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Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion
To date, the Mandel Fellowship Program has had two major components that
are intended to enhance the leadership potential of these future rabbis: (1) the inten-
sive year of study in HUC-JIR degree programs in Jewish education, and (2) special
companion experiences that take place through three seminars: an introductory fall
seminar that introduces the themes of the Fellowship; a winter seminar in Boston
that offers the Fellows the opportunity to visit and to learn from the example of vi-
sion-guided institutions; and a summer seminar in Israel that explores the challenges
of Israeli society and the Jewish People through a series of encounters with institu-
tions, sub-groups, and individuals of varied kinds. These seminars have concentrated
on four themes: Vision; Community; Education as growth; and Jewish Peoplehood.
VISIONARY LEADERSHIP
An underlying premise of the Fellowship is that visionary leadership is necessary for
the creation of thriving and compelling Jewish communities and a promising future
for the Jewish people. Visionary leadership presumes that leaders have a strong per-
sonal stance that embodies informed commitments to core values and ideas that
are at the heart of Judaism and Jewish life, and that are discoverable in and demand
attention to Jewish historical experience, our cultural and religious practices, and
our textual tradition. Developing this personal stance is understood as an ongoing
process in the education and development of leaders and has been at the core of
the HUC-JIR Mandel Fellowship experience.
T
hroughout the past year, I have worked at a visionary congregation in the midst
of radical institutional change. As the Director of Jewish Engagement, I helped
oversee our religious school’s transition from a Sunday model to a Shabbat and holiday-
based model that seeks to uphold the philosophy of learning Jewish by
doing
Jewish.
At the same time, this Reform congregation was transformed into a center for Pro-
gressive Judaism when our Temple community of 650 families welcomed almost 100
families affiliated with the Conservative Movement. Our congregation is now one of a
handful of congregations throughout the country that seeks to meet the spiritual, rit-
ual, and communal needs of both Reform and Conservative Jews.
Working on transformational change is hard work, but I feel blessed that in my
first position as a rabbi I have found myself at a congregation where I am able to live
and actualize my core Jewish values. I am proud that the work that I do upholds the
goals of the Mandel Fellowship, and I am grateful that the Mandel Fellowship has
given me the leadership tools and the mentorship to support my journey as a rabbinical
change agent.
Knowing for What You Stand:
The Centrality of Vision in Leading
the Jewish Community to the Future
Professor Sara S. Lee,
Director Emerita, Rhea Hirsch School of Education, HUC-JIR/Jack H. Skirball Campus/Los Angeles
Dr. Lisa D. Grant,
Associate Professor of Jewish Education, HUC-JIR/New York
A Rabbinical Change Agent
Rabbi Rachel Kort, NYSOE ’08, N ’10;
Mandel Fellow; Director of Jewish
Engagement, Temple Beth El of South Orange County, Aliso Viejo, CA
Be. Know. Do.
Rabbi Rebekah Stern, RHSOE ’09, L ’11;
Mandel Fellow;
Assistant Rabbi, Peninsula Temple Sholom, Burlingame, CA
Rabbi Rebekah Stern and Rabbi Daniel Feder, C ’94,
celebrating Purim.
F
or decades,
Mr. Morton L. Mandel
(
above, center) and the
Mandel Foundation
have been engaged in
preparing leaders for Jewish life in Israel and the Diaspora. In 2006, in recognition and support of the
important role our institution plays in preparing leaders for the North American Jewish community,
the Foundation gave HUC-JIR a generous and ongoing grant for the development of a program that would
enhance the leadership potential of future rabbis. The grant has been accompanied by the Foundation’s
willingness to also offer valuable advice and continuing intellectual guidance.
The central goal of
The Mandel Fellowship Program
is to create a cadre of future rabbinical leaders who
will guide 21st-century Reform institutions towards visions of compelling community, infused by Jewish
values, enriched by Jewish learning, and capable of enhancing and perpetuating Jewish identity. Starting in
2007,
we annually selected a cohort of eight Mandel Fellows who were completing their third year of rabbini-
cal studies and wished to study for a Master’s degree in Jewish education at either the Los Angeles or New
York campus.
