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informal exchanges, they examine management methods, define per-
sonal visions for their rabbinate, and cultivate strategies for drawing
Jews who often feel marginal – including those in interfaith relation-
ships and those not affiliated with any Jewish congregation – closer to
the heart of the Jewish community.
“
At our first retreat we reviewed the National Jewish Population
Surveys and their data on intermarriage, affiliation, and participation
in Jewish education and ritual observance,” recalls Newman. “This has
given us a strong basis, transcending intuition or anecdotal knowledge,
for a better understanding of demographic trends in the changing Jew-
ish community.”
The program, which is taught by HUC-JIR and JTS faculty and
outside experts, is shaped by STAR and the Center for Leadership Ini-
tiatives, Inc. (CLI), who lend expertise in innovation, interfaith
outreach, strategic planning, non-profit management, leadership de-
velopment, and skills training and collaborative networking
frameworks, respectively. Students receive tuition and a living stipend
during the third and fourth years of rabbinical studies, in order to have
more opportunity to focus on becoming rabbinical leaders of con-
temporary American Jewry.
“
I am a committed Reform Jew, and would like more unaffiliated
Jews to learn about Reform Judaism, take part in our programming,
and join our synagogues,” states Newman. “At the same time, I be-
lieve that liberal Jews have more in common than our denominational
affiliations let on. I want to work together to figure out how to
strengthen the American Jewish community.”
Aaron Miller
,
C ’11,
(
see page 42) agrees, saying “We can learn and benefit from each other
as our Movements continue to evolve in their unique ways. The Schus-
terman Fellowship has been one of the most defining and enlightening
experiences I have had as a rabbinical student.”
n a rabbinical class on the Prophets last spring, Tisch
Fellow
Jonathan Prosnit
,
N ’11, began to think about these
biblical figures through the contemporary lens of community
organizers and public advocates, “speaking their mind and
trying to mobilize around issues. These are Jewish themes – being
part of a community and reaching out are intrinsic to the leadership
development and social justice courses I’m taking at HUC-JIR.” Pros-
nit has just completed his Tisch summer residency at Temple Micah
in Washington, D.C., where he had the opportunity to reflect on pub-
lic policy and Jewish policy, from Israel to social justice, within the
context of the Reform congregational setting.
The Tisch Rabbinical Fellows Program, established through the
vision and generosity of Bonnie and Dan Tisch, is an opportunity for
rabbinical students to specialize in congregational leadership through
three years of enriched study and learning experiences. From in-depth
seminars and reflective exercises to mentored summer residencies with
exceptional rabbinical role models in URJ congregations, the Tisch
Fellows engage in both formal and informal learning that emphasizes
critical thinking in four areas:
•
Advanced text study
•
Congregational studies as it applies to synagogue leadership
•
Sociology of religion in America, generally, and in the Jewish com-
munity, particularly
•
Personal theology through ongoing dialogue and mentorship
Rabbi Darcie Crystal, Coordinator of Leadership Initiatives at
HUC-JIR/New York, lauds the sense of community that has grown
among the first two cohorts of the Program. “In providing support to
every member of the group,” she says, “Dr. Lawrence Hoffman, who
coordinates the Program with me, and I hope to model a sacred com-
munity, the kind that they will one day create in their own
congregations.” Furthermore, she highlights the students’ access to
an extraordinary array of distinguished leaders and rabbis with whom
they “study, dialogue, question, and chal-
lenge.” Over the past two years, they have
met with Rabbi Rachel Cowan (see page 54),
Rabbi Art Green, Rabbi Irwin Kula, Rabbi
Shira Milgrom, and Barry Shrage, among
many others, and have engaged in intensive
study with members of the HUC-JIR faculty
and administration.
Tisch Fellows leave the classroom for the
real world to examine successful and innova-
tive enterprises in Jewish communal life.
At Larchmont Temple they met with Rabbi
Jeffrey Sirkman and his congregants to expe-
rience first-hand the covenantal community
that he has built there. They spent time learn-
ing about managing a Board from Joan
THE TASK OF THE
TISCH
RABBINICAL FELLOWS
I
Rabbi Darcie Crystal and Dr. Lawrence Hoffman, Co-Coordinators
of the Tisch Rabbinical Fellows Program (rear, second and third
from left) with the 13 Tisch Rabbinical Fellows.
