Building a Better BJ
BJ strives to be a sacred community, a place where each of us can address authentic questions of life in partnership with our fellow members. Our tradition teaches us that this quest for meaning does not and cannot take place alone. It must be undertaken within a community. And to have the power to change our lives, and through our lives the world, that community must be more than a group of like-minded individuals. To be truly transformative, it must be a kehillah kedoshah, a sacred community.
Over the years the BJ community has reflected on and taken steps to further this vision and it will continue to do so in the future. The reports below provide a window into these ongoing efforts.
Community Building Initiative (CBI) 2008-2009 Full Report
April 2009
In September 2008, B’nai Jeshurun (BJ) embarked on the Community Building Initiative (CBI) in order to assess and improve upon the internal strength and development of its members’ bonds with one another and with the community as a whole. BJ staff member Guy Austrian and a team of four graduate students from the Capstone Program of New York University’s Wagner School of Public Service engaged the community in extensive internal and external research, including one-on-one interviews, house meetings, a congregation-wide survey, interviews with other synagogues, and a literature review. The team produced a series of findings about BJ, categorized by congregational strengths and opportunities for improvement, and developed a list of proposals for new initiatives. Two program proposals and two infrastructure proposals were selected as priorities for implementation. This report describes the process, recommendations and results of the CBI.
Report of the Israel Task Force
March 2003
The Israel Task Force was established to explore ways that BJ could broaden and deepen its relationship to Israel. The report describes the diverse thoughts and recommendations emerging from the Israel Task Force and seeks to stimulate a community-wide extension of that dialogue. The report is organized to give an in-depth view of: the rationale for establishing the Israel Task Force, the members who participated, the discussion topics that they grappled with and questions they sought to answer, their key themes and directional recommendations, and the specific areas of inquiry to be posed for community consideration at an April 14, 2003 Community Forum.
BJ: A Model for a Revitalized Synagogue Life
May 2002
In the spring of 1999, BJ and Synagogue 2000, a transdenominational organization dedicated to synagogue renewal, began conversations about how they could work together to go beyond the more obvious and superficial explanations of BJ’s success and begin to answer some of these questions with depth and seriousness. With the generous support of the Righteous Persons Foundation, they engaged a cultural anthropologist, Dr. Ayala Fader, and an ethnomusicologist, Dr. Mark Kligman, to examine BJ’s philosophies and everyday practices ethnographically, using a combination of participant observation and in depth informal interviews. This report is based on nine months of collaborative fieldwork by Fader and Kligman undertaken between September 2000 and May 2001.
Report of the Task Force on Size and Intimacy
August 2001
Recognizing that sometimes our size feels like a hindrance in our efforts to develop a sacred community, even as we delight in the many opportunities it provides us, this report addresses how we can build a sacred community with close to 4,000 members.
Brit Lashon Hatov: Covenant for Communicating in a Kehillah Kedoshah
Spring 2001
The guidelines outlined in the Brit Lashon HaTov were an outgrowth of the work of BJ’s Communications Task Force and are intended to foster the kind of constructive communication that will truly enable us to be a kehillah kedoshah, a sacred community.
Realizing Our Vision
June 1999
This document was a roadmap that described BJ’s goals for the future and outlined a plan, with details and practical steps, for building on our success, and creating a kehillah kedoshah. It addresses both the further development needs of the congregation and the responsibility BJ’s has to model a revitalized Judaism for the rest of the Jewish world.