It is faintly ridiculous to sit on an office chair, behind a desk, in an office, between meetings, to write about breaking out of an institutional mindset. I've literally got my office-issue mug in front of me, next to my identikit mini-cactus... Much of the work I do involves working with the leaders of our communities. If information is to be communicated or gathered; if there are initiatives to hear about or to promote from the centre; then I can pick up the phone to a shu

Ivory tower My personal, typical to-do list for a yomtov might include: Find that big candle Match up least-odd cufflinks Set up urn Make eruv tavshilin Post-it by urn: "eat eruv tavshilin" Compare weight of Koren vs Artscroll This to-do list probably doesn't amount to an operational overload. But I am just a balabayis (householder). On the ground A few days ago, you were responsible for scores of people, hundreds even, entering the gates of your shul campuses. You might hav

Ideas to connect Jews