Scholar-in-Residence Weekend
Dr. Ron Wolfson April 28-30, 2017
@ Shaarey Zedek
welcoming Relational Judaism:
Building a culture of
For those who attended High Holy Days this year at Shaarey Zedek, the experience was unlike any Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur they had encountered in the past. Shaarey Zedek’s spiritual leadership took bold steps to make the service relevant by extracting the essential meaningful portions, enhancing prayer with musical accompaniment and bringing the Torah to life through vivid narratives. The approval that followed rang loud and clear and has created a momentum for the year’s first Scholar-InResidence (SIR) April 28-30th, Dr. Ron Wolfson.
Dr. Wolfson is a pioneer in Jewish family education and author of two seminal works in the field: Relational Judaism: Using the Power of Relationships to Transform the Jewish Community and The Spirituality of Welcoming: How to Transform Your Congregation into a Sacred Community. He is also a professor at the Graduate Center for Jewish Education at the American Jewish University in Los Angeles Ron, as he prefers to be called, has spent nearly three decades working towards bringing synagogues into the 21st Century. As the co-founder of Synagogue 3000 in 1995 along with Rabbi Lawrence Hoffman, he travelled coast to coast listening to congregants and clergy about what is most needed to help the modern Synagogue survive. The answer was “relevance to our time and who we are” and “places of spiritual community for adults and children”. On his visit to Winnipeg, Ron will share what he has learned about engagement as he guides us to achieving our vision of transforming the synagogue experience into that of a sacred community: a relevant and modern experience of our tradition that gives us all a fullness of belonging and personal connection with both history and with one another. In today’s largely secular society, many people desperately crave meaning and spirituality that’s missing from their lives. Judaism provides an endless well of meaning and what better venue than the synagogue to reconnect with Judaism’s deep spiritual traditions. During the SIR weekend, Ron will facilitate a process to shift our focus from the synagogue model based solely on the goods and services it provides to a synagogue community built on relationships, belonging and mutual support. As he writes in his book on Relational Judaism: “The Goal of Jewish
204 452 3711
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Institutions is not self-preservation; it is to engage Jews with Judaism. It’s not about gaining more members; it’s gaining more Jews. It’s about people not programs. It’s about deep relationships not fee-for-service transactions.” Dr. Wolfson’s message will impact 1000+ people over the course of the weekend starting Friday morning with a youth leadership workshop for high school students at The Gray Academy of Jewish Education and later that day, staff/ lay leader training. The Community is invited to join us for inspirational Friday night Kabbalat Shabbat services at 5:30 PM. Be sure to register for the delicious Friday night dinner to take place after services. At 8 PM the entire community is invited for Dr. Wolfson’s keynote presentation: “Envisioning the Relational Synagogue of the 21st Century”. Come back Shabbat morning for services beginning at 10:00 AM followed by Kiddush at noon and a session lead by our scholar based on his book: The Seven Questions You Are Asked in Heaven. Saturday night get your tickets for the Havdalah celebration with musical entertainment and Ron’s presentation of: The Best Boy in America. Sunday, Shaarey Zedek will host a professional and lay leadership development workshop with Dr. Wolfson. Key themes will be Relational Engagement, Quality Service and Welcoming. Registration is required. If you would like to register for any of the events, get more information or want to be involved in planning how to make our vision of a warm and welcoming community a reality, please contact the synagogue at 204-452-3711. Scholar-In-Residence Committee: Sharon Allentuck, Rena Elbaze, Chuck Golfman, Uri Kraut, Scott McWilliam, Susn Palmer, Rocky Pollack, Rob Trachtenberg, Chris Yaren
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