RS Visioning Initiative Weekend with Rabbi Lawrence Hoffman, March 4-6

Please learn about our Visioning Initiative, and join us for the visioning weekend opportunities with Rabbi Hoffman, listed below!

RS 2020: Creating Our Vision Together
6:00pm Shabbat Service, 7:00pm Dinner & Discussion 
RSVP for Dinner to Marcia Biggs at 215-627-6747 x12 or mbiggs@rodephshalom.org. Cost for dinner is $20 per person.

Torah Study with Rabbi Lawrence Hoffman
Saturday, March 5, 2011 at 9:15am

RS 2020: Why the Next Generation Will Be Jewish
Sunday, March 6 at 10:30 AM

Please read more here for full descriptions of these conversations.

RS 2020: Creating Our Vision Together
6:00pm Shabbat Service, 7:00pm Dinner & Discussion
     Shape our congregation’s vision in this facilitated discussion with synagogue transformation expert Rabbi Lawrence Hoffman. Synagogues change and so do we. We begin our weekend with a retrospective look at where we are and how we got here from there. A nostalgic revisiting of 20th century Judaism and an investigation into the death of ethnicity and the surge in spirituality will serve as a foundation into our exploration of what is left of all that now and where we go from here.
     Questions to consider in preparation: If you grew up Jewish: How do you compare and contrast the Judaism of your childhood with Jewish life today? If you didn’t grow up Jewish or in Jewish life: How do you compare and contrast the spiritual life of your past with your spiritual life today?
     RSVP for Dinner to Marcia Biggs at 215-627-6747 x12 or mbiggs@rodephshalom.org. Cost for dinner is $20 per person.

Torah Study with Rabbi Lawrence Hoffman
Saturday, March 5, 2011 at 9:15am
The Torah portion will be Pekudei (Exodus 38:21-40:38) Rabbi Hoffman will help us discover how the words of our ancient text relate to community building and spirituality today.

RS 2020: Why the Next Generation Will Be Jewish
Sunday, March 6 at 10:30 AM
Engage in a conversation about our future with synagogue transformation expert Rabbi Lawrence Hoffman. We can take nothing for granted anymore. We conclude, therefore, with a look at revolutions in Judaism: the nineteenth-century version that gave us all our current Judaisms (Reform, Conservative, Reconstructionism, and Modern Orthodoxy); and the twenty-first century explosion of assumptions in which we find ourselves today. With interfaith marriages rising, and ethnic memory growing dimmer, why will anyone choose to affirm Judaism as our century proceeds? Why be Jewish at all any more? Explore Judaism’s response to the frantic search for human meaning, against the backdrop of science, art, the challenge to tradition, and the “rereligionization” of America.