if we continue to try new things, trusting in ourselves, and our communities. If we will it, it is no dream, and if we build it, they will come.

“I have eternal hope for the future of the Jewish people and believe our best days are ahead of us.”

Can you describe a way in which you’ve been innovative in your career?
I’ve looked for opportunities to innovate throughout my career, but there’s no doubt that YourJewish is a reflection of my highest expression of innovation. On a broad scale, I’m introducing a new model for organized Jewish life, centered around individual and small group engagements that occur in creative spaces across the Twin Cities. I’ve been working on launching four demographic-based small groups that meet in people’s homes and creative venues across the cities.

One innovative program I’m particularly proud of is my initiative to engage in outreach at local fairs and festivals. This initiative takes the idea of “meeting people where they are” literally by setting up a pop-up tent at secular festivals. Instead of promoting a program that I hope people will register for, I show up at a venue that gets thousands of attendees. I have a station for challah braiding, and I bake the mini challot that people can braid on the spot in a pizza oven. While the challah is baking, I have an opportunity to engage in meaningful dialogue about Judaism through an “ask the rabbi” format. 

In only a few hours of sitting at a local festival, I engaged hundreds of people who are living on the margins of the Jewish community, some of whom were looking for opportunities to learn and do more. I had so many people come up to me who wanted to share with me that they have Jewish ancestry, but have never practiced themselves, or who have a roommate who is Jewish and have always been fascinated by the religion.  Many of the people who stopped by later met with me for coffee or signed up for one of my programs or small groups. I am currently scaling this effort in a way that expands my outreach and provides greater opportunities for Jews on the margins, and those interested in Judaism to connect with Judaism.

How has your rabbinate evolved throughout your career?
I was ordained in 2013 and began my rabbinic career in the role of rabbi educator at Bet Shalom Congregation, a Reform synagogue in the Twin Cities, where I worked in college as a religious school teacher. In 2016, I transitioned to the role of associate rabbi, where I had an opportunity to connect with all age demographics at my congregation in every area of rabbinic life. 

During those ten years, I had the incredible gift of working in a supportive environment where I could learn, grow, experiment, and lead as a valued member of the staff. I got a taste of all aspects of congregational rabbinic life, taking advantage of everything that comes with working on an incredible clergy team, while also having a portfolio that enabled me to pursue my own passions. 

These ten years served as a foundation for me to learn from mentors, find my voice as a rabbi, discover my strengths and passions, and consider how I might develop a vision of my own when the time was right. I know that I would never have been able to launch YourJewish without the years of experience I had at Bet Shalom, and I’m grateful for those precious years as a congregational rabbi.

Now, in year two of YourJewish, I’m building off an initial year of visioning, strategic planning, and pilot programs and am excited to be launching a wider array of engagement opportunities. I feel so grateful to have such an incredible network of supporters who are helping me turn this vision into reality.

What do people find unique, unusual, or surprising about your rabbinate?
There are a large number of people in the Twin Cities who’ve been surprised to learn that I am still a rabbi even though I no longer work at a synagogue. I’ve had many people ask me questions like, “How does it feel now that you are not a rabbi anymore?”

The work I’m doing now is of course every bit as rabbinic as the work I was doing as a congregational rabbi, so I see these questions as an opportunity to help folks expand their understanding of what it means to be a rabbi and what rabbinic work looks like. In the Twin Cities, only 30 percent of Jewish households affiliate with a synagogue, and every time I share that small piece of data, people are surprised. 

I love data and have found that once people understand the numbers, they recognize the need for the type of rabbinate I’m building.

What is the most rewarding aspect of your rabbinate?
Being invited into the most sacred moments in people’s lives, whether that is a life cycle event like a wedding, baby naming, b’ mitzvah, or funeral, or a pastoral moment. I have always felt so humbled, connected, and spiritually transformed by the opportunity to be with people, and guide them through the most sacred moments of their lives.

What brings you joy in your rabbinate?
Seeing other people connect to Judaism with joy and meaning. I love that spark in folks eyes when they have an “aha” Jewish moment. I find so much joy in bringing other people close to Judaism and other Jews. Some of my greatest moments of joy and fulfillment have come when I learn that a connection I made, sermon I gave, or class I taught, influenced somebody’s life in a meaningful way. This is what it is all about for me.

What excites you or makes you feel the most hopeful about the future of your rabbinate?
I have eternal hope for the future of the Jewish people and believe our best days are ahead of us. This hope comes from so many places. It comes from the data I’ve relied on in building my organization that reports just how many people there are who love being Jewish and who are looking for new ways to connect. It comes from the hundreds of conversations I’ve had with people who are excited about the work I’m doing, and the work that others are doing in my area to make Judaism more vibrant. It comes from the inspiration I feel from my rabbinic colleagues, both here in the Twin Cities, and around the country who are out there making a difference. Despite the pain our people have suffered in Israel, along with the growing antisemitism in America, and the inner divisions that exist in our communities, I believe we have no other choice but to be hopeful for our future. The love, unity, and engagement I’ve seen this year is inspiring and helps give me hope that we can overcome the many challenges ahead.

Categories
Rabbinic Innovation

Rabbi Jessy Dressin: Building Innovative Jewish Communities by Taking Paths Less Taken

The Central Conference of American Rabbis, Reform Judaism’s rabbinic professional leadership organization, is home to more than 2,000 Reform rabbis across North America and beyond. And while Reform rabbis wear many hats, often at the same time—Torah scholar, officiant, pastoral counselor, chaplain, educator, organizational leader, activist—they also serve in a wider range of settings, changing the shape of the sacred work of the rabbinate with innovative new visions for Jewish communal life.

We’re proud to share the stories of CCAR members who are taking our ancient Jewish traditions and imaginatively and courageously building new programs, practices, collaborations, communities, and transformational approaches to Reform Judaism. We’re also sharing how, even in dark times, so many CCAR members find joy as rabbis, and we share their hopes for the future of the Reform rabbinate and Reform Judaism.

Rabbi Jessy Dressin ordained byHebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 2012. After over a decade of working as a community rabbi, she founded Third Space at Shaarei Tfiloh in Baltimore, reinvigorating a once-thriving landmark synagogue into a new center for both Jewish and local programming, learning, and connection.

Here, Rabbi Dressin discusses her entrepreneurial and innovative approach to building Jewish community and cultivating engagement.

How do you describe your rabbinate, and what makes it unique?
The through line of my rabbinate has been a combination of entrepreneurial spirit and disruption in an effort to ensure that Judaism and Jewish tradition can be relevant and resonant in the lives of those who are not connecting to the community in “traditional” ways. I’m deeply committed to the belief that meaningful Jewish engagement is about the real basics of Judaism: learning, practice, service, and kindness to others. I aspire to be a conduit to individuals and communities engaging deeply with the wisdom of Jewish tradition as both a voice and influence on how Jews and their loved ones move through the world today. I also like to think of myself as an agitator for the sake of heaven.

What is your rabbinic motto or words that guide your rabbinate?
“There’s Torah for that.”

Can you describe a way in which you’ve been innovative in your career?
I’ve been an entrepreneurial rabbi for thirteen years (it’s my b’mitzvah year of being a rabbi—my rabbinate is an adult!). I helped found Charm City Tribe, a nationally recognized model for 20s and 30s Jewish engagement in Baltimore and led it, along with other Jewish engagement initiatives over the eight years I was at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Baltimore. Then I then wrote and implemented a Jewish educational strategy and served on the executive team as the rabbi on staff at Repair the World. I am now reactivating a century-old synagogue in West Baltimore as a place for Jewish learning, relationship, and community building. A close follower of Pew research and demographic trends, my entire rabbinate has been about serving the “periphery” in an effort to affirm that no person (due to identity, Jewish experience, etc.) is peripheral to their own lived experience.

How has your rabbinate evolved throughout your career?
I have been very lucky that my path as a rabbi outside of traditional spaces has really progressed in an ever deepening way. I wrote a rabbinic thesis in 2011–2012 about emergent strategies and models we might explore. I’ve had the opportunity to help support or launch efforts in all three program models and am currently working on an article to be published next year that reflects on that thesis thirteen years later and shares examples of what’s great that’s happening in response to those trends and behaviors.

I’ve also gone from being considered someone who was a bit hard to “box in” to a person who is tapped to present, share, and mentor around those who are looking for innovative Jewish programming and those who are looking to become rabbis outside of traditional spaces. In my own community, what was once looked at as a fad, narrow constituency or “alternative,” is now established, respected, and contributing in meaningful ways throughout the ecosystem of our local Jewish community and city. 

What do people find unusual or surprising about your rabbinate?
My love of the beit midrash? My comfortability with being Rabbi Jessy. The fact that people who are often non-engaged or underrepresented in traditional Jewish spaces flock to my rabbinic leadership, programs, and initiatives. Maybe that many people who are not Jewish call me their rabbi? 

What is the most rewarding aspect of your rabbinate?
One of the most rewarding aspects of my rabbinate is the fact that there are those who believe so much in my work that they’re providing me the support and resources to lead with real vision and without having to fit into a limiting framework. I can make a difference without barriers.

What brings you joy in your rabbinate?
I love learning, and I love chavruta. I love the rhythm of Jewish time and seasons and ritual and practice. 

What excites you or makes you feel the most hopeful about the future of your rabbinate?
So many younger rabbis are seeing the potential to have a rabbinate outside of the traditional settings. I get excited when I see people taking ownership of their Jewish experience and growing in their confidence and competence to be able to be drivers of their own Jewish life.

Categories
Books CCAR Press Passover

How to Design an Inclusive Seder: Alan S. Yoffie on ‘Sharing the Journey’

Alan S. Yoffie is the author of Sharing the Journey: The Haggadah for the Contemporary Family, published by CCAR Press. In this interview, he shares insights on creating a meaningful and inclusive Passover experience.

What inspired you to create Sharing the Journey: The Haggadah for the Contemporary Family?
When my son, a recent college graduate, announced that he was bringing a young woman of another faith to our seder, I wanted her to be comfortable with our traditions and to embrace our family’s celebration of freedom. When I was not able to find a Haggadah with a special focus on the inclusion of persons of other faiths, I decided to create one.   

Was there something new you learned while working on the book?
We tell the story of the Exodus using symbols—some traditional and some new ones reflecting our contemporary times. A symbol I included in the Haggadah that I had not used in my family seders was the return of the second half of the middle matzah to the seder plate as a symbol of hope for the oppressed and a symbol of the responsibilities of freedom for free people. 

Sharing the Journey was illustrated by Mark Podwal, z”l. What role does the artwork play in the Haggadah?
My goal for artwork for Sharing the Journey was to amplify the voice of the text, add richness and beauty to the seder, and for the artwork to be a learning tool that encouraged seder participation and discussion. I was fortunate that a library curator at Yale University was able to provide me with the contact information for Mark Podwal, a prize-winning artist with a strong color palette, a sense of Jewish history and a demonstrated ability to tell stories through his artwork. His illustrations greatly enhance the Sharing the Journey seder experience.

What are some tips for creating Passover seders that are engaging and meaningful for all ages?
Welcome a little chaos while engaging children and encouraging discussion. Introduce a contemporary reading or question about freedom every year. At the conclusion of the seder, ask everyone (who is willing) to share a blessing they have received or a special family memory of Passover. Make the story of the Exodus your own. 

Alan S. Yoffie is the author of Sharing the Journey: The Haggadah for the Contemporary Family published by CCAR Press. Mr. Yoffie wrote The Seder Leader’s Guide, also available from CCAR Press, which includes two CDs (instrumental and vocal) that provide a “musical companion” for the Seder.   

Categories
Rabbinic Reflections

Rabbi Neal I. Borovitz’s 50 Years as a Reform Rabbi: Reflections on Torah, Worship, Acts of Lovingkindness, Truth, Justice, and Peace

Having just finished reading the new CCAR Press biography of Rabbi Alexander Schindler, with whom I was blessed to share a bimah on the High Holy Days during my tenure in Brooklyn, New York (1983–1988), I realized again, a thought I shared with my classmates at NAORRR this year: our class was blessed to serve in a golden age of the American Reform Rabbinate.

Two of the initiatives of Alex that Michael Meyer documents in this book, namely, outreach to interfaith couples and their children and the commitment to strengthening and expanding the commitment to Zionism, played a central role in my rabbinate.

Reform outreach initiatives, begun during the early years of my rabbinate, offered me the opportunity to fully welcome Jews into the communities I led. Over the last fifty years I had come to understand that in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, all identifying Jews are Jews by Choice, regardless of their parentage. Welcoming, teaching, and counseling Jewish families from a variety of backgrounds, has brought immense professional satisfaction. The title of Michael Meyer’s biography of Alex Schindler, Above All, We are Jews, a quote I heard from Alex forty years ago, has been a guiding principal of my life ever since.

The centrality of Israel to my Jewish identity preceded my interest in the rabbinate. I grew up in a Conservative synagogue in Cleveland, Ohio led by Rabbi Rudolph Rosenthal, a 1933 HUC-JIR ordainee, who instilled in me a true love of Israel and helped me to spend my junior year of college (1968–69) at Hebrew University. He, along with my Hillel rabbi at Vanderbilt, Rabbi Lou Silberman, both of whom shared  a commitment to the Civil Rights movement in America and a deep responsibility to be advocates for Israel, became models for me of the possibilities that the rabbinate offered me to dedicate my life to the words of Deuteronomy: צדק צדק תרדוף

Born in 1948, when the memories of the yellow star of degradation was still a vivid reality incised upon the hearts and souls of Jews, I have been blessed to stand in pride next to the blue star of Israel’s flag. While for Frank Rosensweig, the Star of David was a symbol of God, Torah, and Israel connected by creation, revelation, and redemption, ever since a Mishnah class in 1968, where I first seriously studied Pirkei Avot, I have had a different interpretations of the Magen David.

In Pirkei Avot 1:2, Shimon HaTzadik teaches that the world stands upon three things: Torah, worship, and acts of lovingkindness. At the end of the chapter, Shimon HaTzadik teaches that the world stands upon three things: truth, justice, and peace.

I believe that these two triads superimposed upon each other, creating the Jewish star, teaches that it is through Torah, worship, and acts of lovingkindness, that we can achieve for ourselves, for our people, Israel, and the world, truth, justice, and peace.

Rabbi Neal Borovitz is Rabbi Emeritus of Temple Avodat Shalom in River Edge, New Jersey. He is celebrating 50 years as a Reform rabbi. We look forward to celebrating him and all of the CCAR’s 50-year rabbis at CCAR Convention 2025.

Categories
Rabbinic Innovation

Rabbi Heather Miller’s Innovative, Sacred Approach to Jewish Text and Community

The Central Conference of American Rabbis, Reform Judaism’s rabbinic professional leadership organization, is home to more than 2,000 Reform rabbis across North America and beyond. And while Reform rabbis wear many hats, often at the same time—Torah scholar, officiant, pastoral counselor, chaplain, educator, organizational leader, activist—they also serve in a wider range of settings, changing the shape of the sacred work of the rabbinate with innovative new visions for Jewish communal life.

We’re proud to share the stories of CCAR members who are taking our ancient Jewish traditions and imaginatively and courageously building new programs, practices, collaborations, communities, and transformational approaches to Reform Judaism. We’re also sharing how, even in dark times, so many CCAR members find joy as rabbis, and we share their hopes for the future of the Reform rabbinate and Reform Judaism.

Rabbi Heather Miller is the founder of Keeping It Sacred, a global progressive Jewish community dedicated to exploring sacred Jewish texts, deep learning experiences, ritual practice, and the pursuit of social justice. Offerings range from Torah study and holiday celebrations, to healing sessions and spirituality, interfaith guest dialogues, and racial justice topics. Here, Rabbi Miller discusses how she created the Keeping It Sacred community and her innovative approach to Jewish community and education.

How do you describe your approach to your rabbinate, and what makes it unique?
Keeping It Sacred (KITS) is named after my grandmother, Fruma Kit Endler, who always made Judaism accessible, relevant, and empowering. And that is what we do through intrepid exploration of sacred texts, the practice of meaningful rituals, and the unwavering pursuit of social justice. My approach acknowledges that everyone has their own Torah (teaching) to teach. And the intersection of their lives and the texts is where the beauty of Judaism happens. 

How has your rabbinate evolved throughout your career?
Just before the global pandemic, I started a center where tenderhearted people could nerd out studying together. This center has become a full-fledged congregational community with shabbat and holiday services, social groups, social action book clubs and lifecycle ritual offerings including a yearly community confirmation ceremony for those who want to confirm their love for Jewish life and the community. In building Keeping It Sacred, I have drawn from the best of my experiences having served congregations, schools, hospitals, non-profit organizations, and as an author and scholar. 

How have you been innovative in your rabbinical career?
Our communal structure is global: we incorporate our members from all over the world into the fabric of the community, one and all. We do this by providing ample opportunities to interface and exchange ideas, perspectives, and life lessons based on their experiences. Everyone learns a bit more about one another, the texts, and themselves.

We’ve built a community with sacred text at the center: We began by studying texts and have evolved to incorporate them in everything we do from social justice to rituals to social activities to fundraising. Texts center our lives, and every day is a new opportunity to experience revelation.

We have successfully built a business model where membership is not dues-based. People become members by signing up for our newsletter or participating in our programs. We are fortunate that our members also value this incredibly accessible model, and they freely offer their financial means to help keep the organization running strong.

What do people find unique, unusual, or surprising about your rabbinate?
One of the hallmarks of my rabbinate has been my pursuit of social justice, particularly through the work of interfaith organizing. Rarely does a week go by without me speaking at a house of worship about Jewish perspectives on various topics, leading a meeting for a governmental interfaith advisory board, or engaging in the sacred work of mutual understanding with interfaith partners. This commitment has led me to engage in governmental meetings, displays of solidarity, and consulting for the entertainment, professional sports, medical, energy, and fashion industries. 

What is the most rewarding aspect of your rabbinate?
Sharing the relevance of Jewish texts in accessible, empowering ways.

What brings you joy in your rabbinate?
Visiting with members from around the world, whether they travel great distances to visit, or I do!

What excites you or makes you feel the most hopeful about the future of rabbinate?
Our community keeps growing both in terms of the numbers of our members but also in the depth of their relationships—with Torah, with Jewish identity, with me, and with each other. We welcome and hold sacred space for one another, and we champion one another. The future is bright!

Categories
Israel Rabbinic Reflections Torah

Rosh Chodesh Adar: Leadership From Below—The Heroic Work of Our Israeli Reform Rabbis

Rabbis who have served congregations know the power of standing at the pulpit before an assembly of our people to teach and preach the words of Torah. On such occasions, we bear the mantle of Moshe Rabbeinu, who brought Torah to our people at Sinai. Could there be a more important leadership role for a rabbi? Yes, I believe there is—a role that is equally critical and perhaps even more important, just as there was for Moshe.

In our Torah study in recent weeks, we have read the accounts of Moses in his quintessential role as lawgiver, prophet, and intimate partner of the Holy One. He ascended Mount Sinai and stood face to face with God—panim el panim—and received the Torah. But the moment didn’t last. The holiness and purity of the scene on high wasn’t matched with appropriate piety from the Jewish people below. They grew anxious and fearful that they had been abandoned, and so they committed an epic act of apostasy by building and the Golden Calf.

Seeing what was happening on the ground, God told Moses to “go down…” (Exodus 32:7), to descend from on high. In the Talmud, Rabbi Elazar offers an important understanding of the words “go down.” “What is their meaning? he asks. The Gemara replies: “Go down from your exalted position, for I granted you greatness only for Israel’s sake” (Bavli B’rachot 32a).

Moses had a world-shaping role to play at the top of the mountain in receiving Torah, but as Rabbi Elazar suggests, his most important leadership role was performed at the bottom of the mountain with his people. He advocated for them and helped them to find their way forward when all seemed lost.

This is true for rabbis today. The greatness of our service is not primarily in grand public oration or in great scholarly teaching, but in the ways in which we hold and heal our people in their times of crisis and trial.

This “leadership from below,” this binding of the wounds of our people and walking with them from darkness toward light, may be the truest measure of our value as rabbis. We see it here in America among our colleagues in their faithful service to their communities, and we see it among our colleagues in Israel in particularly powerful and poignant ways.

Consider the story of Rabbi Yael Vurgan, who has served the regional council of Sha’ar HaNegev, right on the Gaza border, since her ordination six years ago. Working in partnership with a handful of dedicated lay leaders, Yael has brought Jewish culture and spirituality to secular Israelis in a beautiful spirit of openness, inclusion, and pluralism. She has led from below, meeting people where they are and helping them grow individually as Jews and together in community.

Since the brutal massacres on October 7, for so many members of the communities she serves, Yael has been there, heart and soul for her people, spending hours upon hours listening to them, supporting them, conducting funerals, offering spiritual care, and traveling all over the country to bring a healing presence and the power of Jewish ritual to thousands displaced from their homes. One small but powerful example of the impact of her work on the ground are the two hundred mezuzot she delivered to two hundred displaced families that are now affixed to the doorposts of their temporary homes.

Another shining example of leadership from below is the work of Rabbi Orit Rozenblit. Orit grew up a secular kibbutznik who began to search for her Jewish identity as a young adult. She studied Judaism and then taught at the Oranim Academy. In 2000, Orit moved with her family to Metula, in the far north, and began working in Kiryat Shmona. In 2008, she established a pluralistic beit midrash for young adults. Shortly thereafter, she was recruited to HUC-JIR, where she received her rabbinic ordination while also building a congregation that by 2022 had grown to eighty members.

Then came the war, with its daily bombardments from Hezbollah, which forced Orit, her entire community, and tens of thousands of others in the north to evacuate, scattering them throughout the country as far away as Eilat. Wherever her people have gone, Orit has stayed connected to them and been there to support them individually. But how could she keep her community together in its dispersion? Though unable to restore them to their physical homes, she helped them find spiritual shelter: together, they would write a new sefer torah. Thanks to a generous donor from the US, she was able to commission the first Israeli Reform sofer, Rabbi Shlomo Zagman, to write a Torah scroll, bringing the community together to join in the process, restoring their spiritual center, and giving them hope for renewal.

These are but two of the many, many moving and inspiring stories I could share of Israeli Reform rabbis who are leading creatively and dynamically, imitating the Holy One as “healers of the broken-hearted,” (Psalms 147:3) taking account of every individual they can and drawing them close to one another in life-affirming communities. They are our heroes, and we are blessed to have them as our friends, colleagues, and role models of the power of leading from below.

L’shalom ul’shuvam shel kol hachatufim.

If you are able, consider supporting the sacred work of our Israeli colleagues by supporting the IMPJ.

Rabbi Arnie Gluck is Rabbi Emeritus of Temple Beth-El in Hillsborough, New Jersey where he served for thirty-three years as a tireless teacher, scholar, and advocate for social justice.

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Rabbinic Innovation Rabbinic Reflections

Rabbi Stacy Schlein: Innovation in Jewish Education

The Central Conference of American Rabbis, Reform Judaism’s rabbinic professional leadership organization, is home to more than 2,000 Reform rabbis across North America and beyond. And while Reform rabbis wear many hats, often at the same time—Torah scholar, officiant, pastoral counselor, chaplain, educator, organizational leader, activist—they also serve in a wider range of settings, changing the shape of the sacred work of the rabbinate with innovative new visions for Jewish communal life.

We’re proud to share the stories of CCAR members who are taking our ancient Jewish traditions and imaginatively and courageously building new programs, practices, collaborations, communities, and transformational approaches to Reform Judaism. We’re also sharing how, even in dark times, so many CCAR members find joy as rabbis, and we share their hopes for the future of the Reform rabbinate and Reform Judaism.

Rabbi Stacy Schlein was ordained at Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion in 2001 and received her Master’s in Jewish Education from the Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion in 2017. After serving in congregations including The Temple-Tifereth Israel in Cleveland, she is now the Director of Educational Capacity Building at the Jewish Education Center of Cleveland, a renowned organization that aims to create transformative, meaningful Jewish educational experiences for Jewish children and families in Cleveland. Here, she shares how Jewish learning and innovation are at the center—and future —of her rabbinate.

How do you describe your approach to your rabbinate?
My rabbinate has grown, shifted, and changed over the years. Throughout it all, my focus has been on learning. My main passion is the Jewish spiritual and educational growth of children. In my current role, I support the synagogue’s early childhood and retreat programs in Cleveland.

How has your rabbinate evolved throughout your career?
My rabbinate has always centered around teaching. I have consulted with a children’s author about Judaic content, worked as a chaplain, ran a weekly family learning program, served as an education director in a synagogue and now at the JEC. I am grateful for the opportunities to expand and grow throughout the years. After being a rabbi for twenty-four years, I appreciate working in a central agency where I can consult and support my colleagues.

How have you brought innovation to Jewish education?
The greatest innovations that I have been involved with have been experimenting and developing curriculum with my colleague Nachama Moskowitz. Together, we’re launching a new initiative in Cleveland to create prototypes to address declining enrollment in Jewish education.

In 2022, after many years of observing enrollment declines in congregational education, the Jewish Education Center in Cleveland conducted a study to understand these trends and gain deeper insights so we and our partners could strategically identify areas for opportunity.

We discovered that Jewish education matters to parents; children are the drivers for decision-making about enrollment, there is an interest in informal education, and a need for more formal data. This provides an incredible opportunity to reimagine congregational education and think more broadly about how we support all Jewish children with enriching educational experiences. Based on our findings and national data, we adopted our strategic action in March of 2023 to address these challenges.

We launched a Design Thinking Task Force to oversee and support our efforts. The task force includes a diverse group of community members representing the breadth and depth of our community careholders, as well as JEC board members. We plan to provide grants to test prototypes and to test our principles.

What do people find unique, unusual, or surprising about your rabbinate?
The spiritual fulfillment that I gain from educational work.

What is your rabbinic motto or words that guide your rabbinate?
In my office, I have a beautiful art piece from Pirkei Avot 4:1 “Who is wise? One who learns from every person.”

What excites you or makes you feel the most hopeful about the future of the rabbinate?
Rabbis are now considering a wider range of settings to work and share their gifts.