Netivot+Shalom-+Handout


 * Congregation Netivot Shalom**
 * Berkeley****,** **California**
 * Stuart Kelman, Rabbi and Cathy Shadd, Educator**

Name of funded initiative: Rimmonim

Rimmonim is a Shabbat family education program for children in grades K-2 and their parents focused on the study of core Jewish //middot// (one per month) and their application to everyday life. It also encompasses adult learning opportunities and inter-generational social action projects.
 * Brief description of the program**:

In the coming year, we plan to strengthen our very successful Shabbat morning learning sessions (which have a family learning component followed by parallel adult and children’s learning) by having more parents and congregants lead these sessions. We also plan to integrate //middot//-focused adult learning sessions into already established structures within the congregation such as the Sunday morning //minyan// and Selichot study, and to focus our social action projects on the skilled nursing facility in our neighborhood where congregants already lead twice monthly Friday night services. Lastly, we plan to arrange training for our Board, staff, and lay leaders on values based decision-making to try to integrate an active practice of //middot// into the culture of the shul.
 * Planned next steps**:

The program is working very well for the families in the target age group, but it is still seen within the larger shul as a children’s program (despite regular invitations in the weekly Shabbat announcements for anyone to join in our learning and social action projects). When congregants outside the target age group have participated in Rimmonim on Shabbat mornings, they really enjoyed it. At our congregational retreat, for example, where Rimmonim led an inter-generational //middah//-related learning activity for the entire congregation, people readily participated and responded very favorably.
 * Two ideas for making the program more systemic**:

In addition to continuing to encourage congregants to come to our Shabbat morning program, as either learners or facilitators, we want to find ways to weave the //middot// focus of Rimmonim into the fabric of the congregation. We think our best chance of doing this is to use existing structures like the retreat rather than to create new venues. Several ideas we have to address this task are: 1. Using the Sunday morning //minyan//. We have been given a certain number of learning sessions at these well-attended prayer and study sessions. We will find congregants to lead the study portion (based on the //middah// of the month) of these sessions.

2. Researching “values-based decision making” and arranging for a consultant to train our Board, staff, and lay leaders in using this approach to think through who we are as a community and to evaluate our priorities. This is a good time for our shul to do this as our new rabbi will start this summer and the whole community is very aware that we are in a transitional time. Rimmonim could be very helpful to the larger community in focusing on our core values as we re-envision ourselves.

Two ongoing challenges in implementing our program are: 1. Getting people to come, both parents in the target group and congregants 2. Getting people to volunteer to lead the learning sessions and organize the social action projects
 * Two major challenges in implementing the program and ideas for addressing them**:

Ideas for addressing these challenges: 1. Getting parents to take on more leadership roles in the program, so it will become more of a priority for their family and they will plan around it. Trying to fill the various volunteer slots (lead a family learning session, lead an adult learning session, organize a social action project) in the early fall for the entire year. People will then know that they have made a commitment and plan around it. This year we sought volunteers week by week with the same core group of parents steadily volunteering over the course of the year. 2. Asking congregants, again early in the year, to lead particular learning sessions and providing them with materials which they could either use as they are or modify. 3. Publicizing early on the planned holiday events at our neighborhood nursing home and involving both parents from the target group and other congregants in planning for and putting on these events. Asking people to take on particular discreet tasks (rather than soliciting volunteers in a generic way).

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