Belin Awards
How One Synagogue Honored Loved Ones Lost – and Found Community Anew
Throughout the course of 12 years, Temple Shalom in Succasunna, N.J., experienced a number of hardships, ranging from financial difficulties to a decline in membership. As it turned out, though, the thing that would inspire this community to thrive once again was, well, the very community itself.
How a Suburban Synagogue is Creating Community by Hosting Events with a Big-City Vibe
How do you lead a congregation and create cohesive community when your synagogue exists between two distinct communities? That was one of the challenges facing Oak Park Temple, which sits between the west Chicago suburbs and the northwest part of Chicago in the suburb of Oak Park, where more young families are increasingly relocating
This Congregation Offers a Safe Space To Celebrate Passover
For individuals handling addiction and in recovery, the act of engaging with others as part of Jewish holidays and celebrations can be difficult.
How One Congregation Engages Israelis in Synagogue Life
Until recently, engaging Jewishly has not been easy for Israelis in Santa Barbara, CA, where religious life and Jewish identity are quite different than back home.
This Congregation Started a Summer Camp for Refugee Kids – Led by a Teen
Congregation B’nai Israel in Sacramento, CA, created Camp Nefesh, a full-service day camp for newly arrived refugees. To learn more about this 2019 Belin Award-winning initiative, we spoke with Lucy Beckett, the teenager who dreamt up the concept, as well as Denise Crevin, the congregation’s director of education, and Sharon Rogoff of Women of B’nai Israel.