ACRE Blog

Creating an Entrepreneurial Rabbinate

Rabbi Rebecca W. Sirbu

One rabbi blogs about science and religion on the Huffington Post (www.sinaiandsynapes.com ), another teaches chanting and Jewish meditation at a Yoga studio down the road from her congregation (http://shmakoleinu-hearourvoices.blogspot.com/), and a third counsels, teaches, and writes Spanish language prayer books for hidden Jews in Latin America over the internet (http://www.koltuvsefarad.com/index.html ).

This is not the rabbinate of twenty years ago. Rabbis today have great opportunities to teach Jewish wisdom in new ways and to new audiences. We are at a point in time when traditional borders between religions, ethnicities, and races are coming down. Americans are seeking wisdom to help them lead more meaningful lives from any and all sources. The research conducted by the Pew Center for Religion shows that almost half of Americans change their denominational affiliation at some point in their lives. At the same time, the advent of the internet allows us as rabbis to reach whole new audiences through blogs, Facebook, Twitter and You Tube. The world is truly opening up in new ways.

The timing of this openness could not be better. As the economic realities are causing congregations to close or merge, and Jewish non-profits are cutting their budgets, many rabbis are losing their job security. What better time than now for rabbis to re-imagine their rabbinates?

At Clal’s Rabbis Without Borders Fellowship program (http://rabbiswithoutborders.org/ ), we help rabbis become entrepreneurs. The three rabbis mentioned at the beginning of this post are all Rabbis Without Borders. They have each pushed themselves to think outside of the box and pursue their passions within their rabbinates. Each has his or her own unique vision. But they have all benefited from a program which helped them understand the cultural context of the world we are living in today, the wisdom Jewish tradition can add to our lives, and the tools available to us to get our message out into the world. The supportive environment of the fellowship encouraged them to go out on a limb and try out new ideas.

Jews and Jewish tradition are incredibly resilient and creative. Rabbinic Judaism was created during the upheaval of the destruction of the Second Temple and the exile of the Jewish people from Israel. New theological concepts were created as a result of the Holocaust, and creative new rituals and the full enfranchisement of women in Judaism came into being after the cultural upheaval of 1960’s America. Now is another time of great change. Walls are coming down, information is readily available, and the economic culture is shifting. Now is a time for great creativity in the rabbinate.  As Theodore Hertzel said,  “Im tirtzu ain zo aggadah,”  If you dream it , you can make it happen.

Ask yourself: What Torah do I have to teach? What tools do I have to bring it in to the world? What support can I set up for myself to make it happen?

Focus on your passions. Create a strategic plan. Put together a board of advisors. Take courses in order to deepen your expertise in your chosen area or expand your knowledge of others.

Creating a new path for your self can be scary, but the pay off may be greater than even you can imagine.

Rabbi Rebecca W. Sirbu is the Director of Rabbis Without Borders at Clal. She can be reached at rsirbu@clal.org