Help sustain the Jewish tradition’s legacy of community leadership by building strong leaders today. “Great Jewish leadership has helped us survive slavery, guided us to the Promised Land, given us hope through exile and oppression, helped us enjoy membership in a nation of overachievers, and given birth to the State of Israel. Great Jewish leadership generates vision and, as a result, followers. It inspires us and helps us to stretch higher, see farther, and reach deeper.” —from the Introduction Drawing on the past and looking to the future, this practical guide provides the tools you need to work through important contemporary leadership issues. It takes a broad look at positions of leadership in the modern Jewish community and the qualities and skills you need in order to succeed in these positions. Real-life anecdotes, interviews, and dialogue stimulate thinking about board development, ethical leadership, conflict resolution, change management, and effective succession planning. Whether you are a professional or a volunteer, are looking to develop your own personal leadership skills or are part of a group, this inspiring book provides information, interactive exercises, and questions for reflection to help you define leadership styles and theories, expose common myths, and coach others on the importance of leading with meaning.

"Drawing on the past and looking to the future, this practical guide provides the tools you need to work through important contemporary leadership issues. It takes a broad look at positions of leadership in the modern Jewish community and the qualities and skills you need in order to succeed in these positions. Real-life anecdotes, interviews, and dialogue stimulate thinking about board development, ethical leadership, conflict resolution, change management, and effective succession planning."--BOOK JACKET.

Practical and inspiring guidance for leading with more conviction, commitment and passion--and results. "Bringing people together through their organizational affiliations and then asking them to think beyond those institutions to serve the community in the best possible way is one of the most important challenges we face today in a world of too many Jewish nonprofits. That takes strong leadership. Are you prepared for it?" --from the Introduction In today's increasingly demanding world, you need a practical way to improve current lay and professional leadership in Jewish community organizations. Dr. Misha Galperin draws on over thirty years of professional experience, as well as insights from the world of business, psychology and research in Jewish demographics and sociology, to help you see what is working and what is not. In a style that is informative, accessible and direct, he provides inspiring, action-oriented advice and examples that illustrate how these "lessons from the field" can help you cultivate strong, effective and transformative leadership that will help your organization achieve its goals.

An accessible introduction to the reasons for and the ways of Jewish prayer. The Way Into Jewish Prayer helps us to explore the reasons for and the ways of Jewish prayer. It opens the door to 3,000 years of Jewish prayer, making available all you need to feel at home in the Jewish way of communicating with God.

A practical and engaging guide to reinvigorating Jewish community life, with strategies for reviving the Jewish spiritual centers at the heart of Jewish tradition and tips on sustainable transformation, inspiring leadership and inviting sacred spaces.

Highlights Jewish participation in the civil rights movement Black Power, Jewish Politics charts the transformation of American Jewish political culture from the Cold War liberal consensus of the early postwar years to the rise and influence of Black Power-inspired ethnic nationalism. It shows how, in a period best known for the rise of antisemitism in some parts of the Black community and the breakdown of the alliance between white Jews and Black Americans, Black Power activists enabled Jewish activists to devise a new Judeo-centered political agenda—including the emancipation of Soviet Jews, the rise of Jewish Day Schools, the revitalization of worship services with gender-inclusive liturgy, and the birth of a new form of American Zionism. Undermining widely held beliefs about the civil rights movement, Black Power, racism, Soviet Jewry, American Zionism, and the religious revival of the 1970s, Black Power, Jewish Politics describes a new political consensus based on identity politics that drew Black and Jewish Americans together and altered the course of American liberalism. In the midst of national reckoning on race, this revised edition extends the book’s thesis to the contemporary period, investigating the limits of white Jewish liberalism, the ways in which scholars have and have not addressed racial privilege in their work, and the dynamics around these themes in a much more diverse American Jewish community.

The first comprehensive resource for pastoral care in the Jewish tradition--and a vital resource for counselors and caregivers of other faith traditions. The essential reference for rabbis, cantors and laypeople who are called to spiritually accompany those encountering joy, sorrow and change--now in paperback. This groundbreaking volume draws upon both Jewish tradition and the classical foundations of pastoral care to provide invaluable guidance. Offering insight on pastoral care technique, theory and theological implications, the contributors to Jewish Pastoral Care are innovators in their fields, and represent all four contemporary Jewish movements. This comprehensive resource provides you with the latest theological perspectives and tools, along with basic theory and skills for assisting the ill and those who care for them, the aging and dying, those with dementia and other mental disorders, engaged couples, and others, and for responding to issues such as domestic violence, substance abuse and disasters. Contributors: Barbara Eve Breitman, MSW, LSW * Anne Brener, MAJCS, MA, LCSW * Rabbi Amy Eilberg, MSW * Rabbi Nancy Flam, MA * Rabbi Dayle A. Friedman, MSW, MAJCS, BCC * Gus Kaufman, Jr., PhD * Rabbi Myriam Klotz, MA * Rabbi Yaacov Kravitz, EdD * Rabbi Ellen Jay Lewis, NCPsyA * Wendy Lipshutz, LMSW * Rabbi Sheldon Marder * Rabbi Joseph S. Ozarowski, DMin * Simcha Paull Raphael, PhD * Rabbi Stephen Roberts, BCC * Rabbi Rochelle Robins * Rabbi Drorah Setel, MTS * Rabbi Jeffery M. Silberman, DMin * Marcia Cohn Spiegel, MAJCS * Rabbi Karen Sussan * Rabbi Bonita E. Taylor, MA, BCC * Rabbi Simkha Y. Weintraub, CSW * Rabbi David J. Zucker, PhD, BCC

An indispensable "how-to" guide for creating lasting memories and special ceremonies as you welcome your new Jewish daughter. When a son is born, every Jewish parent knows what ceremony will welcome him into the community and signal his part in the Jewish people--the brit milah. What to do when a girl is born? How can you welcome your new daughter in a truly Jewish way, and celebrate your joy with family and friends? In the past, parents who wanted a simchat bat (celebration of a daughter) ceremony for their new daughter often had to start from scratch. Finally, this first-of-its-kind book gives families everything they need to plan the celebration. History & Tradition--The roots of simchat bat in Jewish tradition, how it has evolved and how the past can be used to bring today's dynamic ceremonies to life. A How-to Guide--New and traditional ceremonies, complete with prayers, rituals, handouts to copy and step-by-step instructions for creating your own unique ceremony. Planning the Details--What to call your daughter's welcoming ceremony, when and where to have it, setting it up, how long it should be, how to handle the unexpected, how to prepare a program guide and more. Ideas & Information--Practical guidelines for planning the event, and special suggestions and resources for families of all constellations.

Peoplehood—everyone’s talking about it. But what does it actually mean and why is it important to the future of Judaism? “Why is this conversation important? Why does it merit your attention? If you care about Jewish identity and community, then you know that we have no trouble identifying the problems that fragmentize us as a people but have far less success identifying that which unites us. Without a unifying, collective notion of Jewish identity that is meaningful and robust, it is virtually impossible to make a strong case for Jewish continuity.” —from the Introduction This call to Jewish community explores the purpose, possibilities, and limitations of peoplehood as a unifying concept of community for a people struggling profoundly with Jewish identity. It defines what peoplehood is—and is not—and explores both collective and personal Jewish identity and the nature of identity construction. Drawing on history, sacred texts and contemporary scholarship, The Case for Jewish Peoplehood identifies some of the obstacles that challenge a shared notion of peoplehood: personal choices, construct of membership and boundaries, growth of Jewish illiteracy, identity fragmentation between Israeli and Diaspora Jewry, and the generational divide affecting traditionalists, baby boomers, and generations X and Y. To help you join the conversation, the authors support a vision for the future and provide practical guidance and recommendations for getting there.

Visionary solutions for a community ripe for transformational change—from fourteen leading innovators of Jewish life. "Jewish Megatrends offers a vision for a community that can simultaneously strengthen the institutions that serve those who seek greater Jewish identification and attract younger Jews, many of whom are currently outside the orbit of Jewish communal life. Schwarz and his collaborators provide an exciting path, building on proven examples, that we ignore at our peril." —from the Foreword The American Jewish community is riddled with doubts about the viability of the institutions that well served the Jewish community of the twentieth century. Synagogues, Federations and Jewish membership organizations have yet to figure out how to meet the changing interests and needs of the next generation. In this challenging yet hopeful call for transformational change, visionary leader Rabbi Sidney Schwarz looks at the social norms that are shaping the habits and lifestyles of younger American Jews and why the next generation is so resistant to participate in the institutions of Jewish communal life as they currently exist. He sets out four guiding principles that can drive a renaissance in Jewish life and gives evidence of how, on the margins of the Jewish community, those principles are already generating enthusiasm and engagement from the very millennials that the organized Jewish community has yet to engage. Contributors—leading innovators from different sectors of the Jewish community—each use Rabbi Schwarz's framework as a springboard to set forth their particular vision for the future of their sector of Jewish life and beyond.