Counseling and Congregational Dynamics
Counseling and Congregational Dynamics
| Name of Member | Category E.g., By-laws, board development, boundaries, counseling issue, ethics, fund-raising, public relations, etc. |
Brief Description |
| Goldie Milgram | Ethics | Principles of Rebbetude: Paper written for Bard College Conference on Neo-Hassidism. Gives 39 principles to guide ethics and practice of renewal clergy. |
| Rabbi Moshe ben Asher & Magidah Khulda bat Sarah | Congregational Dynamics | Links to a large collection of resources |
36 RULES FOR KILLING CONGREGATIONS—Updated and expanded list of tongue-in-cheek rules for killing congregational community organizations. (3 pp.) http://www.gatherthepeople.org/Downloads/KILLING_CONGREGATIONS.pdf BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE—Proposes that Jewish congregations are meant to be spiritual communities, historically dedicated to sacred purposes, not homes of one-day-a-week "religion," which is more than most congregationally affiliated Jews want to live, leaving them stuck between a rock and a hard place, immobilized by careerism, materialism, sensuality, and spiritualism, which can only be displaced by authentic congregational community that offers the opportunity to move away from spiritual slavery and towards spiritual freedom. (2 pp.) [BESHALACH] BUILDING CONGREGATIONAL UNITY—Considers traditional teachings that bear on healing congregational divisions, and the importance of gemilut khasadim, kriat Torah, and po'eil tzedek in fostering congregational unity. (2 pp.) [VAYAKHEL] BUILDING SPIRITUAL COMMUNITIES—Notes that in most congregations a handful of people are carrying the load, the commonplace failed idea that the synagogue has to be "entertaining" to attract participation, recognition of potential synagogue spiritual strengths as revealed in the offerings of the ancient Temple, and strategic and tactical implications for building up contemporary congregations as spiritual communities. (2 pp.) [SHEMINI] CONGREGATIONAL POLITICAL ACTION—Distinguishes between (1) a rabbi exhorting a congregation to political action based on his or her ideology or interest, and (2) a congregation exploring and acting on an issue in the larger community that can affect the lives of its members, the case of a local ballot initiative affecting commercial development in a small town, related teachings from the tradition, and understanding when halakhah is l'maaseh, not for intellectual stimulation but doing. (2 pp.) [MASEI] CONSECRATING ONESELF AS A SANCTUARY—Asks why so many Jews are rejecting Judaism and congregational life, describes the two most common models of liberal congregations, and explains what parasha Terumah proposes as a picture of spiritual community, particularly the idea that the sanctuary is not holy in itself but an edifice with the primary role of teaching how to live according to God's will, which in turn is a model for making ourselves into sanctuaries of God. (3 pp.) [TERUMAH] FESTIVALS CELEBRATE OUR CONNECTION—Acknowledges the lack of attendance at synagogue services by most congregants, the history and conditions for joyous festival celebrations at the ancient Temple in Jerusalem, and the potential for revitalizing shalosh regalim as joyous celebrations connecting contemporary Jews with one another, with Torah, and with God. (2 pp.) [REEH] FINDING GOD—IN NATURE OR COMMUNITY?—Points out the modern religious axiom that the synagogue service doesn’t compare to praying outdoors in the beauty of nature, that the bamot or "high places" were forbidden when there was a central sanctuary, that the prohibition reflected an understanding of bamot as places to pour out personal thoughts and feelings rather than take in Torah teachings, effectively promoting autonomy in life-decisions rather than reliance on the Torah vision and path, and that living according to Torah we understand the purposes of choosing the synagogue over nature: to learn and teach God’s will, to discern it in the liturgy, Torah readings, and divrei Torah, and to more effectively seek its realization as a community. (2 pp.) [REEH] HACHNASAT ORCHIM—INVITING THE STRANGER INTO THE CONGREGATIONAL FAMILY—Proposes a guided fantasy in which the reader becomes Isaiah in ancient Jerusalem, witnessing the routine life of the Temple juxtaposed with indifference to poverty and sickness in the streets, with a challenge to think about how we can bring people back to the Torah and congregational life through hachnasat orchim. (1 p.) [VAYEIRA IS RITUAL REALLY RELEVANT?—Acknowledges that modern people often believe that much of Torah's description of ritual is irrelevant, but that there is a deep, potentially redeeming connection between Torah ritual and the social dysfunction and disease in contemporary society, particularly wrongdoing done in secret by powerful leaders, and the importance of ritual in communicating as a community with ourselves about what we value most and how to protect it. (3 pp.) [REEH] KEEPING TORAH AT THE CENTER—Questions why congregations allow members and leaders to undermine their unity and comity, the spiritual and social effects of not keeping Torah at the center of community life, the impacts of ranking personal autonomy as the highest social value, and the necessity for uniting in common purpose. (2 p.) [TERUMAH] KORACH'S REBELLION OF INFORMAL LEADERS—Suggests that what Korach "took" (vayikach Korach) was the opening created by the spies "evil report" to launch a revolt, that he recruited informal leaders as organizers and agitators, the means he used to appeal to them, his own interests and modus operandi, how and why Moses responded as he did, and the lessons offered for contemporary congregational policies and practices affecting informal leaders. (3 pp.) [KORACH] LET'S LOOK FOR A WAY OUT TOGETHER—Proposes that High Holy Days may be used productively to search for and act out the highest and best parts of ourselves, the fears that keep us from teshuvah, the basis in hope and faith to overcome our fears, and the value of acting with others in a congregational community. (2 pp.) [HIGH HOLY DAYS] A NEW LEADERSHIP RECRUITING POSTER—Introduces the idea that congregational leadership development requires focusing not primarily on recruiting methods but on the substance of leadership roles, and that Joseph offers a model of leadership qualities. (2 pp.) [MIKEITZ] OPPONENTS OF JEWISH REVITALIZATION—Points out that the particulars of Torah are largely unknown to a majority of modern Jews, including those who are congregationally affiliated, that abandonment of the tradition without knowing it is often defined as "progress," the incremental consequences of alienation from Torah, and the potential for ignorance of Torah to nurture fifth columns and factions within congregations that are covertly committed to subverting efforts to strengthen the congregation as a moral spiritual community. (2 pp.) [BECHUKOTAI] SPIRITUALLY STRIVING UPWARDS TO GOD—Describes the modern revulsion at the idea of ritual sacrifice, the contemporary search for spirituality, the actual symbolic purposes of the ancient sacrificial rites, which form the foundation of Jewish spirituality and prayer, and which entail striving upwards to God in daily life, and the role of a congregational community in achieving that aim. (3 pp.) [PINCHAS] THE TEMPLE IS NOT HOLY—Notes that Jewish history reveals spiritual confusion when we build temples of brick and mortar, the raison d'être of the ancient Temple, the symbolic roles of its furnishings in achieving its spiritual purposes, the necessity of integrating the Temple and the day-to-day life of the people, and the recognition that the Temple is not holy in itself, but a teaching guide to the sole source of holiness—the Torah. (2 pp.) [PEKUDEI] Articles published elsewhere can also be found on our Congregational Development Resources page at http://www.gatherthepeople.org/Pages/Dlprayers.htm |