Awards

• Winner of National Jewish Book Awards 2016

Overview

What we’re learning on campus can help the Jewish community create more innovative, engaging organizations for Jews of all ages. “The task of our communal organizations is not to harness a pre-existing Jewish identity but rather to reacquaint young Jews with the blessings of being Jewish each and every day … whether they come from a rigorous Jewish day school background or have no connection to their Jewish heritage.... Not only is Rabbi Uram doing that work, but he is showing us all how to do it as well.” —from the Preface by Eric Fingerhut This is an essential resource for lay leaders, organization professionals, rabbis, cantors and anyone who wants to build a brighter Jewish future for all Jews and the organizations that support them. Rabbi Mike Uram, executive director of one of the most innovative Hillels in North America, inspires us with a vision of a new kind of leadership that, rather than focusing on serving institutions, is about reinvigorating Judaism and building stronger communities. He empowers us with models and methodologies that have been tested on college campuses and in Hillels across the country, outlining innovative and effective ways to connect with Jewish millennials, both inside and outside organizations.

Full Product Details

9781580238687

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Reviews

Next Generation Judaism is the must-read essential playbook for building a more vibrant, more engaged Jewish future. Mike Uram offers up all of the keys for expansive, dynamic Jewish life--one that will, if we're smart enough to heed his wisdom, absolutely transform our communities and our lives in necessary, needed ways. Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg, author, Nurture the Wow and Surprised by God Next Generation Judaism is a must-read for all who care about ensuring a strong, vibrant Jewish future. Rabbi Mike Uram, a long-time leader in the Hillel movement, has been at the forefront of helping today's young adults find meaning in Jewish life. Now he has taken insights from the Hillel experience and created a 21st century roadmap for meeting millennial Jews where they are and connecting them with each other, with Jewish values and with the global Jewish people. Lynn Schusterman, founder and co-chair, Schusterman Foundation In this book, Rabbi Uram has truly succeeded in conveying key information about engaging Millennials, utilizing multiple Jewish intelligences, and building more impactful networks. Every leader striving toward authentic ways to incubate change and build a more responsive organization will find this a practical, probative and intriguing tool. Naomi Adler, CEO, Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia A savvy and thoughtful guide to revitalizing our institutions and inspiring your Jews. Rabbi David Wolpe, author, David: The Divided Heart This book is a concise, readable guide for anyone eager to strengthen the Jewish future. But don t be fooled into thinking that s all Mike Uram is doing. On a deeper level, he delivers an incisive critique of how our focus on Jewish institutions and traditional communities damages what should be our real mission to enable Jews to be creators of Jewish life for themselves. His ideas are both sensible and radical; they challenge and inspire. Pay attention to this innovative thinker. He has a lot to say. Jane Eisner, editor-in-chief, Forward I was nodding in agreement and internally cheering as I read Next Generation Judaism. We know Jewish organizations need to change but Mike Uram offers clear, practical and proven guidance on how to actually do it. I want my entire team to read this book. Angela Warnick Buchdahl, senior rabbi, Central Synagogue Mike Uram has given us a gift: A bird's eye view of how a legacy institution serving the Jewish community can literally re-invent itself from within. I'm all for supporting entrepreneurial efforts to re-energize the Jewish community and to engage millennials. But Rabbi Uram reminds us that any Jewish institution is capable of intrapreneurship and he provides a road map for how to get there. Rabbi Sid Schwarz, senior fellow, Clal; author, Jewish Megatrends: Charting the Course of the American Jewish Future Mike Uram s forward thinking and expansive take on the work of engagement holds great promise to revolutionize not only Jewish communal life, but also to have a far-reaching impact on government, civil society, and all sectors that inhabit the public square. Julie Schonfeld, executive vice president of the Rabbinical Assembly In Next Generation Judaism, Rabbi Mike Uram has written an important book with major implications for the future of American Jewish life. Mike lovingly challenges the existing models from the perspective that only a truly reflective practitioner can offer. Reporting on the successes that a large Jewish institution had in reinventing itself, Mike offers an inspiring pathway of possibility for all organizational leaders looking to make a substantive change. Most important, Mike is a true optimist, and he writes with a vision of a different Jewish community that motivates the reader to make apply these lessons far and wide. Rabbi Elie Kaunfer, executive director, Mechon Hadar; author, Empowered Judaism: What Independent Minyanim Can Teach Us about Building Vibrant Jewish Communities

<i>Next Generation Judaism</i> is a must-read for all who care about ensuring a strong, vibrant Jewish future. Rabbi Mike Uram, a long-time leader in the Hillel movement, has been at the forefront of helping today's young adults find meaning in Jewish life. Now he has taken insights from the Hillel experience and created a 21st century roadmap for meeting millennial Jews where they are and connecting them with each other, with Jewish values and with the global Jewish people. --<b>Lynn Schusterman, founder and co-chair, Schusterman Foundation</b></p> A savvy and thoughtful guide to revitalizing our institutions and inspiring your Jews. <b>--Rabbi David Wolpe, author, <i>David: The Divided Heart</i></b></p> Rabbi Mike Uram is one of the first thought leaders focused on the glass half full versus half empty relating to the Jewish community. His idea of focusing on building Jewish identity head of community affiliation is spot on. Meeting our young adults where they are and doing so with inventiveness and creativity is why Penn Hillel has set a new standard. Optimism abounds with thoughtful ideas. A must read for any Jewish leader interested in Jewish innovation for the future. <b>--Jerry Silverman, President and CEO, Jewish Federations of North America</b></p> Presented as a practical guide for engaging millennial Jews, this book challenges all of us to think differently about the Jewish future. At a time when so many despair about the next generation, Mike Uram offers bold and inspiring ideas that are proven to work--if we are wise enough to listen. <b>--Jane Eisner, editor-in-chief, <i>Forward</i></b></p> Rabbi Mike Uram has emerged as perhaps the single best contemporary Hillel director. While personally modest, he has developed a depth and complexity of understanding of millennials that is nothing short of wondrous. His idea of disruptive innovation is but one of many he has successfully employed both at his Hillel and in this book that are truly admirable. <b>--Michael Steinhardt, Philanthropist and co-founder of Birthright Israel</b></p> Mike Uram brilliantly studies principles that have informed the Hillel movement in the last generation and applies core principles to the broader communal world. It is done with an effort to recast our community, looking to a future of vitality and meaning. <b>--Richard M. Joel, President of Yeshiva University and Former President of Hillel International </b></p> Refreshingly insightful and modest, Rabbi Michael Uram draws on his experiences at Penn Hillel as well as his vast knowledge of Jewish texts, organizational literature, and the American Jewish community to provide critical lessons in <i>Next Generation Judaism</i> for Jewish leaders and organizations as they seek to speak to the current generation of Millennial Jews. He places the old wine of Judaism into new vessels and explains how existing Jewish organizations can renew themselves for next generation. This is a uniquely optimistic and inspiring book - one that practitioners and scholars alike must read! <b>--Rabbi David Ellenson, Director of the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies at Brandeis University and Chancellor Emeritus of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion</b></p> <i>Next Generation Judaism</i> is the must-read essential playbook for building a more vibrant, more engaged Jewish future. Mike Uram offers up all of the keys for expansive, dynamic Jewish life--one that will, if we're smart enough to heed his wisdom, absolutely transform our communities and our lives in necessary, needed ways. <b>--Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg, author, <i>Nurture the Wow and Surprised by God</i></b></p> I was nodding in agreement and internally cheering reading <i>Next Generation Judaism</i>. We know Jewish organizations need to change but Mike Uram offers clear, practical and proven guidance on how to actually do it. I want my entire team to read this book. <b>--Rabbi Angela Warnick Buchdahl, Senior Rabbi at Central Synaogogue</b></p> Mike Uram has given us a gift: A bird's eye view of how a legacy institution serving the Jewish community can literally re-invent itself from within. I'm all for supporting entrepreneurial efforts to re-energize the Jewish community and to engage millennial. But Rabbi Uram reminds us that any Jewish institution is capable of intrapreneurship and he provides a road map for how to get there. <b>--Rabbi Sid Schwarz, Senior Fellow, Clal; Author, <i>Jewish Megatrends: Charting the Course of the American Jewish Future</i></b></p> Rabbi Mike Uram has written an important book with major implications for the future of American Jewish life. Mike lovingly challenges the existing models from the perspective that only a truly reflective practitioner can offer. Reporting on the successes that a large Jewish institution had in reinventing itself, Mike offers an inspiring pathway of possibility for all organizational leaders looking to make a substantive change. Mike is a true optimist, and he writes with a vision of a different Jewish community that motivates the reader to apply these lessons far and wide. <b>--Rabbi Elie Kaunfer, Co-Founder of Hadar</b></p> Uram cogently describes the current Jewish reality, one of broad diversity, multiple identities and communities. He offers not only a sound analysis of where we are at this moment in history, but also an innovative, tested and meaningful pathway (from the college campus) to where we ought to go. The job of Jewish institutions in the 21st century is to support a network of diverse Jewish belief, wisdom, behavior and practice and to celebrate that diversity. A must read for all who lead or aspire to lead Jewish communities. <b>--Rabbi Steven C. Wernick, Chief Executive Officer, The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism </b></p> Mike Uram's forward thinking and expansive take on the work of engagement holds great promise to revolutionize not only Jewish communal life, but also to have a far-reaching impact on government, civil society, and all sectors that inhabit the public square. <b>--Rabbi Julie Schonfeld, Executive Vice President, The Rabbinical Assembly</b></p> Rabbi Mike Uram, arguably among the very best Hillel rabbis of our time, offers a compelling and comprehensive new approach to Jewish engagement. Moving from an insightful portrait of the younger generation of American Jews to a conceptually rich yet deeply pragmatic approach, Rabbi Uram graciously challenges inherited wisdom and charts a new path to Jewish Engagement, designed to complement the legacy approach to Jewish Empowerment. The work is provocative, practical, and personal--and needs to be read by anybody concerned about the future of American Jewish life or, for that matter, other ethnic and religious group civilizations in North America. <b>--Professor Steven M. Cohen, Research Professor of Jewish Social Policy at HUC-JIR, and Director of the Berman Jewish Policy Archive @ Stanford University In an era marked by uncertainty and opportunity for the Jewish people, in Penn Hillel, Rabbi Mike Uram has created the gold standard for Jewish institutional life. What a gift he has given us by sharing the secrets of his success! This volume is a must read for all those invested in building the Jewish future. <b>--Rabbi Elliot J. Cosgrove, PhD, Park Avenue Synagogue</b></p> Our Jewish community is finally recognizing our greatest challenge is also our greatest opportunity - engaging the next generations of young people in reimagining Jewish life, a Jewish life that will become central to their lives. Using his own personal journey and incredible success at the University of Pennsylvania Hillel, Rabbi Mike Uram's <i>Next Generation Judaism</i> deeply and thoughtfully examines this challenge/opportunity and is a must-read for today's and tomorrow's leaders. <b>--Jay Sanderson, CEO of the LA Federation</b></p>

Author Information

Rabbi Mike Uram is the executive director of Hillel at the University of Pennsylvania, one of the top Hillels in the country. He has been recognized by the Forward as one of the fifty most influential Jews in America and by Slingshot for leading one of the most innovative and inspiring organizations in North America. He is a frequent speaker on the topics of Jewish innovation and engagement to organizations around the United States. Dr. Ron Wolfson, Fingerhut Professor of Education at American Jewish University in Los Angeles, is author of Relational Judaism: Using the Power of Relationships to Transform the Jewish Community. Eric Fingerhut is the president and CEO of Hillel International.

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