SHUTAFIM – PARTNERS A Recognition Program for Exemplary Community Partnerships| From the Union for Reform
Judaism Synagogue-Federation Relations Committee
The Shutafim-Partners programis designed to recognize as well as to stimulate exemplary
collaboration between Jewish Federations and their local synagogue
communities. Every two years, the
Committee selects three communities for special recognition, one small, one
mid-sized, and one large, at the Union’s
Biennial Convention.
The program takes into consideration both the ways
Federations assist and support synagogues, and the ways synagogues and the
synagogue community support and collaborate with each other and with the
Federation
Communities are selected through an open nominations process;
any synagogue or Federation lay leader or professional may submit a nomination,
using the approved on-line form. The judges are members of the URJ
Synagogue-Federation Relations Committee whose communities are not in
contention for recognition. Nominations
for recognition at the 2011 Biennial in Washington
D.C. must be submitted by May 31, 2011.
Recognizing that the nature of synagogue-Federation
collaboration is significantly conditioned by community size, the committee
strives to compare communities with their peers. However, the boundaries between small and
mid-sized, and between mid-sized and large, are fluid, at the discretion of the
judging committee. Generally
speaking, a small community is one with
fewer than 35,000 Jews and five or fewer synagogues (of all streams); a
mid-sized community is one with more than 35,000 and fewer than 100,000 Jews
and fifty or fewer synagogues; and a large community is one with more than
100,000 Jews and more than fifty synagogues.
(The Nominations form asks for community size, but not for
classification.)
Recognition of communities receiving Shutafim awards will
begin at the 2011 Biennial, and will continue through local and national
publicity. In addition, recognition
ceremonies may be arranged after the Biennial in the communities selected for
awards.
Previous Awards
2007 – Inaugural year Rochester
NY (small) San Diego
CA (mid-sized) Washington
DC (large).
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