JCLP Collaborates with JFNA on Small Congregation Survey
David Manchester, Director of JFNA’s Community Data and Research Development, has led these research efforts in conjunction with JCLP consultant Max Kleinman. To date 3 congregations in Northern and Central New Jersey have participated and are in the process of developing plans for the future. “In this stressful times for small congregations facing profound change via COVID, demographic […]
B’nai Sholom Temple of Quincy, Illinois, has a Legacy
When B’nai Sholom closed in 2019 it was the oldest synagogue in Illinois. What happened in the intervening years was typical of similar Jewish communities in small towns across the country. Members aged and passed away. Young people found attractive opportunity elsewhere. A large and old building required extensive maintenance. Help with planning for the […]
Every Story is Specific
De Waal’s ancestors are the Viennese branch of the wealthy and prominent Ephrussi family. Nazi invasion of Austria scattered his family around the globe. His kin and their stories may be more illustrious than most, but he believes that passing on stories about family and identity are universally important. Each story is specific, de Waal emphasizes. He […]
Torah Donation Fulfills Part of a Legacy Plan
JCLP began helping the board of directors of Temple Beth El in Bainbridge, Georgia, to draft a legacy plan about five years ago. As she expressed in an article in the Atlanta Jewish Times, Temple President Roslyn Palmer saw “the writing on the wall.” Her beloved congregation, the nexus of Jewish life in this small city […]
Central PA Small Congregations Learn about Jewish Ethics
Central Pennsylvania Small Congregations Learn About Jewish Ethics from Thought LeadersThe brunt of winter has yet to be felt in much of the United States, but on the Jewish calendar and in Israel, the 15th day of the month of Av—Tu B’shevat—has us looking towards spring. Last year, several JCLP community cohorts gathered virtually to observe […]
JCLP Helps Temple Emanu-El in Bayonne, New Jersey
The towers of Manhattan, arguably the center of the country’s largest concentration of Jews, are visible from Bayonne and the city itself is situated in densely Jewish New Jersey. But the problems 100-year-old Temple Emanu-El in Bayonne faced were not dissimilar to that of a historic small synagogue in rural Ohio. Max Kleinman, a JCLP […]
Western PA Clergy:
Started at the end of August and continuing to June 2022, rabbis and cantors of participant congregations each chose a favorite subject to share for a series they call Clergy Explorations. Cantor Rena Shapiro of Beth Samuel Jewish Center in Ambridge led off with an immersive Sh’mitah Seder and musical Selichot service to usher in […]
Ohio Cohort Meets to Hear Experts on Israel and on Antisemitism
This fall, JCLP—in cooperation with the Network of Independent Jewish Communities, Jewish Federations of North America—has already hosted two seminars attended by members of more than a dozen small congregations throughout the state. One focused on Antisemitism and the other on Israel. A planning committee comprised of lay leaders from the congregations chose those topics and […]
Montana Torah finds a new home
A Torah from Montana Finds a New Home in Texas When Jack Wallace was called to the Torah during his bar mitzvah on October 2 in Texas Hill Country, the spirit of generations of a historic Jewish congregation in Montana stood with him. Jack chanted from a Torah that had just been transferred from Congregation […]
An Opportunity to Light Up a New Building
Temple B’nai Abraham in Decatur, Illinois, graciously offers six Magen David ceiling hung lamps and six Magen David sconces. Please contact Art Gross (argross@gmail.com) if your congregation is interested in these symbolically-decorated objects of illumination. September 20, 2021