Temple helps members blaze Jewish trails

Guide Jim Mueth (left), and David Nachman discuss Nachman’s IJP.

The Individualized Jewish Path program, which focuses on individual congregants’ interests, has been several years in the making.

“Each of us is seeking meaning in our lives. Sometimes it is a proactive seeking, and sometimes it’s passive,” said Rabbi Arthur Nemitoff. “(This is) an opportunity to help each individual to discover his or her individual Jewish path.”

The IJP process, which calls for participants to meet with a see’ah (Hebrew for “guide”), is a Jewish journey, according to Rabbi Nemitoff. See’ot are congregational volunteers who learn their roles in two or three three-hour training sessions.

“We meet one on one and as families and small groups and talk about who they are and what their passions are; what moves them and, quite honestly, what their fears are and what are the things they need or would like in order to have the most meaning in their lives,” Rabbi Nemitoff said.

One congregant wanted to learn to play the shofar as part of her IJP, said Lori Barnett, one of 11 see’ot currently volunteering for the program.
“She was so good at it, she blew the shofar at High Holidays and is now teaching a class on it this summer,” said Barnett.

Ideally, this is the way IJP volunteers and B’nai Jehudah staff would like to see IJPs working — the individual fulfills his or her goal and then uses that new Jewish connection to become more involved with the community. So far, 194 people have begun taking part in an IJP.

How it works
Barnett, the see’ah, said she visits people at home for an hour or two the first time to discuss the person’s (or family’s) Jewish background and interests. After that she researches opportunities in the community, such as classes on relevant topics. A second visit with the participant finalizes his or her goals, although see’ot expect goals to grow and change and participants work toward them.

“Just having an IJP really makes you thing about the path you want to be on. You might check something off the list, and it might lead to something else. It’s not something that’s rigid,” Barnett said.

The congregation is using feedback from the IJPs as a whole to help determine future programming — a big change from the traditional, top-down approach, Rabbi Nemitoff said.
In the top-down model, “we assume what people want, and then we test it. It’s kind of like throwing spaghetti against the wall,” said Rabbi Nemitoff. “We said, ‘We want to try this a different way. Let’s ask them what their needs are.’”

Common themes they’ve seen so far are a strong interest in issues of death and dying, family-health issues and finding meaning or spirituality in worship. The congregation has already done a three-part series on death and dying in response.

Creating the program
B’nai Jehudah staff and clergy spent about two and half years figuring out what they wanted to do and how they wanted to structure their new program. They used focus groups, surveys and advice from “rabbinic life coach” Natalie Hyatt to create the IJP program. Rabbi Nemitoff estimated that about 600 congregants were involved in the process in some form.

Hyatt helped them develop training materials for the see’ot and conducted an evaluation of the program at the end of June.

“It was bigger than just the IJP program. It was bringing to life our values and purpose statements,” said Paul Barnett, a B’nai Jehudah board member and chair of the program’s implementation team.

With guidance from Rabbi Nemitoff and help from co-chair and fellow board member Pam Zanders, he said, “we developed the methodology for delivery of the IJP program. We developed the concept of how can we bring everyone under this goal in 10 years.”

IJP got a financial boost from the New York-based Legacy Heritage Innovation Project, which awarded B’nai Jehudah grants of $27,000 in 2008–09 and $21,000 in 2009–10. Due to economic constraints, Rabbi Nemitoff said, the organization has limited its support of any program to just two years.

To offset that, the congregation created a fund to support IJP and other informal Jewish learning opportunities in honor of its 140th anniversary celebration. B’nai Jehudah has raised more than $400,000, which will support such programming for the next four years, Rabbi Nemitoff said.

Peeling back layers
Sometimes determining an IJP isn’t as simple as connecting a congregant with a shofar teacher. Rabbi Nemitoff likened the process to peeling back the layers of an onion.

“If someone comes to me and says, ‘I want Sunday school on Tuesday,’ the question is: What are they really saying? Is it a convenience issue? Or is someone saying, ‘Our family is an interfaith family. My wife’s family goes to services on Sunday morning, and it’s become a tradition to have an 11 a.m. meal?’ ” he said.

Not everyone has embraced the program so far. Some, particularly older congregants, have said they’ve achieved what they wanted to Jewishly and have no need for an IJP.
Shared Vision/IJP Coordinator Amy Ravis Furey sees it differently.

“My feeling is that it’s never too late to wish and hope and dream Jewishly,” she said. “No matter your age, there’s bound to be more (congregants) strive for or long for.”

The congregation would like to include older members as much as possible, Paul Barnett said.

“We’re looking at how to capture their stories and engage their stories with younger congregants and make them part of this process, as well,” he said.

On the whole, Furey said, feedback has been very positive.

“People have attributed their growth to the IJP process,” Furey said, who became the staff liaison to the program in October. Rabbi Alexandria Shuval-Weiner served in that role before Furey.

The woman who learned to play the shofar took her goal to a new level, Furey said, after both her parents died that year. “It was her wish to have a voice, to start anew beyond the death of her parents. It was hard, but ... it had a much bigger meaning,” Furey said.

One family’s story

The members of the Rock family, William, (from left) Joshua, Deborah and Hannah, chos to focus on celebrating the Sabbath as part of their Individualized Jewish Path.

When she and her husband Bill moved to Kansas City with their children Josh, 11, and Anna, 9, they lived on the Missouri side and felt disconnected from the close Jewish community she’d known in California and from Judaism in general.

When they moved to Kansas, the family joined B’nai Jehudah. They became regular service goers, then joined the IJP program six months ago at Furey’s suggestion.

The combination “basically has relit the passion I have for my religion, and my children are picking up on that, as well,” Rock said. “Being around such a large Jewish community, it felt like we really belonged. This felt like everything fell into place.”

Rock’s husband, Bill, is Christian, but has taken an interest in conversion and is getting help on that journey through his IJP.

“I didn’t know what to expect,” Deborah Rock said. “I thought this was just going to be for me and getting myself back to where I needed to be and feel more connected. Then my husband was invited to come, and it was the first time we really listened to each other when it came to our differences in religion. We realized we wanted Jewishness in our family.”

In their IJP meeting, Deborah Rock said, the see’ah helped her realize that she had been locking her husband out of her Jewish journey and helped her find a way to see it a more than an individual path.

Now, Deborah Rock wants to become a see’ah herself.

“I’d like to help other people find their special spot in their heart for Judaism and feel more complete,” she said. “It’s important to me to give back what you’ve been given.”
Looking to the future, IJP volunteers plan to bring the program to Bar and Bat Mitzvah students and youth-group members.

“While our starting point was one-on-one conversations, we will also be setting up small group discussions, to give people the opportunity to provide input and explore their interests in a forum that is not quite so intimate,” said Howard Mayer, congregation president.

If you're interested
The Individual Jewish Path program is open to members of The Temple, Congregation B’nai Jehudah. Members can join the program at any time. To get involved, contact Amy Ravis Furey at (913) 663-4050 or ijp@bnaijehudah.org This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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