Thanks to everyone who joined us for ARJE26, our Annual Gathering hosted this year in Minneapolis, Minnesota. What an incredible time connecting — and reconnecting — with one another and learning together.
There were so many highlights from the event that it's impossible to recount them all. Still, we want to highlight just a few things below.
Celebration of Educator's Remarks from Missy Bell
Good evening everyone. My name is Missy Bell, and I’m the First Vice-President of the ARJE. I’m so glad to be with you this evening to celebrate educators. Thank you again to Behrman House for being our Presenting Sponsor, and to The Jewish Education Project for sponsoring dinner this evening.
Pirkei Avot tells us, Know from where you came and where you are going. Before we look forward, I want to spend a few minutes looking back at the last several years. We have been through a lot together and never have I felt the power of our community so strongly.
6 years ago, it was 2020. The first documented case of COVID in the United States had just been confirmed. We had to pivot, moving religious schools and youth groups online, canceling summer camp, sending college students home - together, we learned how to become Zoom experts from our living rooms, home offices, and even kitchens.
5 years ago, we were in the midst of virtual programming - figuring out how to build community when we couldn’t be together in person, scrambling to get vaccines, making plans upon plans for how we might be able to offer summer camp in a safe way. - For our learners and families living in a confusing world, we became a constant presence on their screens, helping them maintain a sense of normalcy and community. Oh and at the postponed Olympics that occurred in 2021, I’m pretty sure the ARJE won the gold medal in pivoting.
4 years ago - we were sending regular notifications home about COVID exposures. We rescheduled our ARJE conference at the last minute due to Omicron. For those of us who were still able attend, we wore masks and held hands during tefilah so that we were seated several feet apart. After giving our communities the renewed experience of being together in-person, we were able to have it for ourselves.
3 years ago - things were finally feeling normal again. We thought we could breathe. And then, later in 2023, October 7 happened.
2 years ago - we navigated the aftermath of October 7. Helping our community members deal with increased antisemitism. Helping our college students deal with encampments. Supporting our mishlachat, our Israeli staff at camp, while they were far from home.
1 year ago - we had hope, we were in the midst of a hostage release deal. But things fell apart just a few weeks later, leading to many more months of uncertainty. We saw a rise in global antisemitism and the targeting of marginalized communities. We worked even harder to become the Jewish joy producers and the mensch creators.
And just in the last few weeks - many of us woke up on Sunday mornings to learn about the Bondi Beach Chanukah massacre or the arson at Beth Israel in Jackson. We cried on our way to work, wondering if the Jewish joy we are trying to instill in our communities will ever be enough. We relied on each other for resources AND strength as we prepared yet another email about antisemitism.
The last 6 years have been incredibly hard in our beloved field of Jewish education. To everyone who has continued to do this work over these 6 years, thank you. To everyone who has decided to join this endeavor over the last 6 years - thank you.
After 6 years of difficulty, of sadness, of challenges - we all deserve a break. And so I’m proposing a year of shmita - a Sabbatical year. While this may not be an actual Sabbatical year for our friends the trees, perhaps it can be one for us. No, I’m not suggesting that we all take a year off. I’m also not suggesting that we bury our heads in the sand and ignore what is happening in the world around us. We’re educators. We know that we can hold two opposite feelings or thoughts at the same time. We know that feeling pain and sadness is also what allows us to feel joy deeply. There will still be oys. There will still be challenges. But when you feel at a loss, recommit to nurturing the relationships that bring you peace and comfort. When you have tears in your eyes on the way to work, call a colleague and remember that you’re not alone. Let our sacred community ground you in meaning, purpose - and that Jewish joy that we work so hard to give to others. And as we think about where we are going, and what this next year can be - I am inviting us to spend this shmita year leaning into the joy. We deserve joy.
Shmita literally means release. Whether through a primal scream, yoga, crying, a massage, a vent session with colleagues - we all need to find ways to get some release. I want to invite everyone now to do your best to release an oy. Take a piece of dissolvable paper on your table, and write down at least one “oy” that you would like to release for this next year. When everyone is finished, put them in the bowl of water on your table, give it a swirl, and say goodbye.
Water is cleansing - it dissolved our oys. We engage in ritual handwashing for spiritual purity. Just this past Shabbat, we read shelach lecha, when the Israelites crossed the Sea of Reeds, truly becoming free from Mitzrayim - slavery in Egypt. As we all know, when Miriam and the women got to the other side, they took their timbrels and sang and danced in celebration. They left Egypt in haste - packing quickly, of course not having enough time to let the bread rise - and yet, in the midst of everything they needed to do to get their families out of Egypt, they remembered their timbrels - Why? Because they wanted to be prepared for joy.
This story also reminds me of a Hanna Yerushalmi poem that has inspired me over the last year.
The rabbis advised:
Keep two truths in your pocket
One should read I am but dust and ashes
The other should read The entire world was created for me
An 8 year old has something else in his pocket.
Confetti.
Why?
It’s his emergency confetti, he says
During these raw days he carries it with him
Everywhere
Just in case
There is good news
I would love to give you some confetti to keep in your pocket, so that you, like Miriam and like the little boy in the poem, can be prepared for joy. But, hotel ballrooms and confetti don’t exactly mix. Instead, let’s all toss an imaginary handful of confetti in the air, and lean into the joy!
Presidential D'var Torah from Stacy Rosenthal, RJE
Today, we read from Parashat Yitro and collectively stood for the reading of the Ten Commandments, as if we were at Sinai. We are reminded not only of the revelation of the Ten Commandments, but of the power and purpose that comes from coming together as a community to pursue something greater than ourselves. The giving of the Ten Commandments was not just an individual experience; it was a collective moment—a covenant made with every member of the nation, young and old, standing as one.
The Torah describes an awe-inspiring, if not slightly terrifying, scene of the mountain enveloped in smoke, with the thunder and shofar blasts growing louder and louder. During this, Moses ascends the mountain as God descends. God tells Moses to return to the people. It was here, in Yitro 20:1-14, that God spoke to the Israelites. In this extraordinary setting, the Ten Commandments were given as part of a collective covenant, uniting every individual in shared purpose and responsibility. The experience was deeply personal and profoundly communal at the same time. Our traditions are built on unity, shared purpose, and vision.
Reflecting on our ARJE initiatives from the past year, I see a powerful parallel. We, too, have gathered each of us bringing our own individual strengths, passions, and perspectives to accomplish meaningful collective goals. Whether it was launching new mentorship initiatives, hosting an annual meeting that provided an in-person, regional gathering that included 143 of our member (a 50% increase for annual meeting attendance over the prior year), or deepening our commitment to creating spaces of belonging where we can support one another, each initiative has required not just individual effort, but a willingness to unite in purpose and vision.
One year ago, I stood before you and shared my vision for creating a community of belonging and cultivating spaces where each member feels they have a place in our ever-changing story as it unfolds. I spoke about having a budget that would allow us to offer a culture of experimentation and provide new types of professional development to meet the needs of all our members, and finally, I aspired to highlight the diverse career paths and career trajectories of our members to strengthen our connections and elevate each other’s voices.
As we stand here today, we have launched:
- A Volunteer Engagement Task Force, based on feedback from our listening campaign, to have a better understanding of the needs of our members, especially around feeling seen, heard, connected, and engaged.
- We have a balanced budget, with over a million dollars in reserves and an unprecedented development campaign surrounding Rabbi Jan Katzew’s Jewish Educational Leadership Award, which raised over $70,000 to establish the Rabbi Jan Katzew Mentorship Fund.
- Additionally, We have received grants from the WRJ and the Mandel Institute which have allowed us to provide scholarships for 20 ARJE26 attendees, as well as to begin two small group training initiatives – The New Directors Group, which meets monthly with Michele Lynn Sacks and our YES Fellowship, which is geared towards emerging career professionals working with senior level educators, in partnership with HUC and under the leadership of Kathy Schwartz.
- We have seen a large jump in ARJE membership, with the ARJE increasingly being named as our members’ primary membership. This reflects the many diverse ways in which our members engage in the field with an ever-increasing range of professional backgrounds.
Just as the Ten Commandments provide a foundation for Jewish life and a compass for ethical living and communal responsibility, so too do our accomplishments serve as building blocks for ARJE’s future. Rabbi Louis Reiser z”l wrote “Before meeting God at Mount Sinai, Moses meets Yitro as he approaches the Israelite camp. It was no coincidence that Moses left the camp to meet Yitro (Yitro18:7).” In the words of the Mekhiltah, the ancient commentary to Exodus, we learn that one who welcomes another person is greeting the Shechinah. When Moses and the elders welcome his father-in-law, the Shechinah accompanies them (M’chilta Amelek 3).” The people’s robust welcoming of Yitro prepares the way for God to greet them at Mount Sinai. In the same way, every person who joins the ARJE deserves to be welcomed into our organization and seen as both an individual and someone whose unique gifts and contributions are just what we need collectively for the ARJE to thrive.
Each step we’ve taken over the past 70 years has been guided by those who came before us and organizational priorities such as strengthening our culture of belonging, cultivating creativity in our offerings to members, and enhancing the quality and quantity of ways that we recognize and celebrate our members. Each ARJE priority echoes the spirit of Sinai. As we celebrate all we have achieved, let us also remember that, like the Israelites, we are collectively striving to embody these priorities not just in words, but in our every action.
May we continue to stand together, individually, with our own unique paths and aspirations, and seek the vision and wisdom that comes from our collective strength.
Just as the Israelites stood together at Sinai, each person with their own story to tell, yet bound together by the covenant they received, may we also embrace the next seventy years with strength, creativity, and a commitment to one another, and may we be inspired to act with hope, compassion, and the enduring impact of our shared journey.
Closing Blessing From Rabbi Rick Jacobs
There’s nothing simple about this moment in Jewish history as we endeavor to educate and uplift our Jewish communities that hunger for meaning in the face of rising antisemitism, debilitating polarization, and assaults on our core Jewish teachings especially here in this city and beyond. Many of us wonder if our educators’ toolbox has what we need to meet this moment.
I just returned from spending Shabbat in Jackson Mississippi with our remarkably resilient Beth Israel Congregation and tomorrow I look forward to spending the day with our courageous Reform leaders here in the Twin Cities. So many are on the front lines, including all of you, our treasured Reform Jewish educators.
Last week there was WAR
This week there is JUSTICE
Last week there was DEVASTATION
This week there is REVELATION
Last week there was Amalek
This week there is Yitro
It’s hard to shift gears with such abrupt and profound changes.
Last week we read of the Israelites passage through the Sea of Reeds to the shores of freedom.
At the end of the portion the Israelites encounter Amalek.
Unprovoked, Amalek attacks the Israelites;
our ancestors prevail but are left traumatized.
Amalek becomes the eternal adversary of the Jewish people.
That’s last week.
We leave Amalek in Chapt 17 of Exodus
Only to meet Yitro in Chapt 18.
Yitro is Moses’ father-in-law
He is also a Midianite Priest.
Amalek is vengeful and cruel.
Yitro is wise and loving.
After Pharaoh and then Amalek,
the Israelites might have concluded that non-Israelites were to be feared, even hated.
Right as we are ready to adopt an eternal us vs them stance, in walks Yitro.
In Jackson Mississippi an act of antisemitic hate consumed so many sacred books and caused extensive damage to our beloved Reform congregation that was founded in the midst of the Civil War and stood tall during the civil rights movement. In the sixties their rabbi supported many freedom riders and stood with the dozens of black churches that were firebombed – even as their own congregation was also firebombed. Hiding their Jewishness is not in their DNA, not then, not now.
Yes, there’s an epidemic of hate, but we will not hide or fade into the darkness, we will stand strong and proud; and we will continue to respond to our prophetic imperative to build and nurture communities of belonging and hope.
Last Friday night I joined our congregation in Jackson for their Shabbat service which was held at the Northminster Baptist Church that has opened their hearts and building to our small but mighty Reform synagogue. Seems the spirit of Yitro is alive and well in this complicated moment. Who says we have no interfaith allies? Those relationships are built over decades not weeks.
How do we navigate this moment so that we can help our learning communities find their way. No doubt this exceptional Hevreh of educators that we call ARJE is helping us retool for this intense and demanding moment.
Last Saturday morning we gathered at URJ Jacobs Camp in Utica Mississippi so that the wider Southern Reform community could support and care for the leaders and members of Beth Israel. As part of the Shabbat Shira service a group of students from Beth Israel offered a prayer in that special place that has been a sacred home for them. These resilient teens have been nourished by their religious school education and from their summers at Jacobs Camp.
So much of my Jewish rootedness came from my summers at our URJ camps in Northern California where we prayed in the midst of Redwood trees that reached for the heavens. Though you’ve heard dozens of Tu B’Shvat teachings by now, I must share a word about those giant Redwood trees that can grow to be hundreds of feet tall and live for hundreds if not thousands of years.
But most remarkable is the fact that their roots are very shallow. The only way these majestic trees can stand tall is by interlocking their roots with those of their neighboring trees. They grow tall by staying close and supporting their neighbors. That sure sounds like Torah for us in this moment!
Yes, we need more deeply rooted communities of Jewish learning and commitment and the way we can all stand tall is by interconnecting our roots, so we steady one another in destabilizing times.
A young student in the Beth Israel religious school who is also a camper at Jacobs Camp inspired a sticker we gave out last Shabbat. It says:
“Be more Jewish than ever.”
COVID, obsessive screen use, stunted social growth continue to challenge our youth but YOU are all key to their well-being as they live lives of Jewish commitment and purpose.
Our Reform siblings in the deep south are doing something very right and I’m certain that each of you and all of us together can plant those same seeds of love, commitment and wisdom.
You, our beloved educators, are doing extraordinarily holy work guiding the many souls of our Movement to find their way with heads and hearts filled with Jewish values and practices that will allow them to live proud Jewish lives of blessing.
As Dan Nichols offered the concluding bracha for our Jackson and Jacobs family last Shabbat,
let me conclude with his words:
“There is a power in this place and time,
it shapes the rest of our lives,
Be strong and let us strengthen one another.
Cha-zak, cha-zak, ve-nit cha-zeik.”