About This Course
This course is now closed to new registration. If you are currently enrolled, you can still take the course to completion. Updated versions of this course will be made available between now and Pesach.
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.
As the “bread” on each end of this course’s “sandwich,” we (Dan and Lex) offer an introduction and a closing call to action. Through these, we will frame some of the key questions and themes of the course, which arise in multiple units in the middle, and we will ask you to consider how these thinkers and practitioners of Jewish life can inform the work that you do, in your own communities.
Course Objectives
- Students will encounter new strategies for Jewish engagement and innovation, which they can implement in their own institutional contexts.
- Students will engage deeply with social media (using Canva) and audio content with Audacity. At some points this engagement will be as a listener, and at other points it will be as a creator!
- 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.
Rabbi Patrick Beaulier provides the introduction to Canva in this course.
Ratings and Reviews
Cristina RamirezI loved learning from everyone interviewed here
Matthew KleinThis class is terrific. It guides you to pull together, or grow anew, a set of skills that are necessary for being a modern day Rabbi. Also, really helpful to hear the different Jewish leaders on the podcast interviews, and the directions of their organizations and visions.
This course reached a definitive crescendo for me. I feel empowered to bring innovation off the edge and within the walls of my congregation, and if they won't do it, I feel I have the tools to build it on the edge and make it something fantastic. Great course.