Further Resources for Jewish Renaissance Initiatives
There is a place for everyone who wishes to become involved in Jewish life. The following listings provide additional information about many of the initiatives that are mentioned in Hope, Not Fear. They represent only a sampling of the projects and programs that are helping to make Jewish renaissance a reality and doing important work in areas that include education, social justice, spirituality, leadership, and outreach. For a more extensive listing of organizations and for ideas about how to be a part of Jewish renaissance, MyJewishLearning.com offers additional resources.
ALMA HEBREW COLLEGE - www.alma.org.il
A liberal arts center in Tel Aviv for the study of Hebrew culture and contemporary Jewish identity. Its New York affiliate, Alma New York (www.almany.org), creates community through the integration of arts, classic text study, and modern scholarship. Its programs cross not only denominational lines but also religious and secular lines.
AMERICAN JEWISH WORLD SERVICE (AJWS) - www.ajws.org
Dedicated to alleviating poverty, hunger, and disease among the people of the developing world regardless of race, religion, or nationality. The AJWS has been a leader in responding to the crisis in Darfur, Sudan, where the ongoing genocide urgently requires action.
THE B’NAI BRITH YOUTH ORGANIZATION (BBYO) - www.bbyo.org
A youth-led, worldwide organization that provides identity-building and leadership development programs for Jewish teens. Programs in sixty communities around North America provide innovative opportunities for teens to connect with one another, take part in community service projects, navigate the college admissions process, and travel the world.
BERKSHIRE INSTITUTE FOR MUSIC AND ARTS (BIMA) - www.brandeis.edu/bima
Brings talented teens together for four weeks in the summer to cultivate a vibrant, pluralistic environment brimming with artistic discovery and Jewish experience. A BIMA summer experience allows teens to hone their artistic skills, live and discover in a diverse Jewish community, and explore who they are as artists.
BIRTHRIGHT ISRAEL - www.birthrightisrael.com
Provides the gift of first-time peer-group educational trips to Israel for Jewish young adults ages eighteen to twenty-six. Its founders created this program to send thousands of young Jewish adults from all over the world to Israel as a gift in order to diminish the growing division between Israel and Jewish communities around the world, to strengthen the sense of solidarity among world Jewry, and to strengthen participants’ personal Jewish identity and connection to the Jewish people.
THE BRONFMAN YOUTH FELLOWSHIPS IN ISRAEL (BYFI) - www.bronfman.org
Offers a five-week summer program in Israel that educates and inspires exceptional young Jews from diverse backgrounds to become active participants in Jewish culture throughout their lives and to contribute their talents and vision to the Jewish community and to the world at large.
BROOKLYN JEWS - www.brooklynjews.org
An open resource for those seeking a meaningful connection to Jewish life, culture, and practice, centered at Congregation Beth Elohim in Brooklyn, New York. Participants take the lead in social programming, Shabbat celebration, social action projects, and Jewish learning.
COMBINED JEWISH PHILANTHROPIES (CJP) - www.cjp.org
Under the leadership of Barry Shrage, the Boston Jewish federation, Combined Jewish philanthropies, has placed a strong emphasis on outreach, working hard to make local Jewish communities more welcoming both to intermarried families and to disengaged Jews. Some have credited these efforts for the recent finding the Jewish population in the Boston area has increased, with a significant majority of children of intermarried couples being raised as Jews.
CONGREGATION BETH SIMCHAT TORAH - www.cbst.org
New York City’s synagogue for the New York metropolitan area’s 200,000 gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Jews, as well as families and friends.
THE CURRICULUM INITIATIVE (TCI) - www.tcionline.org
The leading Jewish educational organization serving independent high schools. Through extracurricular programming, school presentations, and professional development, TCI strengthens Jewish students’ Jewish identity and nurtures school communities’ appreciation for Jewish heritage.
DRISHA INSTITUTE FOR JEWISH EDUCATION - www.drisha.org
A New York City based institute that creates opportunities for women in Jewish scholarship, education, and leadership. Drisha offers a wide variety of educational initiatives, including full-time programs with a leadership development track, summer institutes, a summer high school program, a bat mitzvah program, continuing education programs, and community lectures.
FOUNDATION FOR JEWISH CAMPING (FJC) - www.jewishcamping.org
The central address for information about, and advocacy for, nonprofit Jewish overnight camps, providing leadership, expertise, and financial resources to camps, campers, and their families across North America.
HEBREW COLLEGE RABBINICAL SCHOOL - www.hebrewcollege.edu/html/rabbi.htm
A transdenominational rabbinical school, located in the Boston area, that offers a rigorous five-year full-time course of study leading to rabbinic ordination within amodel klal Yisrael community.
HILLEL: THE FOUNDATION FOR JEWISH CAMPUS LIFE - www.hillel.org
Provides opportunities for Jewish students at more than 500 colleges and universities to explore and celebrate their Jewish identity through its global network of regional centers, campus foundations, and Hillel student organizations. Its mission is to enrich the lives of Jewish undergraduate and graduate students so that they may enrich the Jewish people and the world.
IKAR - www.ikar-la.org
A Jewish spiritual community in Los Angeles that stands at the intersection of spirituality and social justice.
INTERFAITHFAMILY.COM - interfaithfamily.com
The online resource for interfaith families exploring Jewish life and the grassroots advocate for a welcoming Jewish community. This resource is for everyone touched by interfaith relationships where one partner is Jewish, on every topic of interest to them, and for everyone who works with and cares about them.
JEWISH BOOK COUNCIL - www.jewishbookcouncil.org
The central address for all information about Jewish literature. This organization publishes a quarterly magazine including reviews of the latest books of Jewish interest and through its website keep you updated no book programs nationwide.
JEWISH FEDERATION OF METROPOLITAN DETROIT - www.thisisfederation.org
Detroit is a Jewish community where the federation, run by Bob Aronson, is really working to promote Jewish renaissance. Particularly notable is its work to promote day schools in the community, including the admirable Jean and Samuel Frankel Jewish Academy of Metropolitan Detroit.
JEWISH OUTREACH INSTITUTE (JOI) - www.joi.org
Through national conferences, publications, and informational resources, JOI has helped foster the creation of scores of Jewish outreach programs from coast to coast. Its vision is that the future of the North American Jewish community will be determined by the warmth, wisdom, and caring with which we welcome and engage the intermarried families and unaffiliated Jews in our midst.
KEHILAT HADAR - www.kehilathadar.org
An independent , egalitarian community in New York City that is committed to spirited traditional prayer, study, and social action.
KEHILAT SHIRA CHADASHA - www.shirahd.org.il
A religious community in Jerusalem that embraces a commitment to halacha (Jewish law), tefillah (prayer), and feminism.
MECHON HADAR - www.mechonhadar.org
Aims to revitalize communal life—animated by prayer, study, and social action—among young Jews in America. Founded by three of the leaders of Kehilat Hadar, it offers two main initiatives: Yeshivat Hadar, a full-time community open to men and women looking to engage in intensive Torah study, prayer, and social action, and the Minyan Project, which provides education, consulting, and networking for independent prayer communities.
MOISHE HOUSE BOSTON: KAVOD JEWISH SOCIAL JUSTICE HOUSE - www.kavodhouse.com
An innovative project to create community for Jews in their twenties and thirties and connect them with social action and community-building opportunities in Boston and beyond.
MYJEWISHLEARNING.COM - myjewishlearning.com
The central Internet site for learning about Judaism. MyJewishLearning.com is a transdenominational Web site of Jewish information and education geared towards learners of all ages and educational backgrounds.
THE NATAN FUND - www.natan.org
A philanthropic network of young Jews seeking both to inspire other young Jews to donate money Jewishly and to fund innovative projects that help effect change in the Jewish community in the United States and Israel.
PARTNERSHIP FOR EXCELLENCE IN JEWISH EDUCATION (PEJE) - www.peje.org
A collaborative institute of philanthropic partners whose goal is to strengthen the Jewish day school movement by increasing enrollment in Jewish day schools in North America.
THE SAMUEL BRONFMAN FOUNDATION - www.thesbf.org
Guided by the vision of Edgar M. Bronfman, The Samuel Bronfman Foundation seeks to inspire a renaissance of Jewish life. The foundation’s work is informed by the following four principles: that Jewish Renaissance is grounded in Jewish learning; Jewish youth shape the future of the Jewish people; vibrant Jewish communities are open and inclusive; and all Jews are a single family. They seek to facilitate exploration of Jewish identity and meaningful engagement with Jewish life and support a culture of pluralism and mutual respect that celebrates diverse expressions of Jewish life. The Samuel Bronfman Foundation cultivates long-term relationships with organizations that advance their mission with innovation, depth and meaning.
SHALOM HARTMAN INSTITUTE (SHI) - www.hartmaninstitute.com
A research and leadership training institute in Jerusalem whose mission is to revitalize Judaism, strengthen Jewish identity, and foster religious pluralism by providing scholars, rabbis, educators, and lay leaders of all denominations with tools to address the central challenges facing Judaism today.
STAR (SYNAGOGUES: TRANSFORMATION AND RENEWAL) - www.starsynagogue.org
Helps synagogues deepen their connection with the American Jewish community through congregational innovation and leadership development. Its centerpiece is Synaplex, which provides synagogues with grants to host a series of dynamic, multifaceted events on Friday evenings and Saturdays.
21/64 - www.2164.net
A nonprofit consulting division of the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies, which offers services to individuals, families, businesses, foundations, and federations in times of generational transition.
UJA-FEDERATION OF NEW YORK - www.ujafedny.org
Under John Ruskay, the New York Jewish federation has been a leader both in providing social and humanitarian services and in promoting Jewish education.
WEXNER GRADUATE FELLOWSHIPS - www.wexnerfoundation.org
Funds the graduate education of outstanding future rabbis, cantors, Jewish educators, and Jewish studies professors and provides them with leadership training and networking opportunities.
WEXNER HERITAGE PROGRAM - www.wexnerfoundation.org
Offers Jewish volunteer leaders two years of intensive study in basic Judaism, Jewish history and thought, and contemporary issues of Judaism.
