A Call to Action: A Defining Moment for Reform Jewish Leadership

This coming week, as the CCAR gathers in Chicago for its 136 annual Conference, there are numerous challenges but also opportunities that face the American rabbinate.

This is the essential moment for the Central Conference of American Rabbis, requiring it to be a strategic and public player in moving our community forward. At no other time, since the period of the Second World War, will our clergy play such a critical role, being called upon to be thought leaders, active defenders of our democracy, and visionary voices for Israel, our movement, and the Jewish people.

The Power of Self: Our community needs to acknowledge the extraordinary pressures and challenges that our rabbis have experienced since COVID and beyond.  No doubt, especially since October 7^th, rabbis have been called upon to provide sustained support and leadership not only to their congregants but well beyond.  The American rabbinate ought to be recognized for its resiliency, leadership, creativity, and commitment.  In these unprecedented times, in the aftermath of a pandemic, the hostage crisis, and more, our rabbis will require the support of their communities in allowing them time to refocus on their own emotional well-being and spiritual resiliency.

Embracing Your Colleagues: In this moment, rabbis will need to support their colleagues, some of whom are under intense pressure and criticism for their activist leadership voices, while others face criticism for remaining silent. In difficult and uncertain periods, rabbis are often targeted either for their proactive roles or find themselves caught between political factions, choosing to remain outside the swirl of public discord.

Moral Conscience:  In this worsening storm where democracy is under attack, we desperately need, even require, the rekindling of Reform Judaism’s prophetic leadership in support of marginalized communities. This methodical dismantling of liberal society is antithetical to Reform Judaism and its values. Summoning their courage and strengthening their prophetic voice, our clergy must call out injustice.

Our rabbis can only pursue this challenge when they have the space to heal and the opportunity to gather, think and act collectively.  They should demand that Jewish organizations shed their silence in acting in defense of democracy, our citizens, and the institutions of government.

Voices of Leadership with Israel: Our rabbinic community will need to work collaboratively with educators and historians to rethink in a nuanced manner the Israel and Zionist story, especially for our young people.  We will need to project a democratic, Jewish Israel that engenders liberty for all who live there. Their work here must be in collaboration with the Israeli Reform movement in order to strengthen its voice and role.

Along with others,  their shared voices will be required in offering a critique to the bankrupt state of Israeli politics in advancing the case for a renewed commitment in strengthening democracy, a pathway forward for peace, and a call for accountability on the part of the Israel government as it must revisit its own conduct since the 7^th of October (2023).

Reflections on the American Synagogue: The American rabbinate, along with our laity, will need to be the key voices in rethinking the role and place of the American synagogue as part of re-imaging Judaism in the 21^st Century. In order to ensure the future, we will collectively need to shed our fears and experiment in re-making the synagogue, our “sacred home.”

Commitment to our Movement: Our congregants are looking to their rabbis to reimagine our movement, both by joining the efforts of Recharging Reform Judaism but also by adding their own personal and collective visions and expectations toward re-engineering how our movement can and must serve liberal Judaism. Not only must we strengthen our efforts here in North America but also support the work of our movement across the globe.

Rethinking Community:  In this era in which Jews feel more isolated and alone than at any time in modern times, rabbinic leadership will be essential in rebuilding interfaith connections and encouraging these coalitions to speak out against hatred and anti-Semitism.  Our rabbis can be instrumental, as well, in forging intra-Jewish connections, as we seek to collectively engage and heal our divided communities.

These and other challenges not only face our rabbinic leaders but also require all of us to be a part of this age of advocacy and collective activism.