Month: February 2015

Everyone Needs a Lens: How Women of the Wall Became Mine

My definition of pluralism is based in the concept of b’tezelem Elohim, that we are all created in the image of God. There are many ways to be Jewish, and as I Jew I am first obligated to respect the divine spark that is in each person rather than concerning myself with the way that any one person chooses to practice.

Disrupting the Rabbinate

The rabbinate is being disrupted. Like many other fields, journalism and healthcare among them, technological and societal changes are disrupting the traditional role of a rabbi. “Disruptive innovation” is a term coined by Clay Christensen. According to Wikipedia, “a disruptive innovation is an innovation that helps create a new market and value network, and eventually disrupts an existing market and value network (over a few years or decades), displacing an earlier technology.

Seeds of Change

Here in the United States, the trees still look bare, covered with snow and not yet showing signs of spring. Yet, we can anticipate what is to come. We look to a future that, unlike the old man’s carob tree, might be months away instead of years. Organizational change is also slow, and it requires a vision of a distant future.