sid.schwarz Articles, Megatrends Book Tour building spiritual communities, communities of meaning, emerging Jewish communities, new paradigm, social entrepreneurship
Twice in the past year I have published articles in eJP to introduce the work of the New Paradigm Spiritual Communities Initiative. Last week we had our second annual National Consultation, welcoming another 50 “creatives” into this unique network and we used the opportunity to re-brand the project as Kenissa: Communities of Meaning Network (http://www.kenissa.org/). […]
sid.schwarz Articles Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation, community service, ELI Talks, Haiti, Jewish Civics, Jewish service missions, PANIM, Repair the World
Community service in the Jewish community has come a long way. I had the privilege of being on the ground level in the 1990’s when the Jewish community got on the bandwagon. The passage of the National and Community Service Trust Act was signed into law in 1993 by President Bill Clinton. Building on the […]
sid.schwarz Articles, Sermons and Speeches Abraham Joshua Heschel, Beloved Community, Black History Month, racism, white privilege
Note: These are excerpts of remarks at a Shabbat morning service at Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation (Bethesda, MD) which featured many elements marking Black History Month. Two weeks ago, I was at a conference in New York City sponsored by T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights. It was called “No Time for Neutrality” […]
sid.schwarz Articles leadership, professional education, rabbis, synagogue transformation
A few weeks ago I was at a, first of its kind, gathering in Austin, TX. The leaders of more than ten national religious denominations came together to explore why their congregations were losing membership so rapidly over the last decade. The gathering included leadership from the Methodists, Episcopalians, United Church of Christ, Lutherans, Unitarian […]
sid.schwarz Articles cosmic unity, holiness, Mussar, Shma, social justice, spirituality
This year’s winner of the National Jewish Book Award in the category of Contemporary Jewish Life and Practice is a book titled Changing the World from the Inside Out: A Jewish Approach to Personal and Social Change by Rabbi David Jaffe. The book is an inspiring integration of Musar literature and practice with numerous examples […]
sid.schwarz Articles covenantal community, Jewish innovation, Jewish Megatrends, new paradigm, spiritual community
In 1967 Buffalo Springfield issued an anti-Vietnam War song called “For What It’s Worth” that began with, “There’s something happening here. What it is, ain’t exactly clear.” The lyric expresses what I was observing in the Jewish communal landscape over the last decade that inspired me to write Jewish Megatrends: Charting the Course of the […]
sid.schwarz Articles authoritarianism, democracy, Donald Trump, Glass ceiling, Kristallnacht, political activism, Thomas Jefferson
Trauma is everywhere. I know. My experience would not be shared if I lived in Youngstown, OH; Lansing, MI; or Green Bay, WI. But I don’t. I live in suburban Washington DC and I am a rabbi who works with and among Jews. My synagogue was packed on the shabbat after the election. Many came […]
sid.schwarz Sermons and Speeches activism, human rights, moral courage, role models, social justice, Soviet Jewry
For many years, the organization that I led-PANIM- ran 4-day seminars on Jewish values and social activism for teens who came to Washington D.C. from around the country. When I would speak to the students, my lead-off question would be: Who are your spiritual heroes? It was a question that gave pause. Most American teens […]
sid.schwarz Articles Elie Wiesel, human rights, moral witness, political activism, Soviet Jewry
Although I had the privilege of hearing Elie Wiesel speak at least a dozen times and had the opportunity to once have a private meeting with him in conjunction with a book that I was writing, my thoughts about him actually relate to how much impact he had on those who never met the man. […]
sid.schwarz Articles American Jewish life, building spiritual communities, Jewish spirituality, new paradigm, social entrepreneurship
During the first week of March some 60 people gathered under the aegis of a new national initiative called the New Paradigm Spiritual Communities Initiative (NPSCI). NPSCI is sponsored by Clal: The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership as part of its mission to make Jewish into a public good. Funded by the William […]