Kenissa Cross-Training

for

Leaders of Emergent Jewish Communities

December 3-5, 2017
Pearlstone Conference Center
Reisterstown, MD

Kenissa venn diagram: A large peach circle labeled kedusha / sacred purpose encloses several overlapping circles. The largest of these is a purple circle labeled kehilla / community; overlapping a small portion of the bottom of this circle is a smaller green circle labeled yetzirah / creativity. Almost enclosed by the purple circle and overlapping both each other and the green circle, are a blue circle labeled chochma / wisdom and a red circle labeled tzedek / justice.Goals

  1. Participants understand the Venn diagram and can use it to deepen their work.
  2. Participants build relationships across the Kenissa Network as teachers and learners.
  3. In “home teams,” participants make direct application of new wisdom and ideas to their work back home.

Agenda

SUNDAY DECEMBER 3

2 pm WELCOME and CONTEXT

  • Overview of Kenissa, Cross-Training and Using the Venn Diagram
  • Home Teams reflect on What We Do and goal-setting

4:15 pm SESSION #1: KEHILLAH
Workshops focused on Covenantal Community

Mission-Driven and Data-Driven Community Building
Hart Levine, Beis Community
An engineer by training, Hart Levine helped found and runs an intentional, innovative, inclusive Orthodox community in Washington Heights, the fastest growing Jewish neighborhood in NY. Come and learn and discuss, and leave with practical tools about how to use data in building a mission-driven Kehillah.

Building Community Starts with Relationships
Rachel Gildiner (Executive Director) and Aaron Potek (Community Rabbi), Gather DC
Sometimes in our striving to build Jewish community, we forget about the individuals themselves. Intentional, authentic, individual relationships are the basis of any strong and lasting community, regardless of mission or content of the specific organization. Come and learn some applicable strategies, explore foundational research in the social sciences, and engage in productive and potentially disruptive conversations about the importance of focusing on people, above all else.

6:15 pm DINNER

7:30 pm What is Covenantal Community?

  • Learnings from afternoon sessions
  • Presentation from Rabbi Sid Schwarz and small group work
  • A look at the Breadth and Depth of the Kenissa Network with Hadar Cohen

MONDAY DECEMBER 4

7 am MORNING GATHERING

8 am BREAKFAST

9 am KEDUSHA/SACRED PURPOSE and YETZIRA/ARTS
Workshops focused on capacity building in two portals:

Kedusha: When the Old Becomes New, the New Becomes Holy
Carrie Bornstein, Executive Director of Mayyim Hayyim
Why do some ritual experiences leave us energized, refreshed, and inspired at their best while others leave us deflated, depressed, and even angry at worst? What can we learn from our collective experiences about how Jewish ritual ought to be, and how can we make that happen in our home communities? Together we will move towards developing a framework for integrating the ancient with the modern to experience the best of what Jewish life has to offer.

Yetzirah: Re-Creating the Creation Story
Jessica Deutsch, Artist and creator of The Illustrated Pirkei Avot
Explore the sensations and tactile feelings of creating new relationships to Jewish wisdom, through a hands on arts workshop with Jessica Deutsch. Gain tools to inspire your community to seek a stronger sense of relevancy, and a deeper personal connection to their heritage.

10:30 am BREAK

11:00 am BUILDING ORGANIZATIONAL CAPACITY

Money Matters: Creating a Sustainable Path for Funding and Growth
Claudia Horwitz, Kenissa
If we want to scale the work, we need to scale our resources but too often, fundraising can feel like a dance between scarcity and abundance. In this session we’ll look at what it takes to create a sustainable approach, on that strengthens both the bottom line and your internal experience. It will include a transparent look at your organization’s funding model, fundraising style and culture of engagement.

Walking the Talk: Leading to Align Your Organization’s Culture—Inside and Out
Rob Weinberg, Kenissa
You are building an organization because of your passion for a cause or a purpose. But how can you make sure your organization’s culture—both as experienced by those who work there and those who engage with your work—expresses the values and purpose that animate your organization? This session will unpack organizational culture—what it is, how it forms and changes, and what you can do as a leader to bring (or keep) your organization’s “walk” in alignment with its “talk.”

12:30 pm LUNCH and BREAK

2:00 pm TZEDEK/SOCIAL JUSTICE and CHOCHMA/WISDOM
Workshops focused on capacity building in two portals:

Tzedek: Ilu Finu: Water, Torah & the Evolution of a Campaign
Rabbi Alana Alpert, Executive Director, Jews for Justice Detroit
When Rabbi Alana Alpert moved to Detroit in the summer of 2014, the city shut off the water of 100,000 residents. Learn how relationship-building, research, base-building, mobilizing, Jewish learning, and an anthem is helping DJJ to become a leader in a statewide struggle for water justice.

Chochma: The Three Mems: Bridges from Ancient Wisdom to A New Vision of Connectivity
Rabbi Natan Margalit, Founder and Principal, Organic Torah Institute
We explore three core Jewish concepts: Minyan, Mikdash and Mitzvah, as they connect us to new paradigm systems thinking principles, making Torah study vibrant, creative and alive with relevance to our activism and community building.

3:30 pm BREAK

4:00 pm INTEGRATING THE DAY

  • Application in Home Teams
  • Introduction to Communities of Practice
  • Networking

5:30 BREAK

6:30 pm DINNER

7:30 pm DEEPENING LEADERSHIP THROUGH COMMUNITY
Peer Connection and Coaching

TUESDAY DECEMBER 5

7 am MORNING GATHERING

8 am BREAKFAST

9 am LEADING ADAPTIVELY

Using Adaptive Leadership, teams will explore how adaptive challenges show up in their work, how to make hypotheses about those challenges and then develop interventions that build toward solutions.

Networking Time

10:345am COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE

11:30 am TAKING IT FORWARD

  • Opportunities with Kenissa
  • Home Teams: Next Steps
  • Closing Circle

12:30 pm LUNCH and DEPARTURE

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