Holiday Resources

DENVER – Oct. 18, 2011 –Judaism Your Way (JYW), a Denver-based outreach organization, has been named one of the 50 most innovative Jewish nonprofits in North America by Slingshot ’11-‘12, a resource guide for Jewish innovation. JYW was selected because of its pioneering work in offering education, rabbinic services, and holiday celebrations for all Jews and their loved ones in a wholly inclusive and pluralistic manner. JYW’s goal is to be responsive to people “wherever they are on their Jewish journeys.”

The Slingshot guide is used by philanthropists, volunteers, not-for-profit executives, and program participants to identify trailblazing organizations grappling with concerns in Jewish life such as identity, community, and tradition.

Lolly Gold, JYW’s executive director said: “Our inclusion in Slingshot ’11-’12 is a tremendous honor and a strong validation of our approach to outreach. We believe that what’s needed is a Judaism that goes beyond welcoming, and opens a gateway for all Jews and their loved ones. They may be interfaith, LGBT, single, too young, too old, too free-spirited, too poor, or too something to fit into or feel welcomed by other Jewish institutions.”

Judaism Your Way offers low barrier, innovative opportunities for unaffiliated, disengaged or disaffected Jews and their loved ones of all identities looking for opportunities to explore and expand their experience of Judaism in personally relevant and meaningful ways.

If the Jewish people are going to grow, then inviting the richness offered by all Jews and those who love and support them can only make the soil more fertile,” said JYW’s Rabbi Brian Field. “JYW’s outreach not only seeks to gather people from multiple constituencies, but in fact successfully attracts them.”

JYW was chosen for inclusion in Slingshot ’11-’12 for the first time by a panel of 36 foundation professionals from across North America. Finalists are chosen based on their strength in four areas: innovation, impact, leadership, and organizational efficiency.

According to Will Schneider, executive director of Slingshot: “Slingshot highlights those organizations that work to ensure that Jewish life isn’t left behind as the world moves forward. We had more applications than ever this year, with a wider variety of missions. In order to be selected by our evaluators, innovations and their impact had to resonate more than ever.”

The Slingshot guide contains information about each organization’s origin, mission, strategy, impact and budget, as well as details about its unique character. The book, published annually, is available in hard copy and as a free download at www.judaismyourway.org and www.slingshotfund.org.

Inspired five years ago by Slingshot, a group of next-generation philanthropists launched the Slingshot Fund, a collective giving mechanism to support innovative Jewish life. In just five cycles, 55 members of the Slingshot Fund have contributed more than $1.8 million to innovative Jewish not-for-profits.

New Thinking in Jewish Identity, Part VII: Moving into New Territory

date May 11th, 2011 category Featured Blog Posts

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Moving into New Territory: Final Installment (for now!)

By Rabbi Brian Field

The day I realized the following truth was a day of both huge relief and enormous excitement for me: Our time is not the first time that the Jewish people has engaged in rethinking Jewish identity.

In Biblical times, Israelite identity was patrilineal (through the father) and did not exist independent of land rights and political status. Non-Israelites joined the community by marrying into an Israelite family. Following the loss of Jewish sovereignty under the Roman Empire and the dispersion of the Jewish people to minority status in small communities throughout the world, identity became matrilineal: one could claim Jewish identity by descent if one’s mother was Jewish. One could also choose to become Jewish by going through a process of religious conversion.

In the late 20th century, in response to changes in the Jewish community, the Reconstructionist and Reform movements adopted a position that became known as patrilineal descent. What this means is that if one parent is Jewish, and the parents identify the child as having an exclusively Jewish religious identity, than the child is considered to have the status of being Jewish.

The Jewish people continues to evolve. The patrilineal descent position did not account for same-sex families. Nor did it anticipate the revolution in third-party reproduction options, or a time when a majority of marriages involving Jews would be to a partner who is not Jewish. Or a time when western culture would support and celebrate people with multiple, complex identities, starting with the US’s bi-racial President.

Clearly, fresh thinking about Jewish identity is needed. And that’s what brought my rabbinic colleagues together in early March. We’re living in a fluid time that calls for creative and inspired responses. It’s just our luck that we are one of the oldest and most adaptive traditions in the world. Today Judaism is embracing people with a wider variety of backgrounds and paths than ever before. I see this trend as a source of new input and even survival blueprints if we figure out Jewish ways to engage and include.

What an exciting time to be a rabbi! I get to help to develop the vocabulary, the rituals and the evolving understandings that help people find Judaism their way.