Spotlight on CLAL
Welcome to Spotlight on CLAL. Here you will find stories about what is happening at CLAL and about the work that CLAL is doing across North America. Sometimes we will focus on a program, or a special event, or upon a CLAL faculty member's work and interests. Bookmark this page if you want to get to know us better.
To access the Spotlight on CLAL Archives, click here.
Reisman Award for Article of the Year
Presented to CLAL Rabbi Tsvi Blanchard by Lead Journal of Jewish Communal
Service
By Judy Epstein, Director of Public Affairs
On June 12, Rabbi Tsvi Blanchard, a Ph.D. psychologist who is the Director of Organizational Development at CLAL–The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, will receive the 2003 Bernard Reisman Journal of Jewish Communal Service Article of the Year Award for “How to Think About Being Jewish in the 21st Century: A New Model of Jewish Identity Construction,” published in the fall of 2002. The Journal, recognized as the voice in the field of Jewish communal service, grants the award each year to the “most important, informative, and innovative submission.”
“It is gratifying to be honored not only by my peers and by the central address for Jewish communal professionals, but for taking the risk of creating a new model,” said Rabbi Blanchard.
In his article, Rabbi Blanchard discussed how the existing models of Jewish identity, shaped by the experiences of Jews as a minority immigrant group, do not consider the tremendous freedom and openness of American society, which is based on individual choice. No longer bound by fear, Jews today can create their own identity, thereby necessitating new models of identity construction founded on choice.
“At CLAL, we’ve been working on contemporary Jewish identity formation for the last several years,” said Rabbi Blanchard. “As a leadership training institute and think tank, CLAL is always looking for new models as part of our revitalization of communities. For Jewish life to remain invigorated in the 21st century, we need to step out of the box. That is what this article sets out to do.“
“Many of the models of Jewish identity that we inherited came from Eastern Europe pre-20th century,” Rabbi Blanchard stated. “But from the outset, Jewish migration to America demanded creating new paradigms appropriate to the new world. We still need to start that conversation. There is nothing more important to the Jewish people now than to consider new constructs of Jewish identity based on the reality of American life.”
Some of Rabbi Blanchard’s proposals include:
1) Spend less time creating standards for existing categories we deem Jewish, and more time increasing the range of expression of any given category, as well as adding new categories.
2) Begin to teach how to create and maintain a Jewish identity throughout the lifecycle.
3) Connect Jewish identity construction with other significant life choices.
Dr. John Ruskay, Chair of the Publications Committee of the Jewish Communal Service Association, will present the award at the UJA-Federation of New York. The tribute acknowledges the work of Bernard Reisman, a longstanding colleague and former Chair of the Committee for 20 years. The Journal of Jewish Communal Service has been published for 80 years.
CLAL-The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership is a leadership training institute, think tank and resource center. A leader in religious pluralism, CLAL links Jewish wisdom with innovative scholarship to deepen civic and spiritual participation in modern American life. CLAL’s interdisciplinary programs explore religious and national identity. CLAL’s publications and materials combine Jewish intellectual traditions with cutting-edge scholarship to help transform North American Jewish communities.
The Jewish Communal Service Association develops, nurtures, and supports Jewish communal leadership as a valued profession. Working across disciplines, it assists local, national and international efforts to enhance professional knowledge, research, education and networking, including promoting and sustaining professional standards for the field.
To access the Spotlight on CLAL Archives, click here.
To receive the Spotlight on CLAL column by email on a regular basis, complete the box
below:
