Karla Van Praag
I believe that our work aligns with all four propositions. Wisdom/Chochmah There is a middle ground between giving people what they want and giving people what they need. Organizers, like rabbis and educators, need to meet people where they are if we want them to be responsive, but we can’t just encourage them to sit […]
Rabbi Rachel Timoner
As the new senior rabbi of CBE in Brooklyn, I was recently asked by my board of trustees to write up my vision for the congregation. All four of the propositions in Megatrends appeared in my vision. In order to accomplish any of them, however, our first work must be to surprise people with Judaism. […]
Ilana Sumka
In Rabbi Sid’s four propositions, I recognized many key elements of my own personal Jewish identity: a Dorot fellowship in Jerusalem & studies at Pardes (1/Chochmah), my work with American Jewish World Service (2/Tzedek), the Hadar minyan (3/Kehilah), a summer internship at Elat Chayyim (4/Kedusha) are just a few examples. I name these to ground […]
Rabba Kaya Stern-Kaufman
The philosophy, activities and offerings of Rimon: A Collaborative Community for Jewish Spirituality utilizes all of the four propositions described in Jewish Megatrends. Since our initial launch in 2012, we have offered an ongoing variety of programs and classes that explore the wisdom of Jewish spiritual teachings. We have consistently offered classes in Jewish mysticism, […]
Rabbi Rebecca Sirbu
RWB Vision Statement Rabbis Without Borders envisions a world where Jewish wisdom is a source for wellbeing for anyone anywhere. The rabbis in the RWB Network, are committed to pushing the borders of what it means to be a rabbi today. We seek to share our Torah in pluralistic, innovative ways grounded by a sense […]
Sara Shalva
My work in building alternative Jewish community exists both inside and outside the trends laid out in Sid’s book. In any attempt to seek meaning by superimposing structure, the structure limits the opportunities to see creativity in the cracks between. The Lev B’Lev community I helped create exists outside traditional Jewish institutions, but was created […]
Beth Sandweiss
I have had many opportunities to experience spiritual community: at summer camp, at Buddhist and Jewish retreat centers, in my twenty year old women’s ritual group, and among the close circle of family friends with whom we celebrate Jewish Holidays and life cycle events. What these communities have in common for me is a visceral […]
Shamu Sadeh
My work at Adamah is well aligned with your four propositions. Chochmah: When I teach Jewish creation stories I pair Rashi’s commentary on Genesis 2:7 with secular philosophical writings. I teach the Book of Job together with Aldo Leopold. The majority of my students feel very engaged in this approach to Jewish learning. (How to […]
Rabbi Scott Perlo
This is from the tail end of a Boston Globe article: “I definitely like the spiritual aspect of pushing yourself further than you ever thought you could go,” Huberlie said. “I don’t think I can put my beliefs behind any particular religion right now. . . but something I missed [about church] is if you really need […]
Eden Pearlstein
To my understanding the primary thesis of Rabbi Sid Schwarz’s chapter was that the American Jewish community is in the process of massive ideological and demographical transition. This transition is affecting individual Jews as well as many institutional pillars of the community such as synagogues and federations, both of which appear to be losing numbers […]
Nati Passow
I enjoyed reading Rabbi Sid Schwarz’s opening essay to his book, Jewish Megatrends. Much of what I encountered reflects my own experience growing up in the Jewish community, and working in it for over fifteen years as an informal educator and non-profit director. While I agreed with the concept of the tribal and covenantal Jew, […]
Blair Nosan
I really enjoyed reading this essay. I see my work aligned with chochma, kehillah, and kedusha, and I found these to be helpful frames for explaining some of the phenomena that I’ve observed while creating Jewish community on the fringes of the Jewish world. I have thought deeply about chochma, first as it once characterized […]
Rabbi Lee Moore
What are the most useful mental models that can help us understand the shifting patterns of current and future generations of Jews (of which I am one), given the decline in their (our) participation in traditional institutions? Sid Schwarz offers a paradigm that couches us as consumers and to some degree encourages thinking about us […]
Rabbi Avram Mlotek
Base’s three pillars are living the Jewish calendar, Talmud Torah and community service. How these pillars look depends on each Base rabbi, partner and local community. For us at Base DWTN, it looks like the following. Regarding chochma: Sharing the treasury and wisdom of the Jewish canon is at the heart of Base’s mission. How […]
Yavilah McCoy
In what ways do you see your work aligned with one (or more) of the four propositions? Wisdom/Chochma Proposition 1: In an age of globalization, Jewish institutions need to offer multiple avenues to explore chochma, the wisdom of our sacred texts put into the context of the world’s religions and in the language of contemporary […]
Jakir Manela
Wisdom/Chochmah Proposition 1: In an age of globalization, Jewish institutions need to offer multiple avenues to explore chochmah, the wisdom of our sacred texts put into the context of the world’s religions and in the language of contemporary culture. Pearlstone is one of the national leaders of the JOFEE movement, pioneering a new avenue with […]
Daniel Libenson
I found myself more drawn to the essay’s analysis of the current situation of Jews and Jewish life in America than to any one of the four propositions. In my work today, I am increasingly trying to engage people with the idea that we are a “desert generation” and that this is a “time of […]
Hart Levine
When I think about what I try and provide for others, it boils down to two things – meaning and connection. Meaning means connecting people to the meaning of Judaism, that’s found in Torah and in Jewish tradition. I agree that most people aren’t connected to it and don’t find it in the synagogues and […]
Aharon Ariel Lavi
In what ways do you see your work aligned with one (or more) of the four propositions? To some extent, the work I do both in Israel and the US aligns with all four propositions, but with some more inherently than the others. The first, and most inherent one, would obviously be the third proposition […]
Idit Klein
Wisdom/Chochmah A key piece of Keshet’s work focuses on giving LGBTQ Jews the opportunity to engage with traditional Jewish texts – both texts that easily resonate for LGBTQ Jews and those who support LGBTQ equality as well as those texts that historically have wounded us. It can be transformative for a trans Jew to be […]
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