Originally published on eJewish Philanthropy

In his eJewish Philanthropy post last month, Toward Creativity: A Theological Goal for Jewish Education, Rabbi Daniel Lehmann raises the question of the overarching purpose of Jewish life. He argues, Judaism calls on the human being, and the Jew in particular, to emulate Gods creative nature and to become a creative being. He then explains that if we take this theological proposition as a fundamental goal of Jewish living, it becomes a necessary focus of Jewish education. Meaning, our institutions of Jewish education need to foster and train individuals to achieve the ultimate purpose of Jewish life, in this case, they must help train people to tap into and unleash individual and communal creativity.

While we are not convinced that creativity is the ultimate goal of Jewish living, we do agree with Rabbi Lehmann that it is a necessary tool toward achieving the array of potential answers to the questions that face us as a community: What does it mean to live a Jewish life in the 21st century? What does it gift us? What does it demand of us? And we agree that it is critical that we think very deliberately about the concrete links between the relationship the next generation will have with Jewish life, and the environments of growth we foster for them. This is no small challenge, and we could benefit, as Rabbi Lehmann suggests, from increased creativity as we tackle it.

The following article appeared on November 12, 2012 on The Covenant Foundation website. 

Baltimore Nov. 12, 2012 Five promising Jewish educators are the 2012 recipients of The Covenant Foundations Pomegranate Prize for their exceptionalism as emerging professionals in Jewish educational settings across the country.   

Recipients, representing a range of educational venues, activities and approaches, are:  Maya Bernstein, Strategic Design Officer at UpStart Bay Area in San Francisco; Rabbi Eliav Bock, Founding Director of Ramah Outdoor Adventure at Ramah in the Rockies in Denver; Rabbi Nicole Greninger, Director of Education at Temple Isaiah in Lafayette, CA; Rabbi Barry Kislowicz, Head of School at Fuchs Mizrachi School in Beachwood, OH; and Sarah Lefton, Founding Executive Director of G-dcast in San Francisco.

The Foundation named the newest recipients of the Pomegranate Prize at its annual award ceremony here today during the General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America. 

We know that encouragement early on in a persons career can make all the difference in their success, said Keating Crown, a member of the Foundations founding family, as he introduced the Pomegranate Award recipients to hundreds of Jewish lay, communal and educational leaders gathered at the event.

Our goal with this Prize is to provide the means for these already remarkable educators to further develop their skills and interests, and have the chance to get to know others who, like themselves, are bringing fresh new ideas and abundant energy to the field of Jewish education, he said.

We were thrilled to host Slingshot at our office the first weekend in November as they launched their 2012-2013 Slingshot guide on the West Coast. 

The following is an article from eJewish Philanthropy.

Slingshot presents the eighth annual edition of Slingshot: A Resource Guide for Jewish Innovation, featuring 50 inspirational organizations, in Jewish life in North America. Fourteen additional organizations have been identified as the Standard Bearers, having been previously listed in at least five editions of Slingshot. These Standard Bearers continue to exemplify Slingshots core criteria of innovation, impact, leadership and organizational efficacy.