JRF Board of Directors

JRF Board - Critical Docs

Sherry N Rubin — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 10:23:04 -0400

Please click on the title of this section to see the list of documents available for viewing. (Click on "JRF Board Critical Docs)

JRF Board of Directors

Camp JRF Update -Summer 2008

David Nerenberg — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 23:02:51 -0400

Dear fellow JRF board members:

While it may be hard to believe, Camp JRF’s summer is already coming to a close and it has been quite a success.

Including our Hadraha campers (counselors-in-training entering their senior year of high school), we surpassed 340 camper sessions this summer, 10 more than our target. Our 300+ campers (some came for both sessions) in addition to another 70 or so staff represent about half of our affiliated communities. The 33 teens on the Noar Hadash Israel trip also stayed at camp before and after their travel abroad. Next week we will be hosting another 30 or so families participating in the Family Camp and Tikkun Olam teen-parent week of service programs. Our hope is that all of these individuals will become our marketers and recruiters.

Lest you think that is all who we touched, we also had 18 visiting faculty (13 rabbis, 4 education directors, and 1 cantor), and dozens of other lay, rabbinic, and other professional leaders visit through the summer. Additionally, a number of the staff are Israeli and many of them are returnees, having found a spiritual home for themselves.

The camp’s impact on the movement is broad and deep. From a national perspective, it is how many JRF members experience the benefit of our presence and pulls in children and families who are not members of affiliated communities. From a local perspective, each of our campers returns home with new excitement, insight, and commitment to their Jewish identity. They become assets to their communities’ efforts to build a meaningful Jewish presence.

On an individual basis, camp transforms lives. This summer, campers have been designing, constructing, and authoring their own mezuzot, reliving the creation of the State of Israel and connecting with the earth during their overnight campouts. They have played gaga (an Israeli form of dodgeball) on a new platform designed and built by perennial volunteer Clifford Goldsmith, enjoyed concerts with American Jewish rock musicians Rick Recht and Noam Katz, and enjoyed the fun of a day-long outing to a water park. They have built supportive communities and friendships as they cheered each other on when climbing Jacob’s Ladder on the ropes course. They have built confidence while experiencing the thrill of zipping across the lake on the zip line.

Their memories will last a lifetime. And through the miracle of modern communications (not just telephone and e-mail, but MySpace, Facebook, and Skype), their intensive friendships will continue well into the future.

We hit a few snags this summer, including transportation woes on the closing day of first and opening day of second sessions and a nasty 24-hour stomach virus that swept through one-third of the camp body during second session. But the staff were extremely professional, attentive, composed, and communicative through it all. Rabbi Isaac Saposnik has been extremely effective in his camp director role and we owe a debt of gratitude to him and the rest of the year-round management team, Operations Manager Ben Davis, Assistant Director Julia Tauber, and Facilities Manager Mark Peet, in making this summer such a success.

Our success is not going unnoticed by the broader Jewish world. This summer, we are benefiting from the Foundation for Jewish Camp’s (FJC’s) Cornerstone Fellowship Program, funded by the Avi Chai Foundation. Five of our returning counselors received extra training and compensation and are serving in more prominent programmatic roles this summer, benefiting the entire camp. Rabbi Isaac will be starting the FJC’s Executive Leadership Institute this fall. And we are being visited tomorrow and Thursday by researchers from Brandeis University doing a study of Jewish camps. (It is the second in a series, the first of which was conducted in 2000, before we started.)

In an effort to continue to enhance our camp program, on line surveys are being conducted of our camper families, to be followed up by a second survey being conducted by the FJC. Additionally, in an attempt to leverage the positive energy from camp, fliers promoting the November JRF convention are being distributed to parents of campers.

If you have not been able to see camp in action yet, I hope that you will be able to see it next summer. For now, I hope you are able to hear about it from campers you know.

Feel free to be in touch with me if you have any questions. I look forward to our conference call today/tomorrow (depending on when you’re reading this) and to seeing you all in Boston in November!!

David Nerenberg
JRCC President
--
E-mail address: Nerenberg_David@wheatonma.edu
Work Phone: 508-286-3432
Home Phone: 508-226-5589

JRF Board of Directors

Convention Update - Week of July 21, 2008

Sherry N Rubin — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 14:52:56 -0400

This is a brief update as of July 21, 2008 on Convention preparations. There are several fliers and a workshop schedule available. You may see them by either opening up “Critical Docs” on the board Intranet or click on the links in this article.

Program: We have all our opening plenary speakers and three out of four forums are fully organized. We have speakers and presenters committed to 50 out of 55 workshops (in specific time slots), and are adding more speakers and presenters to flesh out those 50 (such as when we are running a panel). We are also in the process of identifying facilitators for each of those workshops. We are working on clarifying content or financial issues on the remaining five workshops and expect to be able to finalize them in the next couple of weeks.

The workshops divide into seven tracks. The tracks are: Congregational Leadership, Congregational Growth & Finance, Arts & Spirituality, Tikkun Olam, Israel, Next Generation (Education) and Beit Midrash: Text Study. There are also a handful of special workshops that do not neatly follow any specific track, such as a response to the election results from just before convention and a workshop on Muslim-Jewish Relations. Shabbat morning and afternoon workshops are in place in addition to all these wonderful offerings. We have scheduled field trips to Jewish sites around Boston and are working on a Tikkun Olam opportunity.

The full workshop schedule is posted on the website. We are now preparing a list of all workshops and descriptions to go up on the web this week. This will be followed by a more comprehensive list including speakers and their bios and time slots.

Registration and Website: Registration and the website are up and running. As of July 20, 2008 there are 13 people registered for Convention. This number does not include most of the board members that pre-registered through JRF. If you pre-registered through JRF, you will need to register through the Ayelet registration website using the special code. (If you pre-registered through JRF, please refer to the email sent to you by Sherry.) This month we will be adding a web page for college students and graduate students. (See above for workshop web page information.)

Fundraising: We are pursuing fundraising through several avenues.

Program Book: We have begun a serious push for ads in the program book. Bookstores that regularly purchase from the JRF Press have all committed to purchasing a $100 listing. All of the major JRF vendors are receiving calls from the appropriate staff members. For example, vendors that work with Camp JRF are receiving calls from Camp staff - Ben, Isaac or Jeff - and vendors who print our invitations and marketing materials are receiving calls from Julie or Marla. We are working on creating a “recommended vendor directory” listing companies used by our affiliates. Staff members are calling our congregations for recommended vendors. Each of those vendors will be called asking them to purchase an ad.

Sponsors:
• WindStreet is interested in purchasing a sponsor spot.
• The Western Region will be sponsoring a meal.
Scholarship for College Students and Graduate Students: A letter is being sent to a selected group of people inviting them to donate scholarship for college students and graduate students in the Boston area. People receiving the letter are Reconstructionists with students in Boston area colleges. The letter will be sent the week of July 21, 2008.

We are also seeking donors for general scholarship at a level of $2,500-$5,000 as well as individual donations of $54 or more from registrants.

Marketing: Lisa has been on vacation for the past few weeks. She was back in Philadelphia last week and got right to work.

• Camp Fliers: Rabbi Isaac has sent a note to all parents of Aleph session campers wrapping up their kids experience and urging them to come to Convention. We created a flier aimed at the parents, which he included with this note. It states: “Experience innovative, grass roots Reconstructionist Judaism as your kids do at Camp JRF.” The last day of Aleph session was Sunday, July 20. The flier will also be sent to camper parents after Bet session. Camp Flier

• College and Graduate Students: This flier will be distributed through several channels including: Harvard Hillel (with thanks to Dan Cedarbaum); Hillel’s in the Boston area; and college age staff from Camp JRF. We are targeting the students for Shabbat and offering them free lunch and a welcoming event headed by Roni Handler (an RRC student, liaison to Brandeis University and leader of No’ar Hadash Israel Experience 2007) as an enticement. College and Graduate Student Flier

• Visits to New England congregations: Bob Barkin will be visiting the New England congregations to speak about Convention and drum up their excitement. Rabbi Erin will be working with the congregations to arrange these visits.

Coming up in marketing:
• Email blasts, directed to all listserves and affiliate members with blurbs about major speakers and workshops.

Board Members: We are asking all board members to join the effort to market Convention. We will be creating “talking points” for all of you so you can talk-up convention at your congregation and we invite you to bring a friend with you – bring two or three!

JRF Board of Directors

Convention Update

Sherry N Rubin — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 11:51:18 -0400

This is a brief update as of June 5, 2008 on Convention preparations. Several documents detailing work plans, programming, marketing and fundraising will be posted and available for viewing. A section called “critical docs” will be created for you to access these documents and you will be notified when that is completed.

Program: The basic schedule has been set for Convention. It includes an opening plenary, four forums and five workshop slots of 10 workshops each. In addition to that there are program Shabbat afternoon and Sunday morning. Featured speakers include Jonathan Sarna, Michael Strassfeld, Hayim Herring, Amy L. Sales, David Teutsch, Joy Levitt and Jonathan Woocher, among others. Please see the program document for more detailed information.

Registration and Website: We are ready to launch registration and the website. Look for them at the end of next week.

Fundraising: The fundraising plan includes sponsorships, ads and scholarship. Marla Friedenberg is spearheading this work. Information about sponsorship opportunities will be available for you in the “Critical Docs” area. You will be updated as sponsors sign-up. So far, the Western Region has committed to a $2,500 sponsorship and Marla is negotiating with a potential corporate sponsor.

We are pursuing ads for the program book through several avenues. One is the vendors who are participating in Convention. Another is through the Jewish Guide to Boston to find area vendors interested in serving the Jewish community. We are also compiling a directory of doctors and lawyers in the Boston area.

We are seeking donors for scholarship at a level of $2,500-$5,000 as well as individual donations of $54 or more from registrants.

Marketing: The marketing plan has several tiers:
• Invitation: This will be mailed next week (week of June 9). It includes registration, sponsorship information, featured speakers, hotel, location and general information about JRF. It will mailed to all attendees of JRF functions including 2006 Convention; workshops, Shabbatons and gatherings. It will also be mailed to Rabbis and Presidents of JRF congregations, RRA members, donors to JRF and Camp JRF; external affiliates; and Camp JRF families.
• Flyers (this is a list of the various flyers we are publishing)
o Local congregations (mailed in bulk for distribution at the congregations and sent electronically.)
o Camp family flyers: distributed to all campers on the last day and sent directly to parents with a letter from Rabbi Isaac at the end of each session. (working theme “Experience Shabbat like JRF campers!”
o All congregations: distributed electronically
o All congregations: flyers for distribution at “high holiday” tables
• Other marketing
o Ma Nishma every month
o Electronic marketing distributed to newsletter editors

Services: Rabbis have been engaged for services. Dorshei Tzedek will loan JRF a torah and torah readers are being solicited from local congregations. Services on Saturday will be open to the public, free of charge, children welcome.

Local Boston: We have two field trips scheduled:
• Mayyim Hayyim: A world renowned Mikvah for progressive Jews.
• Vilna Shul: the last remaining immigrant era synagogue in Boston.
• Cheryl Sacks, a local volunteer, is working on a generic guide to Boston activities.
• We are working on putting together a Tikkun-olam project in the Boston area for Convention participants.

Campus Program: We are working with Roni Handler, an RRC student and leader of the No’ar Hadash Israel Experience in 2007, to put together a Shabbat program for college students in the area.

Affinity Meeting: Affinity groups will be meeting on Sunday.

Entertainment: We will be showing the movie “Praying with Lior” on Saturday evening. Various entertainments (musical, etc.) are also being arranged.

JRF Board of Directors

Slide Show from Monday at the Board Meeting

Rabbi Shai Gluskin — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 01:17:24 -0500

I only took pics on Monday, and not everyone was there on Monday. Enjoy, I think it shows, even without sound, the animation and passion of our board.

Don't look for your volume controls -- it's not a talky.

The whole thing is 2 minutes 38 seconds.

JRF Board of Directors

Camp JRF gets its ACA Accreditation! (and other camp news)

David Nerenberg — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 14:55:47 -0400

Dear fellow JRF Board members:

The camp staff were notified last week that we received our ACA Accreditation! (For the uninitiated, ACA = American Camping Association.) Mazel Tov's are definitely in order. I'd like to single out special kudos for Ben Davis, who worked extremely hard in reviewing the accreditation standards and putting systems in place to make sure we met them. Also, special thanks to Board member Judy Spatz and camp devotee Susan Sofman who, as volunteers these many summers, redoubled their efforts this summer in working closely with Ben to meet the ACA standards. The ACA accreditation logo has been included on this year's brochure, which will be inserted in the upcoming RT.

In other camp news:

Registration was opened with an October 3rd e-mail to families who were represented at camp this past summer. On-line registration is available through our website and the early registration deadline (with $100 discount) is November 15. Please encourage families to apply early so that they don't get closed out!

A Survey Monkey survey was posted last week for camper families from this past summer. Please encourage families who were represented at camp this year to give us their feedback.

Finally, the camp staff have made arrangements with a kosher caterer based in Wiles-Barre/Scranton to provide food service in our kitchen for shoulder/off-season rentals. With that last logistic in place, an anouncement has been circulated, including through this month's MaNishma e-newsletter from JRF, that the Aaron & Marjorie Ziegelman campus is now available for rentals. We are already drafting a contract for our first customer!

The good news keeps on rolling!

Hope you are all well, and I look forward to seeing you at the December board meeting.

David Nerenberg
Camp JRF Board Chair
JRF Board Member-at-Large

JRF Board of Directors

Screencast on how to post to Board Only Site

Rabbi Shai Gluskin — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 09:57:32 -0400

Watch this video to learn how to post to this site.

JRF Board of Directors

No computer services over Rosh Hashanah

Sherry N Rubin — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 09:33:12 -0400

The server will be down during Rosh Hashana for maintenance. You will not be able to access your JRF email or files during the following dates - Wednesday afternoon September 12th through Saturday, September 15th. We have scheduled this to occur during Rosh Hashanah, so as to inconvenience as little as possible.

You will not lose any email; nor will any outside folks get non-deliverable messages.

JRF Board of Directors

Camp JRF Opening Day

David Nerenberg — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 09:38:35 -0400

Camp JRF Opening Day 2007

“We come from near we come from far. We come by plane or bus or car.”

What a beautiful opening day for Camp JRF. Excited campers with well trained staff all arrived safely to our home in the Pocono Mountains. The Aaron and Marjorie Ziegleman Campus was sparkling and filled with precious jewels, our campers, as the first day of Camp was finally here.

Although the East was hit with a heat wave it didn’t seem to bother our happy, singing campers as we sat for our opening ceremony in our Teatron (side opened theater). Even the thunder storm didn’t keep our campers and staff from singing and dancing in the dining hall for Maariv. And did we enjoy the roast chicken, rice and beans, plantains, and salad bar with pie for dessert.

Our hanihim (campers) were introduced with skits to our whole staff and then got to choose their breirot (choice activities)-Volleyball, art, cartooning, Latin dancing, ropes course, basketball, gardening, softball, mountain biking, camping, song leading with guitar, journalism, drama, ultimate Frisbee.

Making friends for a lifetime, singing and enjoying all these activities, no wonder Camp JRF is such a great place. Today was a Sheheheyanu moment.

Rabbi Jeff

JRF Board of Directors

My visit with George

Bob Barkin — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 21:30:30 -0400

Hevre,

If you are interested in my visit to the Capitol with House leaders and then with President Bush at the Executive Office Building, here's my post on the JRF Web site.

http://jrf.org/bbarkin-gbush

L'shalom,

rab

JRF Board of Directors

Todah Rabah!

Jane Susswein — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 21:14:28 -0400

Dear Hevre-
I am blown away by the multitude of responses to my query about flags in the sanctuary. THank you so much.
JAne

JRF Board of Directors

Are you receiving e-mail notification when content is posted to the JRF Board "Intranet."

Rabbi Shai Gluskin — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 11:52:09 -0400

JRF Board of Directors

Flags in synagogues

Jane Susswein — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 09:57:11 -0400

I am a member of a newly-formed Israel Committee at Bnai Keshet, and the issue of displaying the Israeli and US flags in the shul came up. We are interested in learnign the practices of other affiliates. If you do display the flags, where, and if not, is this as a result of a community decision, or not.

Thanks so much,
Jane

JRF Board of Directors

MIssion statement

Jane Susswein — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 09:50:17 -0400

Hi folks-
I was going through my board notes and found the suggested revision of the mission statement that Val and I wrote. Here it is:

The JRF is committed to serving its affiliates and to being a voice for pluralism and progressive Judaism at home and in Israel. ( We might want to broaden this.) We strive to actualize these values through Tikkun Olam (repair of the world) in our communities and the broader world.

We understand Judaism to be the evolving religious civilization of the Jewish people, and accept the responsibility of being active participants in that evolution.

In partnership with the RRC and RRA, we support our members in living authentic and meaningful Jewish lives, supporting the innovations which have been the hallmark of Reconstructionist Judaism since its inception.

Jane

JRF Board of Directors

Yasher Koach to Shawn Zevit

Joshua Levin — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 22:09:02 -0400

Chaverim:
Last night, I was moved and honored to attend the second semi-annual gathering at the Washington National Cathederal dedicated to ending hunger and poverty. Hundreds, if not thousands, of Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and Christians from nearly every denominational stripe gathered for a powerful and awe inspiring evening of song, prayer, inspiration and affirmation to our universal commitment and potential to end hunger wherever it is found. I hasten to add that my personal favorite moment was the inclusion on the program of JRF's own Rabbi Shawn Zevit, who did us proud by chanting a moving and hauntingly beautiful barucha to the packed house. Many other national and local rabbinic Reconstructionist leaders, including Adat Shalom's Rabbis Sid Schwarz and Fred Dobb, were also present to lend passion and support to this important cause.

As it was in 2005, the convocation was sponsored by the Christian anti-hunger group Bread for the World, in conjunction with other national religious-based hunger groups (including Mazon).

Yasher koach to Shawn for his role in an unforgettable evening.

JRF Board of Directors

If we offer a leadership mission to Israel in the spring of 2008, lasting about a week, will you seriously consider going?

Dan Cedarbaum — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 23:36:46 -0400

JRF Board of Directors

Thanks To Shai

markzivin — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 23:08:47 -0400

I am excited to begin putting this new JRF Board area to use - so there is no time like the present.

I see WWW4 (that's what I call the new Website) as a great leap forward for the Movement. It is warm, welcoming and easy to use. The speed with which Rabbi Shai has been able to get up our own little, secure Board area is truly miraculous. (Of course, it's not really miraculous...you all know why). The key is for all of us to begin using it - as the value will increase geometrically the more people use it regularly.

I believe that the Internet is going to begin affecting religion - just like it has every other aspect of our lives. Obviously, Rabbis Shai and Shawn have already shown some of the potential with the Omer Study (in its second year). RRC has been experimenting with actual Distance learning courses - and I think we will see more of that. But most importantly, I believe that it will be the Web (and its extensions - IM, text messaging, etc) which has the most potential for connecting with the younger generation.

Thanks again Shai!

JRF Board of Directors

This Is a Great Idea!

Dan Cedarbaum — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 19:24:55 -0400

And thanks to Bob for all of his hard work, and for the nice post. -- Dan

JRF Board of Directors

Welcome to JRF Board Only Space on the JRF's Web Site

Bob Barkin — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 13:01:51 -0400

I'm pleased to announce the launching of JRF Board Only section of the JRF web site. We are hoping this will be a good medium for board members to get information and share opinions.

On the left sidebar you'll see a section titled, "JRF Board of Directors." Under that heading click, "Create Board Post" to add a new article here. At the bottom of any article you'll see that there is the possibility to add a comment. Please join in!

JRF Board of Directors

A Wonderful Meeting

Bob Barkin — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 12:58:12 -0400

For those of you who have already signed on to the Intranet, I want to express how powerful an experience our meeting was for me and I hope for you. For those who could not attend, we will be providing minutes and follow-up process for the work that we accomplished.

My personal highlight -- and I am sure for many of you -- was the trip to the office, which expressed for me that we now have a makom that captures the energy and spirit of our national movement. The previous site was a place to begin; this is clearly a place to continue our journey.

Although it may not seem obvious in the heat of the moment, from my vantage point, we made significant progress on the strategic plan and laid out very clearly the budget challenges.

In the coming days, we will present you with a plan for how we will complete our work on the budget and continue the strategic planning process. Carl and I have already begun those conversations.

It was also wonderful to see all of you who attended and my hope is that I will see many of you in the coming weeks at JRF and camp events and certainly at our meeting in November.

As always, feel free to send me an email or give me a call if you have questions or concerns.

L'shalom,

rab

JRF Board of Directors

JRF Board List

Sherry N Rubin — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 13:23:21 -0400

Attached is the latest list, with contact information, for the JRF board.