National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership

The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership (CLAL) is a leadership training institute, think tank, and resource center. It is an inter-disciplinary and inter-denominational movement, in which rabbis from all of the major Jewish denominations in North America are participants. The organisation is described by The Jewish Daily Forward as a "think-tank dedicated to questions of Jewish identity and religious practice...in its quest to expand the boundaries of Jewish communal life".[1]

According to the organization's website, "CLAL links Jewish wisdom with innovative scholarship to deepen civic and spiritual participation in American life. CLAL's interdisciplinary programs explore religious and national identity. The CLAL faculty, with its reputation for excellence, represents rabbis and scholars from many streams and disciplines, and provides cutting-edge teaching, lectures, courses, seminars, and consulting across the country."

Rabbis Irwin Kula and Brad Hirschfield presently serve as co-presidents of CLAL.[2][3]

Etymology

CLAL is an acronym formed from the organization's English language name (Center for Leadership and Learning). It is also a transliteration of a Hebrew word that can mean community, as in the expressions "Klal Yisrael" which refers to the Jewish people as a whole. It is intended to suggest the organization's stated mission to serve as a center of interdenominational cooperation in American Judaism.[4]

History

CLAL was founded in 1974, by Rabbi Irving Greenberg, Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel, and Steve Shaw.

References

  1. ↑ "‘Rabbi Cool’ and Rock Opera Draw Stars, Upscale Spiritualists". The Jewish Daily Forward. Retrieved 2009-07-30.
  2. ↑ "50 Influential Rabbis", Newsweek, April 30, 2009.
  3. ↑ "CLAL Faculty, Fellows and Associates" at CLAL website (accessed June 18, 2010).
  4. ↑ "Kabbalah-based course offers steps to fulfillment". Retrieved 9 October 2014.

See also

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