Welcome to my blog, "The Yozmah - Leadership Initiative". 

Yozmah, which means "initiative" in Hebrew, simultaneously represents the means and the end. Initiative constitutes the sacred spark necessary to ignite the flame within us. With yozmah, we feel capable of taking initiative to achieve our goals and actualize our vision. At the same time, initiatives can be understood as the finish line, the goal post we cross until we gear up for the next quest. 

In both uses of the word, initiative pushes us further than we expected and disrupts our comfort zone towards unimagined growth. 

My work at United Synagogue centers around leadership training, organizational development and kehilla (congregational) strengthening and transformation. Integral to the success of our work with kehilla leaders is yozmah, initiative. When we sense their initiative, we know that they have achieved "readiness", the ability to make things happen. 

A critical endeavor of kehilla strengthening is community building. It has been my experience from years in the pulpit and serving as a USCJ district director that many people find themselves on the margins and don't know how to move closer to the middle. 

With this in mind, the sub-title of the blog is: "Where the Margins Meet the Middle", and the blog will deal some of these larger questions:

• How do we include and engage those who feel marginalized in our spiritual communities? 
• How do we generate a joyful Judaism that engages those parts of ourselves that have become marginalized through exhaustion and cynicism?
• How do we create a meaningful conversation between those in the middle (who may have always done it that way) and those on the margins (who may have new ideas about creating meaning today)?

This blog will serve as a platform to present success stories and challenging case studies, provide reflections and thoughts about leadership and organizational development, and share some words of Torah and, maybe even, inspiration.

My intention is to create a conversation, not a monologue. In light of this, I invite you to share your comments. Your initiative is much appreciated. 

Any initiative worth undertaking should aim high.Through Yozmah, we will look at ourselves, our community and our world in ways we never imagined. 

Together we can make "The Yozmah - Leadership Initiative" a forum where our voices and thoughts create a vision for the next generation of North American Jewry.