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Parent: “I hated Hebrew School, You’ll Hate Hebrew School and That’s Just the Way it is!

Thursday, July 29th, 2010

After my first year as the Rabbi of the Lake Norman Jewish Congregation in Davidson, North Carolina, a parent came up to me and said: “Rabbi, I don’t know what my child’s teacher is doing, but my kid actually wants to come to Hebrew school.”  He went on to explain that he remembered his father saying the following to him: “I hated Hebrew school, you’ll hate Hebrew school, and that is just the way it is.”  He thought that he too would be put in the position of saying those same dreadful words to his child.  Luckily, Jewish education, and the school program at the LNJC, has broken that circle of religious education misery.

I strongly believe that Jewish education should inspire wonder about, and joy for Judaism.  This drives our school program. I am so proud of both our congregation but also the wider Jewish community in the Lake Norman and Charlotte region for their dedication to this vision.

The LNJC religious school is kicking off immediately before the 2nd annual “Shalom Lake Norman Jewish Festival” in order to maximize participation in the exceptional event planned by the Jewish Council of Lake Norman, which  is made up of the 5 Jewish organizations at the Lake.

The kick-off and festival is an opportunity to frame the whole year of Jewish learning in a “funJewcational ” (Fun + educational) way for all of our children. This is exactly what we are supposed to be doing as teachers of the next generation; inspiring our children to be thoughtful and engaged questioners and seekers.

I hope that everyone takes the opportunity to attend the Jewish festival. Tireless volunteers have spent countless hours planning every aspect of the Festival and it will be a fabulous event for the young, young-at-heart, and everyone in between.

An Early Shabbat Shalom Lake Norman,

-Rabbi Michael Shields

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July 23? or something more?

Saturday, July 24th, 2010

July 23 was a day like any other.  The temperature was already eighty degrees by 9am; and by noon it was 95.  My shirt began to stick to my body in the 30 feet from my front door to my car, and my tomato plants were already withering from the solar assault.  An iced coffee from Summit and my air conditioned office called to me like a siren.  It seemed like just another hot and sticky North Carolina summer day.

But after I got my cool coffee creation and found the comfort of my office chair, I realized that July 23 was not just any day, it was Friday, and that meant Shabbat was coming.

I pulled my sermon notebook from the top drawer of my desk and reviewed the sermon I had written earlier in the week. I began to hum the melodies we would use that evening to welcome the Shabbat.  I prepared some children’s activities for “Shabbat Kids,” our pre-service learning and singing time, and thought of what joy gathering as a Jewish community can bring.

Children sat on the special alphabet mat while singing the “Shabbat Dinosaur Song” and multiple rounds of Bim Bam.  Adults peppered me with questions about the different sections of the service, and together we learned two new melodies for Shabbat, and one melody that will make an appearance during the High Holy Days.  As a community we learned, we prayed, we greeted old friends and welcomed new ones, and of course after the service, we ate.

It was Shabbat and we were happy!

What an exciting time to be Jewish in Lake Norman:

-6 new families have joined us in just the past few weeks.

-We will be adding 4-6 new preschoolers and 8-10 new students to our religious school.

-We have hired a school principal

-We will have a teaching corp of at least 10 teachers.  4 of our teachers are Davidson College students and 6 are trained teachers.  We are going to be blessed with at least 15 adult volunteers and 6 madrichim (post-bnei Mitzvah teacher aides)

-We plan to have at least 3 major cultural/musical/educational events stopping at the congregation from the Institute of Southern Jewish Life.

-We continue to take important steps towards making a permanent home a reality in the near future.

I feel so lucky to be the Rabbi in Lake Norman and look forward to many more years of sacred covenant with the LNJC.

Shalom Lake Norman,

Rabbi Michael Shields

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The Lake Norman Jewish Congregation Continues to Thrive

Thursday, July 22nd, 2010

It is with great excitement and anticipation that I bring you the news that the congregation has hired Kristine Mahoney to a 3 year contract as our Religious School Director.  Ms. Mahoney has a Masters degree in Education and brings a wealth of experience to the position.

Our congregation has grown from just 6 families in 2006 to more than 115 families today. In 2008 I was blessed to be brought to this community as the first full-time Rabbi in the Lake Norman region.

The hiring of Ms. Mahoney is an important step on our path of continued success.  The explosive growth of our congregation and our desire to continue providing an exceptional educational experience for our children led us to hire Kristine Mahoney.  With 72 students this past year and more than 80 students projected for the upcoming year, Ms. Mahoney will make it possible for the congregation to maintain the excellence we have achieved to date and enhance and expand our educational programming for children and adults. Moreover, she will serve as a pivotal partner for me as the Rabbi in curricular and programmatic development. We are thrilled to have her on board.

We continue to implement and refine our strategic plan.  Our vision drives our programming, and as our vision gets even more vibrant, so too does our programming.

Shalom Lake Norman!

-Rabbi Michael Shields

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URJ Camp Coleman (Our Jewish Summer Camp)

Thursday, June 17th, 2010

The Blue Heron has a wing span of nearly 7 feet.  Did you know that? I learned that nature tidbit from a Bonim counselor who was pointing out one of nature’s wonders to his campers. I believe that a counselor’s job is to inspire his campers and in this Coleman counselors excel.

The first week of camp has been a whirlwind of activity. Bonim campers (the youngest) have bonded with their older buddy in Chalutzim by making Chocolate Chip Challah with sprinkles for their first Shabbat. Kochavim campers have “rocked out” to the Jewish music of Beth Schaefer.  Campers have tie-dyed, harvested the camp garden and fed the camp chickens. They have explored the land of Israel with our Israeli Scouts and challenged themselves on the ropes course and on the athletic fields. As campers have gotten to know each other, the lines between returning campers and new campers have begun to fade as camp songs and cheers become familiar to one and all.

As a Rabbi, I want the children from my congregation who come to Coleman to explore their Judaism in a safe, fun and nurturing environment. I want them to mature socially, gaining independence and exploring personal interests. Over the past week I have seen campers begin to do this, but they have also started to “own” their Judaism – to explore their Judaism – to love their Judaism. They recognize that they are part of a Jewish community and that their faith can empower them to live more meaningful lives.

Every day that I spend at Camp Coleman I learn something new; about myself, about Judaism, or about the Blue Heron. I cannot wait to hear what my camper learns next week.

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Mitzvah Day 5770

Thursday, June 3rd, 2010

Almost 100 people from Lake Norman Jewish Congregation traded a bit of hard work for lots of fun on the group’s first Mitzvah Day Sunday, May 15.  The congregation lent a hand to clearing and beautifying the grounds of the Levine & Dickson Hospice House in Huntersville.

While the word “mitzvah” is often translated as a good deed, is actually means “commandment” or the fulfillment of a commandment.

“This was our first congregation-wide justice project,” said LNJC Rabbi Michael Shields. “It sets the bar for our congregation quite high and challenges us to continue such projects because as Jews this is what we are commanded to do.”

Almost 100 LNJC congregants pitched in for the day of work, which also marked the end of the religious school year.

“There is no more meaningful end to our religious school year than this project,” said Rabbi Shields.  “Over the course of the year we have been teaching what it means to be Jewish; that we are called by God to “tzedek tzedek tirdof”, pursue justice.  Our study and our prayer would have been empty had we not engaged in this mitzvah day and other acts of justice and peace throughout the year.”

Mitzvah Day at LNJC immediately preceded the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, which celebrates the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai.

Rabbi Shields said, “It was quite appropriate that Mitzvah Day fell around the holiday festival of Shavuot. The work of our hands in helping others affirms our faith and re-dedicates us to that sacred covenant with God, with the Jewish People and with humanity.”

It is customary to eat a dairy meal at least once during Shavu’ot. It wasn’t hard to get the children of LNJC’s religious school to keep that custom. They took a break from weeding and mulching to make their own ice cream!

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Moving from a mentality of Survival to one of Empowerment

Thursday, April 8th, 2010

In the book, Empowered Judaism by Rabbi Elie Kaunfer, Rabbi Kaunfer posits that the real crisis is one of meaning and engagement.  Jews and their family members, whether Jewish or not, often find it difficult to connect to the community, Torah, Jewish practice or values.  As Kaunfer writes: “They are dependent on others to translate Judaism for them, and they trudge to High Holy Day services to receive the requisite “be good!” sermons, only to return to their lives unchallenged and unchanged. They have been sold a world in which Judaism is a bunch of platitudes, at best matching their existing modern liberal values (but adding nothing beyond what they already know), and at worst completely irrelevant to the struggles they experience day to day. Who can blame these Jews for disengaging with Judaism?” (p. 157)

Rabbi Kaunfer rightly points out that people want deep meaning and connection, “but they move through life thinking of Judaism’s contribution to the world as Seinfeld and guilt.  Many would be shocked to find out that Judaism has vigorous debates about the most central existential problems facing people today.” (p. 158)

Over the next months and years, our community (The Lake Norman Jewish Congregation) will make defining choices that will determine whether we will be a community that seeks to uncover the power and mystery of tradition firsthand, or one that embraces the superficial platitudes that dominate many liberal Jewish congregations.

When we refuse to undersell and water down our Judaism and instead reinvigorate it by building a more educated, more engaged, more inspired, we will recognize that a new Jewish world is possible. We will have the imagination and vision to move beyond a simplistic and anemic “survival” mentality to an Empowered Judaism.

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Transforming Committees into Teams – Community Vision and Attitude

Monday, April 5th, 2010

(adapted from Empowered Judaism by Rabbi Elie Kaunfer)

The Lake Norman Jewish Congregation (www.lakenormanjc.org) is developing this collaborative model of leadership. It will help us develop into a dynamic, flexible, and inspirational community.

I hope community members will read the following and consider it seriously as we continue to build and grow.

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Expanding organizations need a broader group of committed volunteers to carry out the many tasks of organizing our community. To expand the leadership and create a pipeline for future gabbaim and other key leaders, a layer needs to be added to the structure – A Leadership Team. (Everything should be called a team rather than a committee…After all, no one likes committee meetings, but everyone wants to be part of the team!)

To join the Leadership Team, people didn’t simply opt in. They were asked to apply. This was in some ways heresy (”How can you ask people who aren’t be paid to apply for a volunteer job in their own community?”), but we wanted (want) people to take their volunteer role seriously, and if they couldn’t (can’t) commit to writing something about their goals, then they might not be right for the job.  We asked them two questions on the “application”:  1) What is your vision for the organization?  and 2) In what ways could our congregation be improved?  Though we almost never (will never) rejected an application, the process served to elevate the status of the volunteer job and make it something people had to seek out and exert some effort to acquire.

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Passover at Lake Norman

Wednesday, March 31st, 2010

The Jewish People gather every year at this time to remember and relive the story of our people, the Exodus from Egypt. The message of this story is that oppression wherever it rears its head can and must end.  Through a sacred partnership with God, individuals and communities can redeem the world. The Exodus story hopefully inspires us to vision of the world as it might yet look and work towards that vision every day.

This past Monday and Tuesday more than 260 people gathered for Passover. On Monday, nearly all of the 75 Jewish students at Davidson College gathered together with friends, faculty, staff, and honored guests to welcome the Festival of Matzot.  It would have been unthinkable 10 years ago that 130 people would gather on the Davidson College campus for a Passover Seder.  It reflects the increasing diversity at the College and the significant growth of the Jewish population at Davidson.

On Tuesday, more than 120 people celebrated Passover with the Lake Norman Jewish Congregation (www.lakenormanjc.org).  90 adults and 36 children of all ages prayed, sang, laughed, and of course ate together as they commemorated the sacred story of the Jewish People. This community seder reflects the dramatic growth in the Jewish community over the past three years. The Lake Norman Jewish Congregation has grown from 55 families to nearly 120 families.  Our school has grown from 25 students to more than 75 students.  We are truly blessed.

I hope all will feel welcome to join me in marking the end of Passover with Pizza and Pilsners with Rabbi Shields” at the Brickhouse in Davidson (209 Delburg St.) on Tuesday October 6 at 8pm.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=365517053815&ref=ts

All are welcome!

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Partnership is Community.

Wednesday, March 17th, 2010

The Jewish Community in the Lake Norman and North Charlotte region is growing. As a new community we have a unique opportunity to fashion a community that will embrace the many new innovations that have emerged in Judaism in the last decade. We can maintain meaningful liberal traditions and practices, reclaim and reframe traditional Jewish practices in our liberal religious context.  Most importantly, we can see every person in the community as partners in this exhilarating creation process.

Partnership is the most important word. As the Rabbi I want partners not members.  Partners help to build.  They invest their time and/or their resources. In my mind the title, “member” connotes  a private club whose members are served. They pay their fee and get ‘a’, ‘b’, and ‘c.’

In our congregation, it is true that I play a role as the Rabbi of the community; I teach, I facilitate worship, I provide guidance when appropriate. But without partners, our community will fail. Each of us brings are unique gifts to our shared table.  Our successes as a community have proven that though we still call it “membership,” we are truly partners in an exciting creation.  This is why we ask everyone to pledge financially what they are able, but honor all who wish to join us on our search for spiritual meaning through a welcoming Jewish community.

We have 75 religious school students in 8 classes who gather every Sunday to learn what it means to be Jewish.  We have 15 middle school kids that will lead our youth group movement. More than 60 people are spread over 10 committees.  Nearly 100 people from the congregation are coming together for our community seder.

I am so blessed to have sacred partners.  Please partner with us as we continue to grow, moving rapidly towards a home of our own.

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The Well Connected Rabbi and Congregation

Saturday, March 13th, 2010

Social media is the wave of the future. A session at the most recent CCAR Convention challenged us to explore how Facebook and other social media can be entry-points for community and tools to increase connection.

Facebook (twitter, etc. etc) is a river. While it is difficult to have a constant stream of information flowing by, through, and around us, if we do not enter the stream, then we will not be able to meet our congregants when they choose to “dip” in to the great Facebook river.

Facebook is a conduit for connection and is often less “scary” as a first point of contact than a synagogue or a formal Jewish educational experience.  It is another way that people in every generation can link in to “their people,”  Am-LNJC (The People of the Lake Norman Jewish Congregation), and therefore also the larger Jewish People.

So, congregants, please join Facebook and link with me.  Join our community’s facebook group. Help us share the dynamic congregation we are literally building.

I hope to use Facebook to enhance our communal impact here in the Lake Norman and Charlotte region, and across North Carolina. When people are thinking about a geographical move, they should know that a new, loving community is based here in Davidson.

Some links to have:

Our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=56271990719&ref=ts

My Blog, The Lake Norman Rabbi: www.mjshields.com

Our Causes Page on Facebook:  http://apps.facebook.com/causes/birthdays/286147?m=d1bec4b9

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