Shmuel Greene Mission Statement
- 1. I am a passionate and devoted Jewish educator, constantly striving to empower Jews of all backgrounds to connect to and enjoy the richness of Jewish living. My mission is to facilitate and model how to love being Jewish in a deep, natural, joyous and meaningful way. I aim to promote and exemplify a living brand of Judaism, one that exudes passion, pride, the daily relevance of Judaism that is rooted in knowledge and personal experience. I, personally, believe that a Jewish educator should be championing every individual’s personal involvement in Jewish life, eschewing the notion that Judaism can, or should, be somehow delegated to rabbis, teachers or communal professionals. This can be accomplished by opening up parts of Torah that are rarely learned by Jews from across the affiliation spectrum and building bridges among communities with Jews of all different types, in the context of envisioning the Jewish people as one family, with personal responsibility for each other. I endeavor to nurture individual and communities of Jews to explore important and relevant questions, both those particular to their, and other, communities and strengthen original expressions of Jewish spirituality. At the same time I wish to enhance every Jew to take ownership over their own Jewish journey and Jewish life: reinvigorating their synagogue worship experience; encourage community members to organize activities and learning opportunities and empower individuals to teach Judaism to others. I seek to be trained, and train others, in a diversity of learning methods and philosophies that are imbued with an appreciation that every Jew has a unique contribution to make, as well as dreams to achieve.