Rabbi Sid Schwarz
Rabbi, social entrepreneur, non-profit CEO, author
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November 3, 2019

The Complicity Trap

sid.schwarz Articles Climate Crisis, Complicity, Donald Trump, Greta Thunberg, Holocaust, Me Too Movement, Raoul Wallenberg, Republicans, Rescue of Danish Jewry, Yom Kippur

Because it is Kol Nidre, it seems appropriate to start with a confession. But my confession will be made much easier based on an informal poll of the room: How many of you read Superman comic books when you were growing up?  My confession: At the age of 10, I avoided books like the plague […]

May 8, 2019

Re-Imagining Jewish Communal Life

sid.schwarz Articles creativity, innovation, Jewish community, Kenissa, portals of Jewish life, re-imagining Jewish communal life

I have spent a considerable amount of my professional time over the past twenty years in the field of synagogue transformation. In my book, Finding a Spiritual Home: How a New Generation of Jews can Transform the American Synagogue, I argued that the American synagogue was stuck in a model that developed in the two […]

February 20, 2019

Jews with a Mission

sid.schwarz Articles community service, developing world, Haiti, Jewish education, Jewish service missions, Jewish spirituality, service learning, tikkun olam

When I accepted an invitation from the Israeli organization, Tevel B’Tzedek, to travel to Haiti a few months after the devastating earthquake in 2010 and to do some teaching for their disaster-relief team on the ground, little did I know that it would lead to one of the most fulfilling projects of my rabbinic career. […]

October 22, 2018

Confronting Patriarchy

sid.schwarz Articles Christine Blasy Ford, feminism, human dignity, Kavanaugh nomination, MeToo Movement, oppression of women, Patriarachy, tzelem elohim

The testimony of Christine Blasy Ford to the Senate Judiciary Committee followed by that of Brett Kavanaugh captured the attention of the nation. We know that the surfacing of various accusations against Brett Kavanaugh by several women and the corroboration of his party-going and beer drinking during high school and college was not sufficient to […]

October 13, 2018

Staying Sane in a World Gone Mad

sid.schwarz Sermons and Speeches American civic division, assault on truth, chesed, erosion of American democracy, healing the American divide, kindness, Mr. Rogers

It seems appropriate to begin a Kol Nidre sermon with a small confession. The standard conversation starter in American society is: “How are you doing?” How many times are you asked that question each year? Hundreds of times. Maybe more. There probably is an App that can count it, but please don’t tell me what […]

June 22, 2018

Jewish Communities of Meaning: Ideas Matter

sid.schwarz Articles communities of meaning, emerging Jewish communities, innovation, intentional communities, Jewish community, Jewish identity, social entrepreneurship

I recently was invited to make a presentation to deans from eight different rabbinical seminaries. The topic was how to better equip their students with some tools so that they can be more successful at driving innovation in the institutions that they will serve in the future. I observed that when I founded a synagogue […]

May 11, 2018

Faith and Service in Haiti

sid.schwarz Articles community building, developing world, Haiti, Jews, Jews with hammers, service learning

When I accepted an invitation from the Israeli organization, Tevel B’Tzedek, to travel to Haiti about a year after the devastating earthquake in 2010 to do some teaching for their disaster relief team on the ground, little did I know that it would lead to one of the most fulfilling projects of my rabbinic career. […]

April 28, 2018

Outside In: Jewish Education that Matters

sid.schwarz Articles activism, civics, Jewish education, Jewish teens, PANIM, social justice, social responsibility, tikkun olam

Jon Woocher and I both grew up on the South Shore of Long Island. His father was my childhood dentist and our parents were friends. Ironically, we did not know each other from our childhood; we only discovered that connection when we began to collaborate as professionals. Even before I knew Jon, his book, Sacred […]

March 28, 2018

The Passover Spirit-Compassion First

sid.schwarz Sermons and Speeches African refugees, Asylum seekers, compassion, human rights, Israel, Passover, social justice

Note: These were remarks given at a Pre-Passover Vigil held in front of the Embassy of Israel in Washington D.C. on March 27, 2018. I am Rabbi Sid Schwarz. I am the founding rabbi of Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation in Bethesda, MD; a life-long Zionist and a Board member of Truah: The Rabbinic Call for […]

November 30, 2017

It is Called “Covenantal Community”

sid.schwarz Articles communal thickness, covenantal community, Finding a Spiritual Home, Jewish Megatrends, social capital, synagogues

We should appreciate David Cygielman for introducing the broad eJP audience to the notion of communal “thickness” in his 11/13/17 post. As was noted in the response by Rabbi Michael Holzman, this is not a new concept. Well before the David Brooks’ column in the New York Times, sociologists have sought ways to measure the […]

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