A Conversation with… Editors of “Nondenominational Judaism”

Posted by: Andrew Schulman | Posted on

AJRCA President Rabbi Mel recently sat down with AJRCA faculty members Cantor Jonathan L. Friedmann and Joel Gereboff, two of the three editors (along with AJRCA co-founder Rabbi Steve Robbins) of the new book, “Nondenominational Judaism: Perspectives on Pluralism and Inclusion in 21st-Century Jewish Professional Education.”

The book includes essays from faculty, administrators and alumni from AJRCA and other institutions, sharing their personal, academic and philosophical reflections being part of a pluralistic Jewish setting.

During this conversation, Friedmann and Gereboff share not only some of the topics covered and their goals for this work, but also delve into how AJRCA, as a nondenominational institution, handles both academic and spiritual participation when faculty and students all bring their own perspectives and expectations.

We hope you enjoy this insightful discussion!

 

 

If you’d like to help support AJRCA’s work in training Jewish leaders to transform their communities into places where all Jews can grow toward spiritual wholeness and well-being, please make a contribution here.

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Perspectives on the 2020 High Holy Days – Overview

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At this point, saying that 2020 is unprecedented nothing new. It might even be an understatement.

But when it comes to how Jewish congregations — and their clergy — experienced the High Holy Days, there is really no precedent.

With all of the talk before the holidays about how synagogues and others were preparing for what normally are some of their most sacred — and highly attended — events, we reached out to members of our community after their conclusion to see how things went, how they were different and what they learned.

(more…)

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Perspectives on the 2020 High Holy Days – Part 1

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This post is part of our series: Perspectives on the 2020 High Holy Days. (Click here to see a list of all the posts in this series.)

In this post, we hear from members of the AJRCA community about how their synagogue approached the High Holy Days this year as compared to previous years.

As you might imagine, we received responses that run the gamut, from fully recorded online, to livestreamed online to live, socially-distanced in-person services. Here is a sampling: (more…)

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Perspectives on the 2020 High Holy Days – Part 2

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This post is part of our series: Perspectives on the 2020 High Holy Days. (Click here to see a list of all the posts in this series.)

In this post, we hear from members of the AJRCA community about how the attendance at their services and activities this year (online and in-person).

If you attended services (either virtually or in-person), you may have noticed a difference in the size of the audience this year — and our responses mostly supported that. Here is a sampling: (more…)

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Perspectives on the 2020 High Holy Days – Part 3

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This post is part of our series: Perspectives on the 2020 High Holy Days. (Click here to see a list of all the posts in this series.)

In this post, we hear from members of the AJRCA community about how their personal preparation for the Holidays was different this year.

The variety in the responses we received was incredible, and largely depended on the approach to the Holidays as a whole.  Here is a sampling: (more…)

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Perspectives on the 2020 High Holy Days – Part 4

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This post is part of our series: Perspectives on the 2020 High Holy Days. (Click here to see a list of all the posts in this series.)

In this post, members of the AJRCA community share their key takeaways from this HHD season.

Since services were delivered in so many different ways — almost all of them a departure from the norm — we were all learners this year! (more…)

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Rabbi Mark Diamond

A Conversation with… Rabbi Mark Diamond

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Rabbi Mel recently sat down with AJRCA Faculty and Board member Rabbi Mark Diamond to discuss the release of his new book. Rabbi Diamond is the co-editor of “Understanding Covenants and Communities: Jews and Latter-Day Saints in Dialogue.” This book comes out of the Jewish–Latter-day Saint Academic Dialogue Project, a groundbreaking interfaith encounter between these two religious communities and it addresses themes including theological foundations, sacred scriptures, lived experience and worship, and culture and politics.

Please click below for an edited version of their conversation.

If you’d like to help support AJRCA’s work in training Jewish leaders to transform their communities into places where all Jews can grow toward spiritual wholeness and well-being, please make a contribution here.

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