Union for Reform Judaism / Union Leadership Site / Shortage of Jewish Professionals - 2003

THE REFORM LEADERSHIP COUNCIL JOINT TASK FORCE
ON THE SHORTAGE OF JEWISH PROFESSIONALS

Final Report
June 2003 / Sivan 5763

Robert Heller, Joint Task Force Chair

The Task Force's Final Report on the Shortage of Jewish Professionals.
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On behalf of the Reform Leadership Council Task Force on the Professional Shortage, I am pleased to submit our Final Report. It updates the several Interim Reports submitted since the Task Force was created, initially as a UAHC-sponsored body in the Fall of 1999 and later as the first joint Task Force established by the Reform Leadership Council. The Final Report revisits and expands upon the findings, conclusions, programmatic responses and recommendations that we have developed over time.

The Task Force was born at a moment of crisis, although at the time no one imagined the larger, existential and economic crises that have since engulfed our world. The crisis we faced as a Movement was, however, both existential and economic in its own way. Existential because the long-term well-being of our Movement depends in part on our ability to develop Reform Jewish professionals, passionate about our heritage and authenticity, committed to our philosophy and eager to help us build communities of meaning within our congregations. Economic because demand for Jewish professionals exceeded supply. Demand was growing exponentially as our Movement added congregations, built camps and expanded religious schools, and as our members’ appetite for Jewish learning, for Jewish soulfulness, for bringing Torah into their lives in meaningful ways proved little short of insatiable. Yet our movement was producing small, even declining, numbers of rabbis, cantors, educators and administrators.

Growth in demand is, of course, a measure of our Movement’s success. We hope it continues for years to come. Our challenge is to expand supply. How do we attract more people to careers as Jewish professionals? How do we retain them longer? How do we make their careers more rewarding and fulfilling? How can we re-divide the congregational pie to allocate more tasks to informed volunteers, leveraging the time of our professionals? How do we train those volunteers appropriately? What can we do to enhance recruitment for Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion?

Our responses to those questions and others are reflected in the Final Report. The sweeping new initiatives undertaken or developed by the Task Force respond to what we found were interrelated, systemic issues and illustrate the value of having representatives of all the institutions of the Reform Movement engage in collaborative dialogue about our common problems. By creating opportunities for face-to-face conversation as well as telephonic and email communication, the Task Force became not only a forum for discussing issues and ideas but also a creative force and a catalyst for change.

To cite but a few examples, details of which appear in the Report, among the programs the Task Force was the catalyst for, implemented and/or assisted in developing to address the shortage are:

  • Brit Kodesh: Enables our congregations to reconceptualize the lay-professional relationship; now involves 50 congregations as pilot sites.
  • Sh'liach K'hilah/Synagogue Associate: Re-visions the former Para Rabbinic Fellows Program; currently has 54 participants.
  • Strengthening recruitment for Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion: Expands recruitment for HUC-JIR in our congregations and camps, at colleges and at the Biennial. The bottom line: a 68-person 2003 entering rabbinic class, the largest in at least 25 years (statistical data is not available for years prior to that), and increases in cantorial and education school enrollments as well.
  • Shadow Program: Still in development, this program invites candidates interested in becoming rabbis, cantors, educators, administrators or communal workers to spend a few days shadowing a congregational professional.
  • Synagogue-Professional Match: Brings congregations together with professionals interested in part time, short-term service; over 240 professionals registered.

With all that, the shortage is not over. By terminating the Task Force is the Movement declaring victory and moving on to other priorities? Emphatically not. The Task Force was envisioned as a think tank convened to consider the issues and propose responses. It was not appointed as a permanent body. However, the programs it developed have all been moved to new "homes" within the UAHC or HUC-JIR where they will continue to operate. As important, the Reform Leadership Council has recognized the value of having all arms of the Movement act in a coordinated way to assist in recruitment for HUC-JIR, to make careers in Jewish professional life -- especially in synagogue life -- attractive and rewarding, and to offer training for volunteers who want to play a larger role. Thus, we expect the successful joint effort to support HUC-JIR recruitment will continue under the auspices of the College’s Admissions Office. The Brit Kodesh and Sh’liach K’hilah programs will continue under the auspices of the Departments of Synagogue Management and Religious Living, respectively, and the database will go on as well. It is, in short, imperative that the end of the Task Force not mean the end of its initiatives or our Movement’s collaborative efforts to deal with the shortage.

On a personal note, there are many people to thank for the Task Force’s record of accomplishment, too many, in fact, for me to name everyone. Some are mentioned in the Report itself. Nevertheless, a word of gratitude is in order here, first to Rabbi Stacy Bergman, our ever-cheerful staff person who successfully juggled our work with the 250 other things that demand her attention. She was the glue that held this rather slender operation together. Melissa Zalkin from the UAHC College Department worked effectively on many of our projects aimed at college students, especially in connection with the Boston and Minneapolis Biennials. Rabbi Dan Freelander was there when we needed him for ideas, advice and hands-on help. Our Vice Chair, Jane Rips, handled multiple tasks, served as the Task Force liaison to the working group that designed and implemented the Sh’liach K’hilah program and provided her usual sound advice at key moments. Judy Berg, Marvin Dickman, and Marilynn Yentis served as lay-chairs of our subcommittees, asked the right questions, pressed for results and willingly rolled up their sleeves to do what needed doing in a timely way. My deepest appreciation as well to all the members of the Task Force, who joined this enterprise determined to help deal with the problem before us and to strengthen our Movement. By no means least, we had the support, encouragement and, in most cases, active participation of the leadership of the UAHC, HUC-JIR, CCAR, ACC, NATE and NATA.

We wrestled with the problems before us with mutual goodwill and respect. We soon realized that the shortage is one aspect of a multifaceted set of issues concerning recruitment, training and retention of professionals, and the relationship between them and the laity they serve. That collective set of issues demanded our Movement’s collective best efforts when we began. It still does. Though the Task Force has more than fulfilled its mandate and will cease to exist, it leaves behind programs, processes and a plan of action that will guide those collective best efforts as we move forward from here.