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1.How were Rabbi Search Committee (RSC) members chosen?
2.Who are the Rabbi Search Committee members?
3.What are the demographics represented by the RSC members?
4.How can I communicate immediately with the RSC?
6.How will the Congregation be kept informed about the search process?
7.What guides the RSC's Rabbi Search process?
8.How will you compare the candidates?
9.Why didn't we have a rabbi in place by July 2011?
10.How will CBS manage rabbinical duties until the new rabbi is installed?
11.Can we hire the interim rabbi as our senior rabbi at the end of the year?
The Rabbi Search Process and Rules that Guide It
12.Is there a Monster.com for rabbis?
14.What is the Rabbinical Placement Commission?
15.What generally happens during the Rabbi Search process?
16.Must the RSC work within CCAR ?
18.Why did it take the RSC so long to fill out an application?
19.I know a great candidate for the position. How can he/she contact the RSC?
21.Why is the RSC's interview information confidential?
22.Will members of the Congregation meet the candidate before a decision is made?
The Rabbi Search Committee
Congregation President Paul Silverman asked via our weekly listserv, broadcast e-mails, the Bulletin, and other forums for congregants interested in serving on the committee to contact him. Board-appointed committee co-chairs, Heidi Swanick and Jeff Govendo, requested from each of the interested congregants a short Statement of Interest which included responses to questions about why they wanted to participate and how they hoped to help. In addition, some demographic information was collected from the respondents to ensure the committee would reflect the diversity of the congregation. Heidi and Jeff evaluated, compared and contrasted the submitted Statements of Interest responses, selected a balanced but diverse group of candidates, and then recommended the committee slate to Paul who ultimately made the final selections.
Andrew Branz, Morton Brond, Brenda Coutinho , Amy Drotch, Margi Eckhouse, Mike Federman, Ron Gilfix, Sharon Goldstein, Jeff Govendo, Beth Graubart, Michael Hyde, Ari Lazarine, Bruce Lopatin, Linda Rappaport, Daniel Schwartz, Chris Senie, Debbi Seri, Wendy Starr, Alisa Stone, Heidi Swanick
Committee members reside in eight different towns. Their tenure as members of Congregation B'nai Shalom spans from founding members to less than a year of membership. Committee children's ages range from pre-k to adult and religious backgrounds vary from being converted to having been raised in an Orthodox household. Members' ages range from high school to senior citizen.
Communication
First and foremost, the RSC is an extension of the congregation and your voice matters greatly. To ensure the RSC hears you, please tell us what you think as often as you would like! We welcome your feedback, questions, and comments any time via an electronic mailbox at RabbiSearch@CBnaiShalom.org (it is not case sensitive), a paper mail slot in the office, or you can contact Paul Silverman, Heidi Swanick, Jeff Govendo, or any member of the Rabbi Search Committee. Please tell us what we are doing right, what we should continue to do and, more importantly, where there is room for improvement.
Is the RSC interested in congregational input and, if so, how will the RSC elicit information from the congregation?
The RSC is absolutely interested in and requires the congregation's input to be successful. The RSC exists solely as an efficient way for CBS's 400+ households to find the next rabbi-candidate.
To that end, the RSC conducted a number of forums for congregational input. Look for RSC members in the lobby on Sunday mornings ready to discuss your issues and respond to your questions. There were town meetings and a series of small group discussions in congregants' homes to collect community feedback. The RSC scheduled agenda time with CBS's various committees during their regular meetings to discuss the search process and their committee's unique needs and concerns. Finally, there were special forums for our youth, congregants living at the Willows, and others.
The output was the document A Look In the Mirror. This document has guided all activities related to selecting our next rabbi.
The Rabbi Search Committee recognizes the profound importance that selecting a new rabbi holds for our congregation, and we deeply appreciate the interest of each individual congregant and clergy member, as well as administrative staff in this search. We are committed to making the process as transparent as possible, consistent with the Rabbinical Placement Commission's rules and procedures and with our need to keep the identity of candidates confidential. The RSC will pass on new developments through the following means:
Periodic emails from the president
Temple Bulletin articles
Temple weekly listserv items
Contacting every congregant at least twice during the process
A Rabbi Search Committee web page will link with the Congregation B'nai Shalom web site.
Some Background Info
The search process is not just about reviewing resumes and interviewing candidates. Rather it is a process that requires us to work closely together in attempting to find the best fit for the congregation. In addition to the diverse membership, experiences, ages, stages of family life, life cycle event experience and other interests of each member of the Rabbi Search Committee, our efforts are guided by three major sources: advice from staff at the Rabbinical Placement Commission and URJ, the collective results of congregational input, and input from our clergy and professional staff.
With this input, we defined who we are and what our strengths, challenges, and opportunities are as a congregation. The candidates' attributes will be measured against this knowledge when evaluating whether they will be a good match for Congregation B'nai Shalom.
The Rabbinical Placement Commission's Handbook of Placement Procedures contains rules and guidelines that govern our search process. They are derived from years of experience, and its intention is to ensure integrity and fairness in the process.
The information gleaned from A Look in the Mirror allowed us to identify 7 core competencies. We established criteria for each and a set of questions that reflect these skills. Every candidate is measured against these competencies
As a member of the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), we work with the Rabbinical Placement Commission of the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR). As such, all rabbinical contracts expire on June 30th. Additionally, most rabbis must give 4-6 months notice if they intend to leave their current congregation. That means that the bulk of the interview and selection process must be substantially completed by December. With the requirements inherent in the process, the only way the RSC could have met this time frame would have been to move ahead with limited or no community involvement. The Board of Directors and the RSC agreed that we could not make a good selection without providing opportunity for the congregation to be involved in the process.
Rabbi Sharon Sobel will serve as our Interim Rabbi to address all of the issues that need to be managed until a new permanent rabbi is installed. Rabbi Sobel is working in partnership with the professional staff and lay leaders to address the needs of the families in our congregation.
As a rule of thumb, CCAR rules will not allow congregations to hire the interim rabbi. In rare circumstances congregations can petition to do so.
The Rabbi Search Process and Rules that Guide It
Not exactly. However, there is an association for Reform rabbis, the CCAR, which facilitates the search process. They publicize our "application," aka the job posting, and help to match interested rabbis to appropriate congregations.
CCAR, the Central Conference of American Rabbis, is the rabbinic association affiliated with the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ). All graduates of Hebrew Union College are members of CCAR. Rabbis who graduate from other colleges recognized by the URJ may also apply to be members of CCAR.
The Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) established the Rabbinical Placement Commission in 1964. Representing the entire Reform movement, the commission is responsible for formulating rules and regulations to ensure the orderly placement of rabbis in URJ congregations. These rules are intended to provide order to the process and to ensure fairness and dignity to both the searching rabbi and the seeking congregation.
Per the CCAR's requirements, the RSC's recruiting process is well defined and can be summarized as follows:
Obtain the CCAR's application form to request rabbi-candidates
Gather data to complete the application form using congregational involvement
Submit the completed application to the CCAR
Begin receiving applicants' information
Conduct telephone interviews with every rabbi applicant
Conduct in-person interviews with selected applicants
A few rabbi-candidates are invited to visit B'nai Shalom
RSC members visit the final rabbi-candidates' home congregations.
A single candidate is recommended to the Board of Directors
The Board of Directors votes on the RSC's recommendation
The congregation votes to ratify the recommendation and length of contract
The Transition Team assists the new rabbi to acclimate into the congregation over the course of the first year.
Based on feedback from many people who have gone through the rabbi search process, the RSC believes we will be more successful working within CCAR than if we were to "go rogue". Please note that the CCAR will not assist us if we do not work within their guidelines. Therefore, we must receive all applicants via the CCAR process.
To begin the recruiting process for our new rabbi, the RSC obtained CCAR's Rabbinical Placement Commission's application form. On the form, we must describe our temple's core values, history, programs and desired priorities and traits for our new rabbi. The completed application form will be submitted to CCAR, who will post the position for eligible rabbis to review. CCAR will then forward candidate information back to the B'nai Shalom RSC.
As noted above, the application form requires that we describe our congregation's core values, priorities and expected traits of the new rabbi. Once the application is submitted to the CCAR, it cannot be revised. As the application is the cornerstone to our search, we need to get it right the first time. This requires significant input from the congregation and professional staff. Gathering this input will be the most time consuming part of the application process.
The Candidates
Per CCAR and URJ, there are specific rules for engaging with rabbi-candidates. The proper thing to do is one of the following:
If the rabbi approached you about the position, you may advise him/her to check the CCAR posting and apply;
Otherwise, you may provide the name to the Rabbi Search Committee. The RSC will contact our liaison at CCAR and ask to explore whether this person might be interested in applying.
No. The rabbi-candidate must be a CCAR member in good standing and based on the size of our congregation, the candidate must have completed three years or more in the rabbinate.
The Rabbinical Placement Commission rules and procedures require that the names and resumes of candidates remain confidential. This confidentiality addresses the ethical dilemma of a rabbi who is currently employed at a synagogue and is interested in pursuing a job at another synagogue. The public knowledge of interest in another congregation might jeopardize his or her current congregational relationship.
While we'd love for every member of the congregation to meet the candidates it just isn't practical; We have a large committee that represents a good cross section of the congregation. The RSC will invest a great deal of time and effort to obtain congregation input and measure the candidates against that information.
The Time Line
We do not have an exact time. However, we do have fairly complete information about what needs to be done and when. The process of gathering congregational input continued into the spring. The CCAR's application form was completed in May. Candidates' resumes started arriving June 1st and our phone interviews began June 13. We hosted our first on site interview in August. We hope to be in a position to recommend a candidate to the board by the end of January.
Contact Info
The RSC is anxious to hear from everyone and welcomes the opportunity. You may email RabbiSearch@CBnaiShalom.org (it is not case sensitive), send by post or drop off paper mail to the Rabbi Search mailbox in the B'nai Shalom office. You can contact our president Paul Silverman, the committee chairs, Heidi Swanick and Jeff Govendo, or any member of the Rabbi Search Committee. We are looking forward to hearing from you!