Announcing the Keruv/Outreach Library: Best practices in creating welcoming Jewish congregational communities
With tremendous excitement, we are launching the Keruv/Outreach page on the JRF website; a center for collective wisdom and experience in models, programs and resources for best practices in creating welcoming Jewish congregational communities. We welcome you to visit www.jrf.org/keruv-library, review the wealth of resources and models, and contribute your own.
The site is a product of two years of intensive, creative work connected to the JRF NY/NJ region's Kehillah Kedoshah: Every Voice Matters Keruv/Outreach project.
We are enormously grateful to UJA Federation of New York for funding this Keruv Project, to Dru Greenwood for her guidance and to Susan Leon of Bet Am Shalom Synagogue for her help in the development of the grant proposal; and to each of our Keruv pilot synagogue membership and outreach groups from: Bet Am Shalom Synagogue; Reconstructionist Synagogue of the North Shore; Kehillath Shalom Synagogue; Congregation Mishkan Ha'am; The SAJ; and West End Synagogue. These groups and their members embarked on focused work to look carefully and strategically at their congregations, and change to welcome more Jews and their families. The excellent outreach work of these and so many more congregations is reflected on the site, and we sincerely thank them for their contributions.
Most of all, we acknowledge Rabbi Hannah Greenstein, the professional leader of the Keruv project, for bringing her engaging presence and outreach expertise to each step in this important initiative.
See http://www.ujafedny.org/assets/documents/PDF/our-impact/synagogues/synergy/Synergy-Spring-Newsletter-2010.pdf for the UJA New York Federation's Synagogue "Synergy" spring 2010 newsletter on Keruv featuring Rabbi Hannah Greenstein and rabbi Shawn Zevit
We look forward to the Keruv site growing to include your congregation's experiences and resources, as it becomes an increasingly rich source of inspiration and ideas for welcoming all Jews into our communities.
