Rabbis Without Borders
A New Initiative of CLAL - The National Jewish Center
for Learning and Leadership
 

In America today, Jewish influence can be felt throughout our culture ─ from movies, television, and books, to politics, business, and art. As the primary teachers, creators and mediators of Jewish thought and practice, rabbis are the most important developers and disseminators of Jewish wisdom. At present, however, rabbis often don’t communicate in ways that make Jewish wisdom useful and meaningful to most Americans.

Purpose

The American Jewish community needs rabbis who remain deeply committed to synagogues and Jewish institutions, but who also appreciate that life goes beyond these walls. Rabbis Without Borders seeks to position rabbis as American religious leaders and spiritual innovators who contribute Jewish wisdom to the American spiritual landscape. Its mission is to nurture and develop a network of rabbis who are seen as American religious leaders capable of conveying Jewish wisdom in accessible and significant ways to improve people’s lives. By developing this capacity, rabbis will be immeasurably better teachers and builders of vibrant Jewish life and communities, and Jewish wisdom will contend in the marketplace of ideas for the attention of anyone seeking greater meaning and purpose.

Goal

The goal is to create a network of between 200 and 300 rabbis in ten years. The first step will be to establish a highly selective rabbinic program focusing on rabbis who are already primed to make Judaism meaningful in the public sphere  a group that will represent Rabbis Without Borders at its best. This pioneer group will serve as role models and teachers both inside and outside of the Jewish community. We will add to this group by creating a training program for rabbis who want to reach a broad audience but who may not have the communication skills or resources to do so. These rabbis will gain the proficiency and tools through several training methods including one-on-one mentoring, group retreats, and consultations with professionals in a variety of fields to strengthen their knowledge of the American societal and cultural scene to better see where Jewish thought can contribute. Through the Rabbi Without Borders initiative, rabbis will learn how to craft their teaching of Jewish wisdom so that it will bring meaning and purpose to individuals’ lives.

In addition, we will create a three-year program for rabbinical school students. The first year introductory Beit Midrash learning series will be open to all rabbinical school students who want to learn how to better address issues in contemporary American life. The selective second-year intensive internship will be parallel to the rabbinic training program. Like the rabbis, students will gain the skills and resources they need to make Jewish wisdom accessible and meaningful by experiencing one-on-one mentoring, group retreats, and consultations with professionals in other fields who can educate the students about a variety of issues facing 21st century Americans. For the third year, students will be asked to submit proposals for a specific project that they would like to develop to make Jewish wisdom accessible and meaningful in new and innovative ways. The most creative and inspiring proposals will be developed with the help and support of Rabbis Without Borders and CLAL.

Jewish tradition has so much wisdom to offer to help us lead fuller, more meaningful lives. Strengthening rabbis’ abilities to disseminate this wisdom will benefit both the Jewish people and the world at large.

Director

Rabbi Rebecca W. Sirbu, Director of Rabbis Without Borders, is a graduate of the Jewish Theological Seminary and a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Vassar College. She is the founding director of the MetroWest Jewish Health and Healing Center and the Center for Jewish Life, both at JCC MetroWest in New Jersey; and of Rimon: Collaborative Jewish Learning, an adult Jewish learning program involving 40 partner institutions and synagogues from across the denominational spectrum. Rabbi Sirbu has presented on Jewish healing and spirituality at several national conferences and is a partner at the Kalsman Institute for Judaism and Health, a program of Hebrew Union College. A trained hospital chaplain and pastoral counselor, she is an excellent communicator, teacher, community organizer, and manager.

Rabbi Irwin Kula, the President of CLAL, is a respected religious leader, teacher, lecturer, and commentator, he is the author of Yearnings: Embracing the Sacred Messiness of Life, winner of a "Books for a Better Life Award," and selected as one of the "10 Best Spiritual Books of 2006," which was featured in the public TV special, "The Hidden Wisdom of Our Yearnings." Listed two years in a row as one of the nation’s 50 most influential rabbis in Newsweek, Rabbi Kula was named one of the new leaders to watch on the American spiritual landscape by Fast Company magazine and "Religion and Ethics Newsweekly" (PBS). A regular on The Today Show, he hosted his own public TV series, Simple Wisdom, and was featured in the acclaimed film, Time for a New God. A nationally recognized speaker who appears frequently in the media, he has worked with such luminaries as Queen Noor and the Dalai Lama on compassionate leadership, and was featured in PBS-TV’s "Frontline: Faith and Doubt at Ground Zero." He is a blogger for the Washington Post/Newsweek—On Faith online column.