Where are We? Where are We Going?

• Tell me about the successes? In other words, Where are we? 
• If you had a wish, what would it be? In other words, Where are we going?

These questions are guiding my first conversations as  I step into my role as Director of The Reconstructionist Learning Network. I'm on a listening tour to understand where are we, and where are going. What is the state of Jewish learning in the community? What might it be?

Today, I had one of those conversations while standing by the road. The sun was so inviting, I had to step outside to breath in some sunshine.  Terri Bernsohn from the Jewish Reconstuctionist Congregation in Illinois and chair of RENA was describing the awesome Shabbat she experienced at Camp JRF.

One wish she has--imagine what a "Reconstructionist educator uniquely needs to know, like being a community builder and knowing the ways to foster values-driven-decision making, and then create the spaces to develop those skills." As Terri finished her thought, an old car pulled up next to me. A young woman  leaned out the window:


"Hey, do you know how to get to Manayunk?"

My attempt to explain the 10 turns, and the 15 minutes it would take to get there, left her looking Red-Riding-Hood-afraid--on a mission and unsure. She was so far off her mapquest directions, she had no idea where she was, or where she was going.

Terri graciously said we'd talk later. I got in my car. The young woman followed me down suburban twists and turns until we reached a main road marked on her directions.

She smiled relief and waved a hand with thanks.

No one had stopped to ask me for directions in years. Why this moment?  I couldn't help but wonder if she were an "angel metaphor," sent to help me make sense of my first week at work.

• There is no clear map of where we are
• Printed directions aren't going to get us where we need to go
• We'll need one another to figure it out
• There are going to be twists and turns
• Trust, because clear markers will emerge

Thank you angel metaphor. But there is one place we diverge. The young woman had a specific  address where she was going. Where exactly Jewish learning is going, is not so clear.

"Transformational change is more emergent than planned," writes Gervase Bushe and Robert Marshak in a new book about organizational change. "Transformational change cannot be planned toward some pre-determined future state. Rather transformation requires holding an intention while moving into the unknown."

Jewish Education under Re-construction is about transformation. I'm ready to move into the unknown. Ready to go too?

Will you help me know where we are, and where we are going?