Archive for August, 2009

 

And the Results Are…Your Suggestions for High Holy Day Sermon Topics

Posted on: August 26th, 2009 by Hayim Herring

I promised that I would report back on the recommended sermon topics for this Rosh ha-Shanah and Yom Kippur. In no special order and with a little editing, here they are:

Additionally, here are a few other ideas I’ve seen floating around various list serves:

And, Rabbi Kerry Olitzky suggests that rabbis should avoid speaking about:

I hope that the words you hear (or speak) will have the power to help close the gap between our current actions and our aspirations for the new year.

L’shanah Tovah,

Rabbi Hayim Herring

What’s the most important sermon for rabbis to give this new year? Add your opinion!

Posted on: August 20th, 2009 by Hayim Herring

Today is Rosh Chodesh Elul, the beginning of a month-long, intensive period of spiritual preparation for Rosh ha-Shanah. If you’re a rabbi, you probably have some good ideas by now about what your sermon ideas will be on Rosh ha-Shanah and Yom Kippur. But, speaking from experience, there’s still time for one or two more to make it into your sermon. If you’re a congregant, in a few weeks, you might be asking, “What is the rabbi going to speak about this year?”

The sanctuary or chapel may not be so full during weekly Shabbat services, but it’s packed on these holidays. Rabbis have an annual opportunity to reach large numbers of their congregants during these days. One message may not change a life, but it can draw people into greater Jewish involvement—or, it can move them further from it. So, rabbis especially feel the weight of the responsibility and opportunity to reach for deep impact with their sermons at this time, and congregants who primarily come to services infrequently hope for words that are meaningful and relevant for them.

So, here are two timely questions for readers of Tools for Shuls:

  1. What issues are most important for rabbis to address this year in their Rosh ha-Shanah and Yom Kippur sermons?
  2. What topics should they avoid?

Whether you’re a rabbi or a congregant, please contribute your ideas. I’ll share the responses in the next post, which will appear this coming Monday.

Thanks!

Rabbi Herring

How Much is a Good Question Worth? Everything for Your Organization!

Posted on: August 2nd, 2009 by Hayim Herring

This week, I’ve invited my good friend and colleague, Rabbi David Teutsch, to share his knowledge about leadership.Rabbi Teutsch, an expert in many areas, has spent much of his life on helping leaders of synagogues and other organizations understand and fulfill their roles effectively. His most recent book, which grew from a leadership development program which Rabbi Teutsch designed and co-taught, is entitled Making a Difference. A Guide to Jewish Leadership and Not-for-Profit Management.

In his chapter on leadership, Rabbi Teutsch writes:

Perhaps most important, when organizations are out of kilter, genuine leaders ask the questions that need to be answered in order to find out why. You will not be an effective leader unless you’ve learned to ask questions. If you don’t know what is going on in your organization and why it’s happening, you must first find out in order to lead effectively. New leaders must be willing to ask questions about projects and how they work, and about how people in an organization work together, and about almost everything else… Empowering others means consciously involving them in discussion of the questions at hand (p.11).

So I’ve asked Rabbi Teutsch to suggest the kinds of questions that professional and volunteer leaders should be asking in today’s environment. In creating that “preferable future” that I wrote about in my last post, if one of the most important functions of leaders is to ask questions, what are the three most important questions lay leaders should be asking about their congregations? What are the three that clergy should be asking? Are these questions the same, overlapping or different? Answers matter, but I happen to agree that questions matter more. I’m looking forward to hearing from Rabbi Teutsch and seeing if all of us can agree about the big questions that we need to be asking!

Rabbi Hayim Herring