Dr. Erica Brown – författare

Help sustain the Jewish tradition’s legacy of community leadership by building strong leaders today.

“Great Jewish leadership has helped us survive slavery, guided us to the Promised Land, given us hope through exile and oppression, helped us enjoy membership in a nation of overachievers, and given birth to the State of Israel. Great Jewish leadership generates vision and, as a result, followers. It inspires us and helps us to stretch higher, see farther, and reach deeper.”—from the Introduction

Drawing on the past and looking to the future, this practical guide provides the tools you need to work through important contemporary leadership issues. It takes a broad look at positions of leadership in the modern Jewish community and the qualities and skills you need in order to succeed in these positions. Real-life anecdotes, interviews, and dialogue stimulate thinking about board development, ethical leadership, conflict resolution, change management, and effective succession planning.

Whether you are a professional or a volunteer, are looking to develop your own personal leadership skills or are part of a group, this inspiring book provides information, interactive exercises, and questions for reflection to help you define leadership styles and theories, expose common myths, and coach others on the importance of leading with meaning.

"We can battle insensitivity, immorality, and dishonesty in our lives individually and collectively as a people. We have a wonderful road map in the Torah and its traditions. It is time to think seriously about our reputation in the world and what we can do to enhance it, not because we want to look good but because we want to be good."—from Chapter 6.

What should we do when we see other Jews behaving badly?

Most Jews are good, upstanding people who live by a strong moral code and follow Isaiah''s words to be a light to others. But when Jews in the public sphere make headlines for being caught in scandals, their actions can provoke anger, shame and a sense of betrayal in the larger Jewish community.

In this insightful and timely book, Jewish scholar Dr. Erica Brown presents an intentional, disciplined framework to explore the emotions provoked in the Jewish community by reports of Jews committing crime. She proposes that we transform our sense of shame into actions that inspire and sustain a moral culture. Drawing from the Hebrew Bible, Talmud and our centuries-long Jewish commitment to ethics, she outlines ways you can activate and operate your personal moral compass, and shows how you can empower yourself with sacred obligation, responsibility, kindness and knowledge to increase Jewish pride.

Peoplehood—everyone’s talking about it. But what does it actually mean and why is it important to the future of Judaism?

“Why is this conversation important? Why does it merit your attention? If you care about Jewish identity and community, then you know that we have no trouble identifying the problems that fragmentize us as a people but have far less success identifying that which unites us. Without a unifying, collective notion of Jewish identity that is meaningful and robust, it is virtually impossible to make a strong case for Jewish continuity.”—from the Introduction

This call to Jewish community explores the purpose, possibilities, and limitations of peoplehood as a unifying concept of community for a people struggling profoundly with Jewish identity. It defines what peoplehood is—and is not—and explores both collective and personal Jewish identity and the nature of identity construction.

Drawing on history, sacred texts and contemporary scholarship, The Case for Jewish Peoplehood identifies some of the obstacles that challenge a shared notion of peoplehood: personal choices, construct of membership and boundaries, growth of Jewish illiteracy, identity fragmentation between Israeli and Diaspora Jewry, and the generational divide affecting traditionalists, baby boomers, and generations X and Y.

To help you join the conversation, the authors support a vision for the future and provide practical guidance and recommendations for getting there.