During Biennial, we’ll be awarding some of the best and brightest Jewish leaders on the continent with the highest honors the Reform Judaism has to offer. Each of these award winners will address Biennial delegates, imparting their wisdom. Learn more about the awards presented at Biennial – who they’re named for, what they mean and to whom they’re awarded.

Every two years at the Union for Reform Judaism’s Biennial, the Maurice N. Eisendrath Bearer of Light Award is conferred in two categories: Service to Reform Jewry and Service to the World Community. Named in memory of Rabbi Maurice N. Eisendrath, the executive director and President of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations from 1943 – 1973, this award is the highest honor bestowed by the Reform Movement. Under Rabbi Eisendrath’s leadership, the Movement’s emphasis on social action began in earnest, culminating with the 1961 founding of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism.

Dr. Avivah Zornberg, noted Torah scholar, will receive a Maurice N. Eisendrath Bearer of Light Award conferred in two categories: Service to Reform Jewry and Service to the World Community. Dr. Zornberg grew up in Glasgow, Scotland, where her father, a rabbi, was head of the Rabbinical Court and her most influential teacher of Torah. For the past 25 years, Dr. Zornberg has taught Torah in Jerusalem at Matan, Pardes and the Jerusalem College for Adults and travels widely, lecturing in Jewish, academic and psychoanalytic settings. The author of multiple publications and three books, her most recent is The Murmuring Deep: Reflections on the Biblical Unconscious.

The Hon. Irwin Cotler, Canadian Member of Parliament and former to Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, will receive a Maurice N. Eisendrath Bearer of Light Award for his international human rights activisism. Mr. Cotler, a noted international human rights lawyer, is a member of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on International Human Rights, and Chair of the All-Party Save Darfur Parliamentary Coalition. A leading public advocate in and out of Parliament for the Human Rights Agenda, he headed the Canadian Delegation to the Stockholm International Forum on the Prevention of Genocide. Mr. Cotler is currently on leave as a Professor of Law at McGill University, where he is Director of its Human Rights Programme, and Chair of InterAmicus, the McGill-based International Human Rights Advocacy Centre.

Harold Grinspoon, a real estate entrepreneur and philanthropist, will receive the Alexander M. Schindler Award for Service to World Jewry for his work in promoting Jewish camping. Grinspoon, founder and president of Aspen Square Management, established the Harold Grinspoon Foundation in 1993 in West Springfield, Massachusetts and continues to play an active role in the foundation as its chairman; he also established the Harold Grinspoon Charitable Foundation. Mr. Grinspoon serves on the board of the Birthright Israel Foundation, and he and his wife, Diane Troderman, are founding partners in the Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education (PEJE) and serve on the board of governors of Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life.

These awards were established in 1983 to recognize congregations that had undertaken significant community service programs during the previous two years. The criteria for being selected have evolved since that time, reflecting the tremendous number of creative social action programs throughout the Reform Movement that have had an impact on the community and synagogue and demonstrate Judaism’s commitment to making the world a better place in which to live. The certificates of recognition were presented to the recipients at the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism’s Consultation on Conscience, held in April 2009. Learn more about he Fain Award-winning congregations here or by clicking the names of their individual social action programs below:

2009 Fain Award Winners:

• CHESED Social Action Program for Youth (Temple Adat Elohim, Thousand Oaks, CA)
• Children's Initiative - Connecting to our Community (Mount Zion Temple, Saint Paul, MN)
• Children of Jerusalem Families of Faith (Temple Beth El, Charlotte, NC)
• Changing the World One Block at a Time (Temple Judea Mizpah, Skokie, IL)
• Darfur Calls (Temple Beth-El, San Antonio, TX)
• Foster Care Outreach (Congregation Or Ami, Calabasas, CA)
• Genocide in the Human Heart: From the Holocaust to Darfur (Congregation Beth Israel, Walla, Walla, WA)
• Gleaning Has Never Been Better! (Temple Sinai of Roslyn, Roslyn Heights, NY)
• HEAL: Homelessness Ends at Leo Baeck (Leo Baeck Temple, Los Angeles, CA)
• Hollywood CARES (Temple Beth El, Hollywood, FL)
• Huntington Interfaith Homeless Initiative (Temple Beth El, Huntington, NY)
• Lauren's Regalo (Temple Beth Jacob, Newburgh, NY)
• Mishpacha Mitzvah Mission (M3) (Temple Beth Elohim, Wellesley, MA)
• New Orleans Women's Shelter (Congregation Gates of Prayer, Metairie, LA)
• Roxbury Farm Partnership (Congregation B'nai Yisrael, Armonk, NY)
• S.O.S. Save our Soldiers (Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel, South Orange, NJ)
• Temple Israel Community Garden (Temple Israel, Rogersville, MO)
• Tu B'Shvat Gleanings: Saving Trees and Oranges for the Hungry (Congregation Emanu El, San Bernardino, CA)
• Vote No On Question One (Temple Israel, Boston, MA; Temple Isaiah, Lexington, MA; Temple Shalom, Newton, MA; Temple Shir Tikvah, Winchester, MA; Beth El Temple Center, Belmont, MA)
• Winter Nights (Temple Isaiah, Lafayette, CA)

2009 Fain Award Honorable Mentions

• Chicago Sinai/Schiller School Partnership (Chicago Sinai Congregation, Chicago, IL)
• Environmental Advocacy Forum (Temple Beth El of Northern Westchester, Chappaqua, NY)
• God's To-Do List (Temple Israel, Omaha, NE)
• Interfaith Coalition for Community Service (Congregation Keneseth Israel, Allentown, PA)
• Run for Shelter (Temple Emanuel, Greensboro, NC)
• TRT Cares (Temple Rodeph Torah, Marlboro, NJ)

This year marks the eighth presentation of the Belin Outreach Awards ($1,000 each) and the Belin Honorable Mention Awards, established by David Belin (z”l), the founding chairman of the Joint Commission on Reform Jewish Outreach and Membership. These awards honor congregations for their exceptionally innovative, effective, and reproducible programs on Outreach and Membership. These congregations’ work is featured in the new URJ Press publication The Outreach and Membership Idea Book, Volume III.

2009 Belin Outreach Award Winners:

• Baderech (Temple Emanu-El, Dallas, TX)
• Community Connectors (Temple Beth El, Boca Raton, FL
• Community Six Pack (Temple Israel, Memphis, TN)
• Goodnight Shabbat (Congregation B’nai Israel, Boca Raton, FL)
• Integrating Basic Judaism Students into the Life of the Synagogue (Congregation Beth Israel, San Diego, CA)
• Multi-faceted Membership Recruitment and Retention Program (Temple Hesed, Scranton, PA)
• Open Tent (Congregation Rodeph Shalom, Philadelphia, PA)
• Rosh Hashanah Under the Stars (Baltimore Hebrew Congregation, Baltimore, MD)
• Whatever Happened to the Wandering Jews of Chelmsford? (Congregation Shalom, North Chelmsford, MA)

2009 Belin Honorable Mention Award Winners

• Celebrating Our Diversity (Leo Baeck Temple, Los Angeles, CA)
• Davening and Dining (Temple Shalom, Dallas, TX)
• Gesher (Temple Sinai, Atlanta, GA)
• Jewish Children of Interfaith Families (Ohef Sholom Temple, Norfolk, VA)
• Little Blossoms (Holy Blossom Temple, Toronto, ON, Canada)
• Reach Out and Connect-a-thon (Congregation Beth Am, Los Altos Hills, CA)
• Sha’arei Shabbat—College Night (Temple B’nai Israel, Oklahoma City, OK)
• Shalom Squad (Congregation Beth Torah, Overland Park, KS)
  

The Union for Reform Judaism recognizes that each synagogue is at a different point on its journey of adult learning toward becoming a Congregation of Learners. To honor synagogues in the process of transformation, the Nachshon Awards are given to congregations that have created a new and innovative program or project that demonstrates the congregation’s commitment to endow all of its adult learning activities with a distinctive quality of learning.

Nachshon Award Recipients:

• Congregation Beth Israel, Houston, TX
• Temple Israel, Minneapolis, MN

Communicate! is a computerized encyclopedia of easy-to-use ideas, program expertise, contacts, and resources that has been used successfully in Union synagogues throughout North America for nearly 14 years. Recently, Communicate! was given a brand-new look and a more powerful, easier-to-use search engine. To increase awareness of Communicate! and build its ever-growing database (now containing more than 3,000 summaries), four Epstein Communicate! Awards are presented at each Union Biennial, chosen from the outstanding ideas that have been submitted since the prior convention. Each award includes a $1,000 grant to the congregation, to be earmarked for expanded programming. The awards are named in honor of Paddy and Barry Epstein, longtime leaders of the Union and founders and primary supporters of the Communicate! program.

Epstein Communicate! Award Winners

• Congregations with more than 750 households:
• Annual Report (Temple Emanu-El, Westfield, NJ)
• Congregations with 250–750 households:
• Bylaws Treasure Hunt (Temple Sinai of Sharon, Sharon, MA)
• Congregations with fewer than 250 households
• Small Congregation Affiliates with Large Congregation and Keeps Its Identity, (Congregation Beth Ahavah at Rodeph Shalom, Philadelphia, PA)
• Member of National Association of Temple Administrators
• Senior Rabbi Selection Criteria Discussion (Beth Emet the Free Synagogue, Evanston, IL)
• Member of National Association of Temple Educators, Early Childhood Educators of Reform Judaism, or Program Directors of Reform Judaism: Foreign Food and Film Festival (Temple Beth Ami, Rockville, MD)

Epstein Communicate! Honorable Mention Award Winners

• Auction and Deflation Dinner (Temple Israel, Columbus, OH)
• Changing the World Together One Block at a Time (Temple Judea Mizpah, Skokie, IL)
• Connecting Generations (Temple Israel, Omaha, NE)
• Three Faiths Day: A Day of Cooperation and Trust ( Monmouth Reform Temple, Tinton Falls, NJ)
• WHARFF Expo (Temple Beth Ami, Rockville, MD)