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Oct 29
2009
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The following remarks were delivered by Dr. Maury Hoberman, Trustee of the Lasko Family Foundations, during the 2nd Annual ACRE Conference on October 15, 2009.
ACRE Blog
Alliance for Continuing Rabbinic Education
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Oct 23
2009
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On Thursday, October 15, 2009, Dr. Tobin Belzer presented the Keynote talk at the 2nd Annual ACRE Conference. Her topic was, "How Post-Boomers" engage with the Jewish Community." Here is a summary of her presentation.
Belzer began her talk by defining two key phrases important to discussions of young adults: emerging adulthood and post-boomers. In the past 50 years, what most people experience during the years between age 18 to 35 in industrialized societies has dramatically changed. Instead of entering young adulthood - the developmental stage marked by long-term commitments to family and vocation - in their early twenties, most people now postpone these transitions. Scholarly attention to this change has increased in recent years and is now widely referred to as emerging adulthood. Those who currently occupy this new life-cycle stage are post-boomers. Belzer explained why the term "post-boomer" provides a useful way to think about young adults today. Drawing upon the insight of sociologists Don Miller and Richard Flory, Belzer explained that attempts to differentiate the subtle differences between how one age cohort is monolithically characterized in relations to others (e.g. how Millennials compare to GenXers), tends to decrease the terms' explanatory value. Instead, the term post-boomer refers to young adults whose formative experiences have been colored by significant social and cultural developments unique to their time and place in history. Just as baby boomers had multiple responses to such things as Vietnam and the "sixties," so too do post-boomers' responses to their experiences vary.
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Oct 17
2009
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CCAR's Keter Torah ProgramPosted by Deborah Prinz in ACRE |
Just about a year ago, then President of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, Peter Knobel, turned to the CCAR Board and challenged: "Anyone opposed to Torah study?"
As of course there were no objections, our CCAR Professional Development Committee's proposal to create and implement a Keter Torah rabbinic continuing education incentive program was approved!
A voluntary program to encourage and recognize ongoing rabbinic learning and skills development by members of the CCAR, the program grants awards and other incentives to rabbis who engage in serious and sustained learning over the course of a Jewish year, acknowledging areas of learning include Torah, text study, rabbinics, professional development, counseling and education skills through CCAR and other program providers.
The Keter Torah program incentive learning levels are:
1. Yad Torah- 54 hours of approved learning within a year
2. Hoshen Torah- 118 hours of approved learning within a year
3. Rimmon Torah- 180 hours of approved learning within a year
Courses or workshops must each be a minimum of an hour in length.
At our CCAR Rabbinic Leadership in-person seminar in Los Angeles earlier this week, our first of 5770, we launched Keter Torah by distributing certificates identifying the number of hours participants had earned. Our colleagues had not expected this, nor had they attended in order to achieve the hours. Yet, when an active member of the Professional Development Committee presented the certificates and everyone realized how many Keter Torah hours they had accomplished in the two days, and that they were the first group ever to do so, a spontaneous Shehecheyanu erupted from the group. It was indeed a special moment for them, for the CCAR and for all rabbinic continuing education.
As of course there were no objections, our CCAR Professional Development Committee's proposal to create and implement a Keter Torah rabbinic continuing education incentive program was approved!
A voluntary program to encourage and recognize ongoing rabbinic learning and skills development by members of the CCAR, the program grants awards and other incentives to rabbis who engage in serious and sustained learning over the course of a Jewish year, acknowledging areas of learning include Torah, text study, rabbinics, professional development, counseling and education skills through CCAR and other program providers.
The Keter Torah program incentive learning levels are:
1. Yad Torah- 54 hours of approved learning within a year
2. Hoshen Torah- 118 hours of approved learning within a year
3. Rimmon Torah- 180 hours of approved learning within a year
Courses or workshops must each be a minimum of an hour in length.
At our CCAR Rabbinic Leadership in-person seminar in Los Angeles earlier this week, our first of 5770, we launched Keter Torah by distributing certificates identifying the number of hours participants had earned. Our colleagues had not expected this, nor had they attended in order to achieve the hours. Yet, when an active member of the Professional Development Committee presented the certificates and everyone realized how many Keter Torah hours they had accomplished in the two days, and that they were the first group ever to do so, a spontaneous Shehecheyanu erupted from the group. It was indeed a special moment for them, for the CCAR and for all rabbinic continuing education.