Clergy Leadership Incubator aims to produce ‘transformative change agents’
Based in New York City, the Clergy Leadership Incubator (CLI) bills itself as a “boot camp for visionary leadership.”
And Kansas City can count one of its own among the grunts, now that Rabbi Doug Alpert of Congregation Kol Ami is a participant in the two-year program.
“I was the one accepted into the program,” Rabbi Alpert said, “but it is really a ‘we process’ and not a ‘me process.’”
His point was that he intends to share his learning not only with his congregation, but also with the broader Jewish community in Kansas City.
Centered in Midtown Kansas City, Kol Ami pursues a progressive agenda. It has a community garden at 43rd Street and Forest Avenue.
“We show up in a lot of multi faith spaces, a lot of spaces representing Jewish values in various pursuits of making a more just community, and country, and world,” Rabbi Alpert said, “and we want to expand our reach a bit, and grow, and make it something that is accessible to more people.”
CLI’s goal is to “equip rabbis to serve as transformative change agents in the communities that they serve.”
Rabbi Sid Schwarz is director of the incubator. That is a huge plus for Rabbi Alpert, who is excited to work with such a leading voice in synagogue transformation work.
Rabbi Alpert will be one of 20 rabbis in the group. Each rabbi is assigned a mentor that they meet with at least one a month. The participants also meet in small groups.
Rabbi Alpert said he can’t go wrong with any mentor he might be assigned. A couple people with Kansas City connections have served as mentors:
Rabbi Amy Wallk Katz of Temple Beth El in Springfield, Massachusetts. Rabbi Katz was instrumental in developing the Florence Melton School of Adult Jewish Learning in Kansas City and served as associate rabbi at Congregation Beth Shalom.
Rabbi Barbara Penzner of Temple Hillel B’Nai Torah in West Roxbury, Massachusetts. Rabbi Penzner grew up in the Kansas City area.
One CLI alumna is Rabbi Stephanie Kramer, the California rabbi recently hired as the new senior rabbi for The Temple, Congregation B’nai Jehudah.
Rabbi Schwarz is highly regarded for his work in founding PANIM: The Institute for Jewish Leadership and Values. He is also the founding rabbi of Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation in Bethesda, Maryland. Newsweek once named him one of the 50 most influential rabbis in North America.
Rabbi Alpert is in a group open to rabbis with anywhere from five to 15 years of experience in the rabbinate. An opening webinar is scheduled for June.
Three, four-day retreats are planned as part of the program, the first in October. Rabbi Alpert said that might be pushed to January if COVID-19 risks still exist.
Each fellow is expected to develop a vision statement and an innovation project. The syllabus includes monthly readings of between 20-50 pages.
Rabbi Alpert was ordained in May 2012 after completing his studies at the Academy for Jewish Religion in New York. He served as a rabbinic intern at Congregation Ohev Sholom in Kansas City for three years. An attorney, his experience also includes serving as executive director of the Kansas City Jazz Commission and as the legal counsel for the International Association of Jazz Educators.
Acceptance into CLI is meaningful enough for Rabbi Alpert. But it was even nicer that his nomination came from the dean of his seminary.
“That really meant a lot to me,” Rabbi Alpert said. “So, as I work to get involvement from my entire congregation and the broader Jewish community, I also feel a sense of obligation to my seminary and to my teachers. That piece is really important to me as well.”
Rabbi Alpert said CLI will help the congregation build on its strong foundation of being open and welcoming to marginalized groups that have not always felt comfortable in the Jewish community. That includes interfaith couples and others that don’t fit the traditional definition of a nuclear family.
Rabbi Alpert would like to do even more outreach to the LGBTQ community.
A Kansas City native and someone who has deep roots in the local Jewish community, Rabbi Alpert feels well positioned to do the outreach he envisions as part of his CLI work.
In general, he said, Kol Ami’s mission is “to make people feel, not just included, but make them feel needed, and I think that is different.”
