Perhaps this year the Jewish community can commit itself to taking professional development to the next level, identifying what it might threaten if it is taken seriously, and learning to tolerate some discomfort, some awkwardness, for the sake of swifter, smoother, healthier movement.

I recently invested in swimming lessons. I love to swim; it is one of my regular ways of exercising. But when an old injury began hurting each time I was in the water, and when my father shared that he'd recently torn a rotator cuff while swimming, I decided that if I am going to continue swimming, I'd better get a few pointers. At first, the lessons were fun I felt like a kid again. Then, I realized something. Each time I was in a lesson, I'd turn, stroke, and kick the way the instructor was teaching me. But each time I swam on my own, I'd revert to my old way of swimming, because it was faster, and more natural. It dawned on me that if I really were going to learn how to swim more efficiently and safely, I would have to endure an unknown period of transition time, during which I felt slow, awkward, and frustrated in the water. Since I've realized this, I've come up with every possible excuse not to swim.

There is often an aspect of loss involved in any change process.

[eJP note: This piece was published on eJP on May 13, 2009. It is as relevant today as it was then.]

Dr. Anita Friedman, Executive Director of Jewish Family and Childrens Services, the oldest charity west of the Mississippi, and one of the most innovative and successful Jewish organizations in the United States, was this months featured speaker at UpStarts Executive Director Round Table series. Bringing her stellar leadership experience of over thirty years, her sense of humor, and her honesty to the table, she wowed participants with her Yoda-like wisdom Your greatest strength is also your greatest weakness, I hated it so much that I decided to take it over, Its the difference between a Sushi Restaurant and a Cold Dead Fish Restaurant and with her genuine passion and phenomenal knowledge about making organizations thrive.

Here is her top-ten list of essentials for creating, or transforming, an organization: 

The Torah was given to people. Let us not protect it so hard. It is flexible. It is adaptable. It is resilient. It can expand, and contract. And it teaches us, after all, to put people above all.

I had the privilege of hearing Rabbi Edward Feinstein speak at The Covenant Foundations gathering of Jewish educators in Chicago last week. His topic was the one around which the entire field of Jewish communal life is currently dancing how might we successfully and meaningfully engage 21st century Jews?

He began his talk with a Rebbe Nachman of Breslov story. Once upon a time, he shared, there was a little boy who became convinced that he was a rooster. He removed his clothes, huddled under the table, refused to eat anything but rooster food, and communicated by clucking. His parents were beside themselves. They called doctors, teachers, friends, and family, but nobody could convince the boy to abandon his rooster-like ways. Finally, wringing their hands, they called the Rebbe. The Rebbe assessed the situation, and declared that he could cure the boy, though his method may be unorthodox. The parents quickly assented. The Rebbe proceeded to take off his clothes, huddle under the table, eat rooster food, and cluck. After some time, the Rebbe said to the boy: Im cold. What if we put on some human clothes? The boy responded, But were roosters! The Rebbe replied, We can be roosters who wear human clothes! The boy considered this for a moment, and concluded, Fine. That sounds reasonable. They put on clothes. More time passed. The Rebbe said to the boy, I dont like this food. What if we ate some human food? The boy responded, But were roosters! The Rebbe replied, We can be roosters who eat human food. The boy decided, Fine. That is reasonable. And so it went with the huddling under the table, and so, at last, it went with the clucking. The boy was cured.

Rabbi Feinstein used this story as the core metaphor of his talk. Good Jewish educators connect with people where they are. They get under tables. They eat rooster food. But good Jewish educators ultimately help those with rooster-like tendencies to become more human. That is the value that Judaism brings to their lives; it gets them out from under those tables. The role of the Rebbe is to guide them, step by step, towards the awareness of fuller humanity that is at the core of Jewish wisdom, and towards its embrace. Rabbi Feinstein argued that Judaism, symbolized by the Rebbe, can fill the gaping holes in peoples modern lives, holes they may not even be aware of, providing them with the authentic in the face of a culture that idolizes the entrepreneur, creating for them genuine community in a world of radical individualism.

But it is this story and what it symbolizes, which I believe is ultimately preventing the Jewish community from successfully engaging 21st century Jews. Rabbi Feinsteins read represents one line of thought that Judaism has something of tremendous value to offer human beings in general, and Jews in particular, and it is our responsibility to ensure that it is embraced by current generations, and, therefore, preserved for future generations. In this approach, whether we are comfortable admitting it or not, the Rebbes way is of greater value than the boys way; the tradition is ultimately of greater value, wiser, deeper, more true, than the people.

But there is another way to read this story. Might it be possible that the boy is onto something?

An Article from the Jewish Week August 14, 2013 by Julie Wiener What do a group of local Jewish day [...]

Have you ever seen a straight Shofar? Theres a reason why; according to Jewish law, a Shofar must be crooked. In the first chapter of his Laws of Shofar, Sukkah, and Lulav, Maimonides writes:

An Editorial from the Jweekly August 8, 2013 by Zelig Golden While often providing a meaningful initiation into Judaism, today's [...]

An article from the Jweekly

G-dcast announced this week that its latest animated app one that teaches kids how to make challah and partake in the Jewish rituals surrounding it is available to download for free in the App Store. 

Lets Bake Challah! is the S.F.-based nonprofits fifth app, but the first designed for 3- to 6-year-olds. Kids using their parents smartphone or iPad get to interact by doing things such as dragging ingredients into a mixing bowl, rolling out dough and braiding the challah. Optional parental settings include prayers, lessons about rituals and a male or female voice.

UpStart Bay Area, the S.F.-based nonprofit that supports up-and-coming Jewish social entrepreneurs, welcomed three new groups into its cohort this month, while transitioning five current UpStarter organizations to alumni status meaning theyve proven to be sustainable organizations on their own. The new groups cover a wide scope of interests.

As a sector-within-a-sector, the Jewish innovation space must work together if we are to achieve maximal impact. Important conversations about growth, sustainability, and impact cannot take place exclusively behind the closed-doors of boardrooms or within the four walls of any one organization.