About This Course
The rabbinate demands a unique blend of academic knowledge, professional skills, personal wisdom, religious sensitivities, and commitments. This seminar’s goal is to explore this integration of the academic, the personal, and the professional.
The seminar will focus on the life-cycle rituals with special emphasis on the concept of covenant implicit in each of them. We will explore the role of the rabbi at key moments of personal, family, and communal life. We will also apply a personal assessment and analysis of career goals and objectives.
There will be time for professional skills training geared towards the world of ‘rabbi’ing– organizational development and change, communications, lay/board relations, staff supervision, and other key skills.
Required Reading
- Speed B. Leas, Discover Your Conflict Management Style.
- Roger Fisher, William Ury, and Bruce Patton, Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In.
- Gerald Bubis, The Director Had a Heart Attack and the President Resigned
Course Outline
- Rabbinic Mission and Educational Philosophy Statements
- Communication Skills
- Rabbi as Coach
- Leadership
- Negotiating: Getting to Yes
- Board and Staff Relations
- Ritual Lab 1
- Conflict Management Styles
- Ritual Lab 2
