Note: students may take either this course or the original Jewish Innovation Unbound (one credit).
About This Course
This is an updated version of the 2020 course Jewish Innovation Unbound. It removes many of the homework requirements to provide a more podcast-based learning model. The only assignments required are quizzes. Any references to papers, check-ins or social media (Canva) work is no longer needed. As this is a course with far fewer assignments, it has been reduced to only a half credit.
All around the world, longstanding legacy institutions, brand new start-ups, and every kind of organization in-between, are seeking to engage Jews on a communal and individual level. Too often, these institutions are forced to create their own models, in their own bubbles, without diving deeply into the structures of other organizations. In this course, we invite you, as leaders and participants in Jewish institutions, to learn from many of the most creative projects that are part of the ecosystem of 21st century Judaism.
Centered around conversations held on the Judaism Unbound podcast (which the two of us host together), we have identified 10 specific episodes (out of over 200) that each represent a kind of “case study” in Jewish innovation. Some of them focus in on people who successfully launched Jewish projects of one kind or another from scratch. Others feature those who took struggling institutions and helped them turn their work around. A few focus not on one project in particular, but rather on broader shifts in Judaism (and religion in general), offering us vital opportunities to “zoom out” – beyond any one institution – and think about what these case studies could represent for the present and future of our world.
Course Objectives
- Students will encounter new strategies for Jewish engagement and innovation, which they can implement in their own institutional contexts.
- Students will compare and contrast Jewish institutional models that are incredibly different from one another, in order to gain a sense of the vast diversity of organizations that exist and to build a sense of what the kind of Jewish projects you might create yourself.
Meet Your Instructors
Lex Rofeberg is a Jewish Educator and Organizer who serves as Strategic Initiatives Coordinator of the Institute for the Next Jewish Future, and as co-host of the Judaism Unbound podcast. He grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and currently lives in Providence, Rhode Island, with his wife (Valerie) and cat (Peeve). He graduated with a BA in Judaic Studies from Brown University. While a student there, he served as Student President of Brown RISD Hillel and as a Student Representative on the board of Hillel International. He came to Judaism Unbound in 2015 after a two-year Education Fellowship at the Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life, based in Jackson, Mississippi. He has had articles published by JTA, MyJewishLearning.Com, Sh'ma Journal, JewSchool: Progressive Jews & Views, New Voices, and others. He is currently studying towards rabbinic ordination through ALEPH: The Alliance for Jewish Renewal, and received his certificate in Interfaith Families Jewish Engagement from Hebrew College. He a member of the activist group IfNotNow, and serves in advisory capacities for the American Jewish Peace Archive and Tikkun Olam Productions. Lex is a die-hard Packers fan and a former college a cappella nerd.
Daniel Libenson is the founder and president of the Institute for the Next Jewish Future and co-host of the Judaism Unbound podcast. His extensive background in Jewish communal innovation includes six years as Executive Director of the University of Chicago Hillel and three years as Director of New Initiatives at Harvard Hillel. Dan is a 2009 AVI CHAI Fellow and has also received the Richard M. Joel Exemplar of Excellence award, Hillel International's highest professional honor. In 2010, Dan was named a Jewish Chicagoan of the Year by Chicago Jewish News. Dan attended Harvard College and Harvard Law School, where he graduated magna cum laude, was an articles editor of the Harvard Law Review, and assisted Professor Alan Dershowitz in criminal defense work and on book projects, including The Vanishing American Jew. Dan has published articles in Ha'aretz, The New York Jewish Week, Zeek, eJewishPhilanthropy, and elsewhere. Before devoting his life to working in the Jewish community, Dan spent five years as a law professor after clerking for Judge Michael Boudin on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. He lives in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago with his wife and two children.
Ratings and Reviews
Madison MeljacEnjoyed listening to the way these leaders approached and tackled problems they were faced with head on.
Megan MiccoI really enjoyed the opportunity to hear from Rabbis like Rabbi Shira Stutman (check out her Chutzpod podcast) and learn about Rabbi Juan Meija's conversion journey to Judaism. Learning about the innovation taking places in Jewish organizations, congregations and the rabbinate is refreshing and inspiring!
I have spent my entire career immersed in entrepreneurship and working with founders. Now that I am exploring what to do with my own rabbinate, this course has been inspiring and profoundly helpful. Highly recommended.