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 organization 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]
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 Rabbi Steven Shaw.
References
- ^ "'Rabbi Cool' and Rock Opera Draw Stars, Upscale Spiritualists". The Jewish Daily Forward. Retrieved 2009-07-30.
- ^ "50 Influential Rabbis", Newsweek, April 30, 2009.
- ^ "CLAL Faculty, Fellows and Associates" at CLAL website (accessed June 18, 2010).
- ^ "Kabbalah-based course offers steps to fulfillment". Retrieved 9 October 2014.
External links
- National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership
- Clal publications on the Berman Jewish Policy Archive @ NYU Wagner