Elliott Tepperman

Rabbi Elliott Tepperman, the rabbi of Bnai Keshet in Montclair, N.J., since 2002, has been exploring congregation-based community organizing with his congregation since 2004. He is a founding member of New Jersey Together and he worked part-time as an IAF organizer in New Jersey while on sabbatical in 2009-2010. He has worked with Jewish Funds for Justice as a trainer of congregation-based community organizing at several seminaries, including RRC, and at gatherings sponsored by the Kehillah Kedushah Initiative of the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation.

Life and Action

How to Build Just and Holy Congregations

By Elliott Tepperman

Unfortunately, too many synagogues are filled with napkin-holder smashers. Even those congregations and rabbis, who, like myself, are strongly committed to the pursuit of justice, often miss the mark. We mistake a Mitzvah Day or a fiery sermon for the work of repairing the world. We take actions that make us feel good about our identities as justice-seeking Jews, but that do little to effect change.