Elad Nehorai
It was a fascinating experience to read Sid Schwarz’s essay. It was, in many ways, like being able to see so much of what I’ve experienced on an intuitive level, written out and explained. And, in that sense, it very much helped me understand the role I believe Hevria has in the Jewish world’s future. […]
Kohenet Annie Matan
I am a freelance Spiritual Leader and Founder of Matanot Lev (Gifts of the Heart), a radically inclusive Jewish community in Toronto. I specialize in creating and facilitating sacred experiences through a Jewish lens for people of all backgrounds. I widen the gateways of access to Jewish community, helping seekers find welcome and wisdom in […]
Elan Margulies
In the last twenty years, more than 100,000 Jewish children, teachers and young adults have participated in the transformative experience of Teva: immersing themselves in the rhythms of the natural world, learning about the Jewish values of stewardship, and developing a deep commitment to tikkun olam. Kedusha-Lives of Sacred Purpose The program integrates the study […]
Leora Mallach
At its heart, Beantown Jewish Gardens is a community-building organization. The proposition of kehillah/community, therefore resonates most with the work we do. We are making connections among the greater Boston Jewish community- between congregations, across affiliations, denominations, and age cohorts. Beantown Jewish Gardens (Ganei Beantown) is building community through experiential food and agriculture education rooted […]
Naomi Malka
The thesis in Rabbi Sid Schwarz’s introduction to Jewish Megatrends implies that generations of Jews who came of age in the 1980s and beyond lack a central, defining reason to affiliate with the Jewish community or even to carry a primary identity as a Jew. Previous generations were profoundly affected by seminal events in world […]
Jeff Levy-Lyons
The Schwarz essay feels right on target for addressing the challenges of modern Jewish institutions. It also aligns well with the work I’m doing on the climate crisis and the ways in which I see that work being healthy for the Jewish people. I sit on the steering committee the Jewish Climate Action Network (JCAN) […]
Rabbi Aaron Levy
In founding Makom: Creative Downtown Judaism in 2009 and in my ongoing work to nurture the growth and evolution of this grassroots Toronto community, I have aimed to instantiate – albeit to varying extents – all four of Rabbi Sid’s four propositions for a “renaissance of Jewish life”: wisdom/chochma, social justice/tzedek, community/kehillah, and sacred purpose/kedusha. […]
William Levin
At Alliance Community Reboot (ACRe) we adhere to all four propositions in Rabbi Schwarz’s essay—Wisdom/Chochma, Social Justice/Tzedek, Community/Kehillah and Sacred Purpose/Kedusha. As an agricultural initiative with roots in Jewish history, there is a natural inclination to promote social justice through sustainable farming practices. Our first biggest challenge is transitioning 50 acres of land from conventional […]
Stephanie Levin
At the Peninsula Jewish Community Center (PJCC), our work aligns with all of the value propositions outlined by Rabbi Sid Schwarz. The entirety of our work can be encapsulated in the four proposition though it is most closely aligned with the values of tzedek (social justice) and kehillah (community). Our Gan Tzedek (Justice Garden) program […]
Greg Lawrence
There are elements of each of Rabbi Sid’s four propositions by which The Tribe is founded, driven, and continually serves its Millennial community in Greater Miami. The Tribe embodies Wisdom/Chochmah both through rabbinically led text interpretation and by DIY Judaism, the latter of which serves to empower our volunteers with the notion that they too […]
David Krantz
In my observation, many see social justice and environmentalism as two separate things — but that is not the case at Aytzim. For us, caring about the Earth means caring about all of its inhabitants, and that includes us humans. For us, being an environmental organization requires us to be a social-justice organization. And while […]
Steffi Aronson Karp
LimmudBoston, the annual conference celebration of Jewish lifelong learning, aligns strongly with the four basic propositions of Jewish Megatrends. Additionally, over the past decade of our existence, we have discovered the potential for an area outside of the four propositions of Jewish Megatrends. I propose here a concept which could not only help to revive […]
Leah Jones
Nine years ago, Nadia Underhill and I sat next to each other at a Hanukkah Shabbat dinner that I had organized at Emanuel Congregation in Chicago as an event for Loosely Defined. Loosely Defined was a peer group for people in their 20s and 30s without children and we regularly got together to study mitzvot […]
Peter Horowitz
Many of the points brought forth in Rabbi Sid’s essay resonate with the values of Mile End Chavurah. Our community, which in the terminology of the essay, would be described as a synagogue-community, has no building and no rabbi and our programming includes equal amounts of ritual, education, and culture. Mile End Chavurah was established […]
Rabbi Dan Horwitz
In Jewish Megatrends, Rabbi Sid Schwarz posits four strategies for reinvigorating Jewish life in America. The Well’s work in Metro Detroit in many ways has been inspired by Schwarz’s strategies, and we’ve found positive impact with each of the four. Wisdom Schwarz is right that DIY is all the rage, with millenials craving authenticity, depth, […]
Rabbi Jen Gubitz
“I wish there had been more ritual at the beginning of Shabbat dinner,” their feedback resounded. After the Riverway Project at Temple Israel of Boston helped lay-leaders host an LGBTQ+ Shabbat Dinner, we surveyed participants to understand how we might work together to offer explicitly welcoming experiences to the queer Jewish community. Feedback was unanimous. […]
Bob Goldfarb
The four propositions in the Schwarz essay form a solid basis for a purposeful community animated by spiritual values. Wisdom, justice, and community are essential for any society, and the dimension of the transcendent situates their source in God. At the same time, those values become problematic when Jews are collectively treated as a “market” […]
Carla Friend
My organization, Tkiya, uses participatory music experiences to help people of all ages find their unique connection to Jewish culture and to reinvigorate diverse Jewish communities. The work that we do aligns with each of Rabbi Sid’s propositions to varying degrees. Additionally, I believe that our work advances areas of Jewish life that are not […]
Deborah Fishman
I consider my work to be squarely aligned with the proposition of community/kehillah. There is no doubt in my mind that this idea mentioned in the Schwarz essay is true: Just because membership and affiliation rates in synagogues and other Jewish institutions are declining doesn’t mean that people aren’t looking for spiritual meaning. Over-use of […]
Rabbi Robin Damsky
Seven years ago, I embarked on a project that would transform my work in the rabbinate. I turned my property into an organic, edible, permaculture landscape with several goals: to address hunger issues; to decrease carbon footprint; to educate about healthy food; and to give those who are food-insecure greater ownership of their own fresh […]