WHO WE ARE
The Massachusetts Board of Rabbis (MBR) is an organization of rabbis of various streams and groups serving congregations, agencies and institutions within Massachusetts. Its membership consists of men and women from across the denominational spectrum who come together for fellowship, religious camaraderie, educational enrichment, and to speak with a single voice on behalf of our Jewish community.
Thanks to the efforts of an active Executive Committee, led by President Allan Lehmann and Managing Director, Alan Teperow, the MBR has grown dramatically as an organization over the past few years. The organization has become reenergized, and the result has been outstanding, timely, and relevant programming.
Our membership has expanded from 40 several years ago to now over 130 members, and the outreach continues with a focus on non-pulpit rabbis (Hillel staff, rabbis in academia and chaplaincy work, retired colleagues and others) who crave the collegiality of an organization such as the MBR. The MBR creates an online directory of members each year, which eases communication among rabbis as well as between rabbis and a variety of Jewish organizations. Indeed the rabbinic community is beginning to speak with a more confident voice through the MBR, and the future looks even brighter.
The MBR hopes to expand programming and community-building efforts in the future, to find more venues for rabbis of the different denominations to come together and to continue to reach out to rabbinic colleagues in the area to connect them to the community at large.
COMING EVENTS
Hold these dates for upcoming MBR meetings:
- Thursday, February 16 from 9:30 am - noon (A Conversation with Consul General
Shai Bazak) - Wednesday, April 25 from 9:30 am - 1:00 pm (Yom Iyyun)
- Wednesday or Thursday, June 6 or 7 from 9:30 am - 1:00 pm (High Holiday Seminar and Israel Bonds Luncheon)
PAST EVENTS
December 2011 - Secrets of the Seventh Candle:
Recovering Hanukkah texts and traditions of women and girls
At the MBR's learning session on December 21st with Dr. Lori Lefkovitz, we had the privilege to review classic sources on Hanukkah to discover that this holiday, ordinarily understood as having origins in miracle-working Temple priests and heroic warriors, has another set of origin stories and later ritual practices that feature women and girls. It was fascinating to use our text study to consider how Jewish origin stories and ritual practices evolve. We left the morning with the conviction that "faith will triumph over fear" and that "the future will redeem the past", both teachings of Dr. Lefkovitz.
We appreciate the sponsorship of MBR's Hanukkah program by Levine Chapels and were pleased to welcome David Decter to our celebration, which included the requisite latkes and sufganiot. In this photo, David (2nd from right) is thanked by Rabbi Allan Lehmann (center), MBR president, and Executive Committee members (from left to right) Rabbis Randy Kafka, Jonathan Kraus and Toba Spitzer.
November 2011 - Jeremy Burton, New JCRC Head, Responds to 'Tough' Questions
At the MBR's November meeting, close to 40 area rabbis welcomed Jeremy Burton, new Executive Director of the Jewish Community Relations Council, to our community. It was clear from Burton's candid responses to a number of great questions posed by the assembled that he is a passionate activist who works for a Jewish community rooted in the values of Peoplehood, Zionism, Justice, Torah & Inclusion. The program also featured a briefing from Elizabeth Schon Vainer, program director of Journey to Safety, the JF&CS response to domestic abuse, who presented important issues pertaining to rabbis and their communities.
September 2011 - MBR Holds Elul Retreat
On Thursday, September 8, 2011, the MBR helped a group of 20 rabbis and cantors prepare for the High Holidays with a morning of spiritual practice, meditation instruction, Torah Study and Tefilah.
According to Rabbi Toba Spitzer who, along with Rabbi Dan Liben, facilitated the day's activities and learning, "It was a wonderful opportunity to experience mindfulness in a variety of settings with colleagues--sitting in meditation, learning together, doing walking and eating meditations. We explored the notion of "teshuvah" as both "return" to an intention (in this case, the intention to rest the awareness in the breath and the body, in the present moment of experience) and as "response"--exploring the sensations and feelings that arise, moment to moment, in response to whatever it is we may be experiencing. We also studied some wonderful Hassidic texts that explored the possibility of teshuvah in every moment."