Mission, Vision, and Jewish Philanthropic Leadership: A Conversation with Rachel Garbow Monroe and Paula B. Pretlow

In a candid conversation, Rachel Garbow Monroe (President & CEO of The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation and past Leading Edge Board Chair) and Paula B. Pretlow (Chair of the Board of The Harry and Jeannette Weinberg Foundation) reveal how they lead one of America's largest foundations, balancing its Jewish roots with broader community service. They describe their complementary leadership styles and how they've expanded the foundation's impact through diversity initiatives, gender-lens grantmaking, and a commitment to hearing directly from communities they serve.

Jewish Insider: Jewish groups are reassessing their embrace of DEI

Chronicle of Philanthropy: For Nonprofits, Remote Work Offers a Competitive Edge

Moneyball Judaism: Quantification Fixations

Deloitte: More roles, more responsibilities: Navigating the new frontiers of the modern C-suite

McKinsey & Company: Developing a resilient, adaptable workforce for an uncertain future

HBR: Leaders Shouldn’t Try to Do It All

Forbes: Own Your Seat: Six Keys To Success As A Nonprofit Board Member

NonProfit PRO: Why Common Sense Can Prevent Board Governance Failure

HBR: Research: How Boards Can Increase CEO Accountability

Here's what the Leading Edge team is learning about culture, executives, and boards this month.

What We're Learning | February 2025

The best of what the Leading Edge team is learning about culture, executives, and boards.

What We're Learning

As Leading Edge welcomes our newest colleagues, the fantastic team formerly of JPro, I am thinking back to Fall 2008, when I first encountered the history of the organizations that became JPro. 

I was a grad student in NYU’s MPA-MA program in Public & Nonprofit Management and Judaic Studies. (One fellow student: Ilana Aisen, now Chief Community Impact Officer at Leading Edge.) Seeking part-time work, I became a research assistant at the Berman Archive, now at Stanford, then at NYU. (My supervisor: Mordy Walfish, now Leading Edge’s Chief Advancement Officer.) My job was mostly summarizing publications. Today, AI would do it in a fraction of the time! But the state of technology in 2008 helped my Jewish nonprofit education, by exposing me to countless documents from the Jewish nonprofit past — among them, decades of issues of the Journal of Jewish Communal Service. Published under several titles between 1924 and 2013, this was the journal of the succession of organizations that would someday be known as JPro, now part of Leading Edge. (You can still browse this collection.)

Here are three insights I’m reflecting on now from that past experience:

1. Our field has changed a lot in the past century. 

I was struck by the dominance of social work in the journal’s pages. Social work training is still one path into our field, but judging from this journal, early in the 20th Century it appeared to be the path. Partly, this relates to the major issues facing the community at the time — meeting the needs of the 1880-1924 influx of Eastern European Jewish immigrants, an economic, social, and cultural shock that took years (generations) to address. Of course, many of the issues facing the Jewish community of the early 20th Century are still part of our field, from fighting antisemitism to addressing poverty and more. But other concerns, technological possibilities, and changes in the surrounding society that we face in today’s field would strike a Jewish communal worker of the 1920s, or even the 1980s, as alien. 

2. Our field can be like a family — sometimes literally. 

A sense of “family” at work can be good — closeness, trust — or bad — boundaries can break down between the personal and professional. But for me, in that job, the work/family boundary broke down in a surprisingly literal and delightful way. Assigned to me, randomly among multiple research assistants (but guided to me I can only say by Providence), was an article by my own grandfather, Herman Weinheimer, who was executive director of the Jewish Community Service Society of Buffalo. I later discovered that the journal’s archive had two articles by him (1, 2), and an obituary after his untimely passing when my mother was just a baby. He was an amazing man whom I never got to meet; I have only photos, family stories, and documents — including German documents showing his arrest and incarceration at Dachau in 1938; American immigration documents just weeks later, after he luckily received a U.S. visa and the Nazis (at that early date) were willing to let him emigrate; military documents showing his return to Germany with the U.S. Army. My family knew those documents. But of the last, less dramatic chapter of his life — when he was a Jewish communal professional making life a little better for the Buffalo Jewish community — we had no documentation, until finding these articles. The Jewish communal professional field practically reached out and told me it was my heritage even before I joined it.

3. The Jewish communal field’s history should be more celebrated. 

As Leading Edge and JPro unite, I’ve been thinking about the Jewish communal professional identity. It deserves to be stronger. All of us who work in this field (whether Jewish or not) should have a stronger sense that “Jewish communal professional” is an identity (among others) that we embrace and celebrate. Our field is remarkable, and I think one underrated source of pride in our field is its history. The history of Israel advocacy, being still so central, is I think well known enough. But how many Jewish professionals know that it was Jewish Federations that inspired United Way? Or the contributions of all those Jewish social workers to the field of social work as a whole? Do enough people know how influential Jewish philanthropists have been on American affairs of state? Or the saga of the Jewish community’s fight to free Soviet Jewry? Assuredly, for many people in our field the answer is “Yes, of course!” But my sense (anecdotally, not based on data) is that this kind of knowledge and pride could be more widespread.

As Leading Edge, now incorporating JPro and its whole 125+ years of history, works with our partners across the field to explore what the future of the Jewish communal field will look like (and please do join us in May in Baltimore to be part of that conversation!), I hope that our visions for the future will embrace the lessons, legacy, and pride of our shared past.

Top to bottom: Herman Weinheimer, the author's grandfather, excerpt from vol. 1 of The Jewish Social Service Quarterly, published in February, 1925, cover of Journal of Jewish Communal Service Winter/Spring 2011 edition.

In JPro’s predecessors’ journal, Leading Edge's Seth Chalmer found insights into the Jewish communal field’s history and future — plus articles by his grandfather that were new to his family.

What I Learned Reading Decades of Issues of the Journal of Jewish Communal Service

Meet the people driving change at Leading Edge. Together, we're shaping the future of Jewish nonprofit leadership.

Our Team

Leading Edge is known for making the Employee Engagement Survey available to the field, and we believe in the tool so we take it ourselves. When we looked at the survey data from our own employees in 2023, one thing stood out: psychological safety was one of our lowest-scoring areas. 

That was a wake-up call. We knew we wanted to address this critical piece of our organizational culture. With support from an SRE Network grant, we got to work — focusing on what drives psychological safety, like building a stronger sense of belonging and improving how we give and receive feedback. Our goal? To tackle this challenge with a holistic and equitable approach, so every team member feels supported, valued, and able to thrive.

Choosing the right partner for this work was important. We had just wrapped up a year-long DEI process with Frontline Solutions, and we knew we could trust them to guide us through sensitive, meaningful work like this. They understand Leading Edge’s culture inside and out, and their focus on equity, cultural sensitivity, and power dynamics made them the perfect fit. Returning to a partner we already knew and trusted allowed us to hit the ground running and approach the challenge of fostering psychological safety in a seamless and thoughtful way.

At Leading Edge, we believe we can’t help others build better workplaces unless we’re living it ourselves. Three of our core values — Integrity/Yosher, Belonging/Shayyakhut, and Curiosity/Sakranut — center on open communication, inclusion, and a commitment to growth. Feedback is at the heart of all of this. It’s what allows our team to take risks, share ideas, and own mistakes without worrying about judgment. This initiative was a step to ensure we were aligned in our vision: to create a workplace where psychological safety doesn’t just exist — it thrives.

Goals and Structure of the Feedback Workshops

Model thoughtful, supportive conversations around feedback.

Help staff build confidence in giving and receiving feedback at every level of the organization.

Integrate feedback into our performance management process, offering real-time support during key milestones.

The six-session series was all about meeting people where they were:

Adaptive: Adjusted to fit the changing needs of our team and the organization.

Iterative: Built session by session, gradually strengthening skills and shifting our culture over time.

Interactive: Filled with hands-on exercises where staff could practice and grow their feedback skills together.

To build trust and accountability, participants worked with the same partner throughout most of the series. Special sessions were also held for the executive team and supervisors, recognizing the key role they play in shaping a strong feedback culture.

Understanding the difference between feedback and input

Using tools like the Management Center’s Modes of Decision-Making framework

Practicing real-life feedback scenarios through interactive exercises

Frontline Solutions helped us build a shared understanding and awareness around feedback, and the impact was clear. Between August and October 2024, we saw big shifts in how comfortable our team felt giving and receiving feedback:

The percentage of staff giving feedback to supervisors jumped from 30% to 57%.

Comfort with giving feedback to leadership grew from 40% to 66%.

Ratings for open and honest two-way communication doubled, from 30% to 60%.

The workshops focused on practical tools — like being clear, prepared, and following up — that make feedback more effective. People walked away feeling more confident and willing to engage. As one staff member put it, “I feel more confident initiating feedback conversations, knowing there’s a shared understanding of purpose and process.”

At Leading Edge, we’ve started weaving what we learned in the workshops into our day-to-day practices. Here’s what that looks like:

Using a “modes of decision-making” tool in meetings to clarify expectations and make it clear when input is or isn’t needed.

“Closing the loop” on feedback by sharing outcomes and next steps so everyone knows where things stand.

Embracing a “clear is kind” mindset to set realistic expectations and healthy boundaries around feedback.

An anonymous feedback form for folks to share questions, reactions and input. It is pinned to our operations slack channel for ease of use. 

The impact has been real. Communication dynamics have noticeably improved — our executive team now shares more timely, specific updates, and there’s been a big increase in upward communication, helping us create a more inclusive and connected environment. We’ve also refined our performance management processes to encourage feedback not just from managers, but from peers and across the organization.

At Leading Edge, we see feedback as a muscle — it gets stronger with consistent practice and effort. Here’s how we’re planning to keep the momentum going: 

Refining our feedback systems and making them a natural part of our day-to-day workflows.

Creating more opportunities for peer-to-peer and post-project feedback to boost collaboration and learning.

We’ll track our progress using Employee Experience Survey data, focusing on areas like communication, psychological safety, and trust. To keep this work moving forward, we’ll combine structural changes with consistent training to make sure the improvements stick.

For other organizations thinking about doing something similar, here’s what we’ve learned: feedback work is tough. It’s messy, nuanced, and sometimes uncomfortable — but it’s absolutely worth it. Different people bring different experiences and expectations to the table, so it takes humility, empathy, and persistence to get it right.

At the end of the day, building a culture of feedback is an investment in your organization’s long-term health. By staying true to our values and leaning into discomfort, we’re showing that real, lasting change begins from within.

Written by our Senior Director, People and Culture, this article is part of a series featuring perspectives from employees at various levels of Leading Edge, reflecting on our experiences with a feedback workshop series.

Turning Feedback into Fuel: How Leading Edge is Using Honest Conversations as an Opportunity for Organizational Growth

Culture

Combined organization to drive a bold, comprehensive vision for talent, leadership, and culture in the Jewish community 

JPro25 in partnership with Jewish Federations – conference on May 5-7, 2025 in Baltimore – to showcase the power of the combined organization 

As of January 1, 2025, Leading Edge and JPro are coming together to support, engage, and develop leaders and professionals throughout the Jewish nonprofit sector. Together, the combined organization will create a central address for the people who lead, work and serve the North American Jewish community, empowering them to deepen their impact at a critical time for the Jewish community. 

JPro has educated and connected Jewish communal professionals for generations, while Leading Edge, founded in 2015, has been a premier voice on leadership and culture, grounded in innovative data from the field. Leading Edge has focused on developing top executives, HR leaders, and Board members. United, they will transform the quality and impact of leaders and professionals across the Jewish world – holistically. 

“This combination will bring unprecedented vision, unity, clarity, and capacity to serving professionals and leaders throughout the North American Jewish nonprofit sector,” says Gali Cooks, President & CEO of Leading Edge. “As we face new challenges in the post-October-7th world, our Jewish ecosystem must invest in our most valuable resource — our people. In this exciting next step, we will create a ‘whole-system’ approach to making Jewish organizations more effective so that our community and the world thrive. With less redundancy and more strategic alignment, we can grow and drive change together in ways we couldn’t do apart.” 

“JPro has been part of North American Jewish history for over 120 years,” says Ilana Aisen, CEO of JPro since 2016 and now Chief Community Impact Officer at Leading Edge. “The development of Jewish life in North America is unique in Jewish history and intertwined with the development of the modern state of Israel and global Jewry, with Jewish communal institutions and their professional and lay leaders at its core. We must prioritize excellence in the recruitment, development, and retention of the people who lead, run, and operate our communal organizations. At this moment of history in particular, I couldn’t be prouder for JPro to join Leading Edge.”

“Leading Edge and JPro coming together holds great promise for the Jewish communal world,” says Eric Fingerhut, President and CEO of Jewish Federations of North America. “At Jewish Federations of North America, we believe that communities only flourish when all organizations, schools, and synagogues have best-in-class professionals and lay leaders. We’ve been proud of our partnerships with JPro and Leading Edge to achieve this and look forward to the future.”

“This new partnership between JPro and Leading Edge will usher in a new era of professional excellence within the Jewish nonprofit world,” says Erika B. Rudin-Luria, JPro’s former Board Chair and now Board Vice Chair at Leading Edge. “The combination of JPro and Leading Edge will enable us to exponentially grow our reach and impact on the professionals and volunteers whom we serve.”

“It all comes down to people,” says Daryl Messinger, Board Chair of Leading Edge. “As a lay leader who has served on over 10 Boards, I’ve seen how vital it is for organizations to invest in talent and leadership. With Leading Edge and JPro coming together, we have a broader and stronger mandate to make this a norm in the field.”

Jewish communal professionals, leaders, Board members, funders, and other stakeholders can learn more about the future of Leading Edge + JPro, and the future of the Jewish nonprofit sector, at the conference JPro25 in partnership with Jewish Federations, taking place in Baltimore May 5-7, 2025. Learn more at jpro25.org. 

JPro began in 1899 as The National Conference of Jewish Charities and cycled through many names and iterations over the century and more that followed. JPro’s mission is to inspire, educate, connect, and empower Jewish communal professionals. The “JPro” name dates to 2014, and since then, JPro has grown impressively in both its reach and its programming, with 13,000 members at 289 affiliate organizations. 

Leading Edge was founded in 2015 with a primary focus on top leaders and the leadership pipeline. Over the last decade, Leading Edge surveys have reached over 53,000 employees at Jewish nonprofits, and its leadership development programs have trained nearly 600 executive and Board leaders at Jewish organizations. In 2022, Leading Edge acquired Boardified (best known for its Board Member Institute), incorporating Board leadership development into its mission in recognition of the importance of the Board-professional partnership. 

Leading Edge, with Boardified and now JPro integrated, will become the only field-wide organization working on recruiting, engaging, and developing the Jewish nonprofit sector’s employees, executive leaders, and Board members. All previously planned JPro and Leading Edge programming for 2025 is expected to continue as planned.

Combined organization to drive a bold, comprehensive vision for talent, leadership, and culture in the Jewish community

Leading Edge and JPro Unite

News and Ideas | Leading Edge

News & Ideas

As we step into 2025, the end of the year offers a moment to reflect on the journeys and milestones of 2024. This year has been one of profound challenges, but also incredible resilience and collaboration across the Jewish nonprofit sector. Through it all, your engagement, partnership, and dedication have been the driving force behind everything Leading Edge has achieved.

We invite you to explore our 2024 Year in Review, where we highlight the progress and impact we’ve made together over the past year. From resources for Board members and a new program for talent professionals to hosting an in-person gathering for program alums, we’re proud to share what we accomplished this year. Thank you for being part of this extraordinary field and its impact on the world.

Read about what we've done together in 2024.

Leading Edge Year in Review 2024

Research: Performance Reviews That Actually Motivate Employees

As organizations move away from traditional number-based performance reviews, many are experimenting with narrative feedback or a mix of the two. But how do employees actually perceive these formats? New research sheds light on what makes feedback feel fair, motivating, and actionable, offering valuable insights for organizations looking to refine their performance evaluation practices.

10% Happier Podcast: If You’re Stressed, Anxious, Or Depressed, This Is Your Counterintuitive Medicine

Ragan: Internal Communications Trends for Success in 2025

HBR: Your Employees Are Also Caregivers. Here’s How to Support Them.

Gallup: Employee Upskilling Is Vital in Rapidly Evolving Job Market

NonprofitPRO: Your Strategic Plan Is Likely Not as Strategic as You Think

HBR: When Expressing Gratitude to Employees, Timing Matters

NonprofitPRO: Study: Board Directors Balance Innovation, Risk Management Amid Financial Pressures

BoardSource: Reimagining Boards for High Impact 

MIT SMR: C-Suite Hiring: Seven Mistakes Companies Still Make

What We're Learning | Leading Edge

The need for leadership development, especially for new executives, has never been clearer. Organizations face significant new challenges, persistent old issues, and sometimes divided constituencies. Yet we know that great leadership in Jewish nonprofits can unlock new potential for organizations to achieve their missions.  

Against that backdrop, Leading Edge is excited to announce the fifth cohort of Leading Executives. These leaders represent a diverse range of backgrounds and organizations. From December through June, they will learn dynamic leadership practices to help them navigate this time, receive constructive personalized feedback to speed and deepen their growth, and connect with a cohort of peer leaders for mutual support long after the formal program is complete.  

The following leaders will participate in the fifth cohort of Leading Executives:

Leading Edge’s research into the experience of Jewish nonprofit executives  shows that connections with other leaders in the Jewish nonprofit sector is the single most agreed-upon form of support that leaders find valuable to them in their roles. For today’s executives, the value of a supportive peer group is higher than ever before. Recent participants have shared that the program contributed to their understanding of their roles as leaders and their responsibility for their teams, helped them learn and continuously improve, and increased their conflict resolution and communication skills. 

Are you interested in future cohorts of Leading Executives, or do you know someone who should be? Don’t miss information about future cohorts when it becomes available; sign up for the interest list for Leading Executives here and for Leading Edge’s newsletter at leadingedge.org/contact-us/.

Meet the next Jewish nonprofit leaders in the next cohort of Leading Edge’s acclaimed executive leadership development program.

Leading Edge announces fifth “Leading Executives” cohort

Executives

The partnership between Board members and professional staff is a keystone of organizational impact. Yet few targeted development opportunities exist for staff members who want to level up their work with their Boards. Leading Edge is launching a pilot program to support executives and other senior leaders in leveling up the professional-Board collaboration.

Built on the best insights from our executive programs, Leadership Lab: Collaborating With Your Board is a cohort-based development program. Participants are senior executives and other senior leaders in their organizations. From November 2024 through April 2025, cohort members will master leadership practices toward effectively partnering with their Boards, analyze successful governance practices, reflect in individual and small group coaching, and develop an implementation plan to improve the efficacy and engagement of their Boards. 

The following leaders will participate in the inaugural cohort of Leadership Lab:

Leading Edge’s research into CEO perceptions of Board performance highlights the importance of successful staff-Board partnerships, and also the urgency to give our professionals more robust tools to deepen the engagement of their Board members. And we know from previous executive programs that the value of peer learning is crucial for high-performing professionals.

Meet the Jewish nonprofit professionals in Leading Edge’s pilot program for professionals who work with ​Boards.

Announcing the first cohort of Leadership Lab: Collaborating With Your Board

Leadership

Writing for eJP, Laura Herman and Deirdre Munley of JPro share how they introduced chavruta-based supervision within their organization, creating a model focused on curiosity, trust, and mutual respect. Bringing the centuries-old Jewish tradition of paired learning into their supervisor-supervisee relationship opened up new ways to deepen professional conversations and build meaningful partnerships. The chavruta model, adaptable to both Jewish and secular texts, can provide workplace pairs a structured way to enhance relationships while exploring professional growth together.

MIT SMR: Manage Boundaries Better With Your Team

Gallup: Managers Feel More Connected to Their Organization's Culture

Greater Good: Why Play at Work Can Inspire Employees to Take Risks

MIT SMR: Building Mastery: What Leaders Do That Helps — or Impedes

HBR: What the Best Leadership Teams Do Right

First Round Review: Radical Candor — The Surprising Secret to Being a Good Boss

HBR: Boards Need a New Approach to Technology

NonProfitPRO: Managing the Relational Aspect of Nonprofit Governance

Candid: Strong boards make strong nonprofits: What you need to know

Looking back and looking ahead: Lessons from a year of crises

Writing for eJewishPhilanthropy, Rachel Garbow Monroe (President & CEO of The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation and past Leading Edge Board Chair) reflects on a tumultuous year for Jewish and global communities and highlights key strategies for effective philanthropy during times of crisis. Looking to the future with hope, she invites funders and leaders to actively listen to both grantees and staff, embrace learning and growing, and to lead with kindness as all those in the sector continue the important work of striving to make the world a better place.

Chronicle of Philanthropy: Show How Your Nonprofit Is Making a Difference: 10 Dos and Don’ts

Journal of Management Studies: Not the Time to be Humble! When and Why Leader Humility Enhances and Deteriorates Evaluations on Leader Effectiveness and Satisfaction with Leader

Culture First (podcast): Seth Godin on building a culture of impact

SSIR: Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast. So Make Culture Your Focus.

SHRM: How to Model Civility for a Better Workplace Culture

AIHR: 9 Box Grid: A Practitioner’s Guide [FREE Template for Talent Management]

The Chronicle of Philanthropy: Can Elections Ever Be Normal Again? These 22 Nonprofit Leaders Have a Plan.

Joan Garry Consulting: A Seat at the Table: Why (Some) Staff Should Be Present At Board Meetings

SSIR: The Three-Legged Stool of Readiness-Centered Founder Transitions

Meet Shana Erenberg, co-founder and CEO of Libenu. Shana is an alum of the Board Member Institute, which was the reimagined signature program of Boardified (powered by Leading Edge) and the premier volunteer leadership development program for board members of Jewish communal organizations. Shana shares her perspective on navigating current challenges with empathy, passion, and determination, and reflects on how her Leading Edge experience has shaped her views on the future of Jewish nonprofit leadership.

Alumni Spotlight conversations may be edited and condensed.

What do you think are the most critical leadership qualities needed to navigate the unique challenges and opportunities within Jewish nonprofit organizations right now?

In the dynamic landscape of Jewish nonprofit organizations, the most critical leadership qualities necessary to navigate current challenges and opportunities include empathy, passion, and determination. Empathy is essential for leaders to genuinely connect with and understand the diverse needs of their community members, enabling them to tailor initiatives that resonate deeply. Passion fuels the commitment to the organization's mission, inspiring both staff and volunteers to strive towards shared goals. Determination helps leaders persist through obstacles and drive impactful changes. Additionally, a philosophy of inclusion ensures that all voices are heard and valued, fostering a culture of respect that strengthens community bonds. Vision is also crucial, as it allows leaders to anticipate future trends and opportunities, guiding their organizations toward sustainable growth and innovation. Together, these qualities form a robust foundation for effective leadership in the unique and evolving context of Jewish nonprofit organizations.

How do you see the future of Jewish nonprofit leadership evolving? How has your Leading Edge program experience influenced your perspective on this?

The future of Jewish nonprofit leadership is poised for a transformative evolution, emphasizing the cultivation of the next generation of leaders who are deeply committed to the Jewish community. My experience with Libenu has reinforced the critical importance of mentorship in this evolution. By providing robust mentorship opportunities, we can equip emerging leaders with the necessary skills and insights to navigate and innovate within the sector. These programs have shown me that mentorship not only bridges generational gaps but also infuses fresh perspectives and vitality into the community. This hands-on guidance ensures that new leaders are not only well-prepared to tackle current challenges but are also inspired to uphold and evolve the community's values. As such, mentorship will be a cornerstone in nurturing a resilient and visionary leadership pipeline that is crucial for the thriving future of Jewish nonprofit organizations.

Which initiatives or projects have you undertaken in your current role that have been inspired or influenced by participating in your Leading Edge leadership program?

Participating in the Leading Edge Employee Engagement Survey with subsequent feedback and workshops has notably enhanced Libenu’s team dynamics and improved communication. Inspired by the program's focus on strong team cohesion, we introduced regular team-building activities that have boosted morale and improved our collective ability to tackle complex projects. Additionally, we transformed our weekly meetings from mere informational gatherings to interactive sessions that encourage open idea sharing and collective problem-solving. These adaptations have not only fostered a more collaborative and engaged team environment but also led to more innovative and effective project outcomes, truly reflecting the valuable insights and strategies gained from Leading Edge.

What’s one piece of advice you would offer to someone who is considering joining a Leading Edge leadership program?

Joining a Leading Edge program can be a transformative experience for both you and your organization, and my advice to anyone considering it is to fully embrace the opportunity with openness and readiness to implement change. These programs offer access to insightful consultants who are experts in their fields, covering highly relevant topics that can profoundly impact your organization's effectiveness. You will receive thoughtful feedback that is both constructive and tailored to advance your mission. Engaging actively and applying the insights gained will allow you to enhance not just your leadership skills but also your organization's strategic direction and operational efficiency. The experience can be a significant catalyst for growth and innovation, so approach it with enthusiasm and a commitment to translate learning into action.

Meet Shana Erenberg, CEO of Libenu. Shana is an alum of the Board Member Institute, which was the reimagined signature program of Boardified (powered by Leading Edge) and the premier volunteer leadership development program for board members of Jewish communal organizations.

Alumni Spotlight: Shana Erenberg

Meet some of the dynamic leaders engaging with Leading Edge and transforming the community.

Alumni

One week from today will be a full year since October 7th, 2023. And later this week, we will begin the High Holiday season with Rosh Hashanah and enter a new Jewish year. There is so much one could say about the year that has passed, the year to come, and the prospect of trying to celebrate the holidays in the long shadow of such horrors.

I want to call your attention to a simple fact: Life can encounter us alone and can encounter us together. We are each individuals, and we are all a collective.

In the shadow of Oct 7th, we are a collective. In the post-October 7th world, the global Jewish community has pulled together in a way we haven’t seen in decades. There has been an enormous sense of collective mourning, of a collective fate and future, not to mention a collective experience of rising antisemitism. There has been new interest in Jewish connections and Jewish learning. 

To some degree, there has also been a sense of collective action — but on the level of action, there have also been painful divisions. And that brings us to the other side of the scale: 

In the shadow of Oct 7th, we are individuals. In the weeks and months following October 7th, I spoke with countless Jewish communal leaders about how their teams and organizations were faring as the crisis unfolded. One theme arose again and again: Different people in the field were having very different experiences. Some people were intensely connected to Israel and emotionally involved. Others were less connected both socially and emotionally. Some organizations had work that was directly connected to responding to needs that came from the attacks, while others were trying to meet their team’s emotional needs while continuing their work not directly connected to Israel or antisemitism. 

Meanwhile, painful divisions arose across ideologies and (to some extent) generations, around views of Zionism and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. These divisions inflamed preexisting polarization that has worsened in North America over the past half decade, from which the Jewish nonprofit sector has not been exempt.

It is tempting to ignore, or even to decry, one side or the other of this truth — to put down our individuality for the sake of the collective, or shun the collective because of our individual differences. But either one would be a mistake. We have to hold both sides of the tension — we have to be individuals in a collective, e pluribus unum.

How do we hold both sides? How do we honor our individuality and our collectivity at once?

The answer is relationships. At a time of “personal brands” and the gig economy, of rising reliance on robots for human thinking and human work, of a literal epidemic of loneliness and isolation, of division, of hatred and war, we need to double down on human relationships. Relationships are how we build culture, how we bridge differences, and how we reconcile our individual and collective natures. Relationships are the work.

Interestingly, Judaism is full of “relationship technologies,” from traditional transportation restrictions on Shabbat causing some communities to be physically close-knit to the idea of a minyan (prayer quorum) bringing people together, and more. Recently, at a Leading Edge alumni forum focused on shared leadership, Joshua Foer noted how powerful the traditional Jewish practice of ḥavruta can be. Ḥavruta is paired learning in traditional Jewish text study, based on the idea that two will learn far more deeply than one, because “iron sharpens iron.” Ḥavruta teaches us to challenge each other supportively, to oppose each other collaboratively, to argue with each other in good faith and while extending each other the benefit of the doubt. It is a remarkable technology for creating fruitful intellectual partnerships. (I met my wife at Pardes, when we were assigned to one another as ḥavruta partners. Ḥavruta technology is powerful indeed.) 

The Jewish Fall Holidays are another “relationship technology,” a powerful bridge of these two sides of human nature.

On the Fall Holidays, we are individuals. The High Holiday liturgy is full of personal development, personal repentance, personal relationships with God, and the divine judgment of individuals. There is an individual obligation to eat in the sukkah, and to wave a set of four species that we individually own. During the Hallel recitation of Psalms, we sing, “ki ani avdekha,” “for I am [singular] Your servant”. As we celebrate Simḥat Torah and restart the cycle of annual Torah reading, we remember that there is an individual obligation to study Torah. 

But on the Fall Holidays, we are also a collective. On Rosh Hashanah we celebrate the “birthday of the world” and the creation of all humanity. In Yom Kippur’s “vidui” confession, we sing “ashamnu, bagadnu” (“we have trespassed, we have betrayed”) in the plural, not the singular. We sing “ki anu amekha,” “for we are [plural] your nation”. In synagogue and in the Sukkah we come together physically with others. When we shake the four species, in part that symbolizes bringing together different kinds of people. We may have an individual obligation to study Torah, but Simḥat Torah and the annual cycle gives us a communal calendar to make it a shared enterprise.

As we come together to commemorate a year since October 7th and to take the High Holiday journey together, let’s do so in the spirit of relationship — the spirit of holding fast to our individuality and to our shared community. Let’s hold the hostages, the injured, the mourners, the displaced, the IDF soldiers, and those still in harm’s way centrally in our hearts, minds, and prayers. Let’s hold also the innocent people in Gaza, Lebanon, and elsewhere who are tragically being killed, injured, and displaced by a war they never asked Hamas and Hezbollah to start. Let’s think of those throughout the world who are suffering, whether in Sudan, Armenia, Ukraine, or anywhere else. 

And when we differ, as we must, in how we think and feel about all these terrible things, let’s think of the shared heartbeat of compassion that animates us all across our differences. Let’s not give up on each other — as individuals, or as members of a shared community. Let’s work on not just giving each other the benefit of the doubt but also giving each other partnership, respect, and trust.

May the hostages return immediately home. May safety, peace, and healing come to Israel and the whole Middle East more swiftly than now seems possible. 

May all of us together, and may each of us uniquely, be written and sealed in the book of life. And may we never again know a year like this one has been.

As we come together to commemorate a year since October 7th and to take the High Holiday journey together, let’s do so in the spirit of relationship — the spirit of holding fast to our individuality and to our shared community.

Alone and Together — The High Holidays in the Shadow of October 7th

Leading Edge has experienced many changes over the past four years, one of the most significant being our transition to a fully remote organization. In March 2020, our team of seven full-time employees left our WeWork office space in Manhattan, not realizing it would be the last time we would share a physical space together daily. Although we have technically been remote since then, our original physical address remained as an anchor. Now, with 21 full-time employees spread across the United States, we are finally letting go of that last tether and fully embracing our remote organization. (Our new mailing address, which is not a place we’ll ever go, can be found on our contact page.)

As we close this chapter, we reflect on the memories and milestones that shaped our time in a physical office. Our workspace was more than just a place to work—it was a hub of creativity, collaboration, and community. Over the years, it witnessed the beginnings of our growth, our challenges, and our triumphs. Now, as a completely remote team, we want to look back on some of the special memories that made our time in the office so meaningful.

Here are a few fond memories shared by our team:

“The funny notes of encouragement we’d leave each other. During a particularly stressful week with surveys, Marisa printed the Pink Starburst note and taped it on the wall in front of me. It brought the giggles for sure and helped us cross the finish line.”

“Gali pacing in her office during calls was a consistent sight, especially during exciting moments. The best was when she’d get great news and knock on the glass with an animated fist pump in silent celebration. We’d all laugh while she kept finishing up her conversation like a pro.”

“Friday breakfasts! We’d gather in the common area every Friday morning for breakfast. It was such a nice way to end the week and gave us the chance to connect and chat about non-work things.”

The transition to remote work has sparked much discussion, and with any change, there are both pros and cons. According to our 2022 report, “Are Jewish Organizations Great Places to Work?” fully remote workers tend to report more favorable well-being experiences, even though they’re more likely to want to leave. While remote workers report higher well-being, their intention to explore new opportunities may reflect the abundance of attractive options available to skilled knowledge workers. This suggests that their well-being empowers them to seek growth and advancement, rather than simply focusing on staying with one organization.

Personally, as an introvert, I’ve thrived in a remote work environment. However, many people feel a sense of loss without the social connection of a physical office, making it more important than ever to regularly check in with employees to ensure they feel supported and connected.

As you transition to a remote workspace, here are a few key lessons we’ve learned:

Embrace Change with Reflection: Transitioning to remote work is not just a logistical shift; it’s an emotional journey for the entire team. One way to navigate this change is by intentionally creating moments to reflect on the past. For example, you could create a digital scrapbook of office memories or encourage team members to share their favorite moments from the office during a team meeting. It can also be helpful to acknowledge that transitioning to remote work doesn’t mean losing the camaraderie or creativity that thrived in your physical space—it’s about finding new ways to maintain that spirit in a virtual environment.

Culture Transcends Space: A strong organizational culture isn’t confined to the walls of an office—it’s defined by the people, values, and shared experiences that shape the team. At Leading Edge, we recognized early on that maintaining our collaborative culture remotely would require intention and effort. To do this, we’ve committed to coming together as a full group twice a year, not just for work but for team-building activities that allow us to connect on a deeper, more personal level. These gatherings help reinforce our culture and maintain the bonds that make us a strong team, even when we’re apart.

In addition to periodic in-person meetups, we’ve incorporated regular virtual touchpoints, like weekly Monday check-ins, a Friday roundup document that says what each department has been working on during the week, and virtual coffee breaks. We also make a point to celebrate team wins and individual milestones online, ensuring that our culture of celebration and support continues to thrive remotely. These intentional efforts have shown us that culture can flourish even without a physical office—it just takes a little creativity and commitment.

Adaptation Brings New Opportunities: While saying goodbye to a familiar workspace can feel like a loss, it’s also an invitation to explore new possibilities. Remote work offers greater flexibility in how, where, and when people work, which can lead to increased productivity and innovation. For instance, at Leading Edge, we’ve found that our remote setup allows us to tap into talent across the United States, expanding our reach far beyond what was possible when we were based in a single location. This geographical flexibility has made our team more diverse and brought fresh perspectives to our work.

Additionally, remote work has required us to rethink how we collaborate. We’ve introduced new digital tools and systems that streamline communication and project management. We’ve also noticed that remote work gives employees greater autonomy, enabling them to balance their personal and professional lives more effectively.

The shift to remote work is a chance to experiment with new approaches, whether it’s reimagining your workflows, offering more flexible work hours, or creating virtual spaces for brainstorming and collaboration. As we’ve seen, these adaptations can unlock growth and new opportunities in ways that wouldn’t have been possible in a traditional office setting.

Leading Edge has experienced many changes over the past four years, one of the most significant being our transition to a fully remote organization. Now, with 21 full-time employees spread across the United States, we are finally letting go of that last tether and fully embracing our remote organization.

Final Farewell to Four Walls: Embracing Remote Work

It may seem odd, in reviewing a book, to begin by discussing a hypothetical different book that the authors didn’t write. But in order to illuminate and appreciate one major choice that Dr. Ron Wolfson and Dr. Jason G. Goldman made in crafting their new book on Jewish leadership, I hope you’ll indulge my oddity in doing just that.

If all I knew about a book were that its title was Jewish Communal Leadership, I might expect the book to be structured around things like:

Rules or principles for Jewish leaders to follow

Styles, personality types, or other general archetypes of Jewish leadership

Field-specific categories of Jewish professional leadership (rabbis, school principals, camp directors, JCC heads, Federation chiefs, foundation leaders, etc.)

Within these categories, I might expect that real people and real stories would be used to illustrate these rules, mistakes, styles, or positions. But the primary focus (in the hypothetical book I would expect) would be didactic, while people and stories would be roped in as secondary supports to the primary materials.

If I then learned that the subtitle was “Lessons Learned From Leading Practitioners” (emphasis added), then I would feel confirmed in my suspicions. “This book,” I would think, “must be structured around lessons.” Even if I then learned that the main research process for the book was interviews with ten leaders, I would assume that stories and case studies from these interviews would fill out a book structured mainly around lessons and concepts.

But the reality of this book confounded my expectations — and in a way that may be almost as instructive as the book’s contents.

Jewish Communal Leadership: Lessons Learned From Leading Practitioners is not structured around lessons. It is structured around individual leaders. Each chapter is not a principle, a rule, a style, or any other artificial construct — each chapter is a transcript of a conversation with a leader who is making an impact in the Jewish world.

Here are the ten leaders whose stories and reflections we read:

Barry Finestone [a non-voting member of Leading Edge’s board]

Daryl Messinger [board chair of Leading Edge]

It’s not that these conversations lack things like lessons, rules, principles, mistakes, styles, and information specific to various Jewish sub-fields. Each conversation is rich with both stories and conceptual insights, and my copy of the book now has many colorful book flags sticking out marking quotes and points I found valuable. Indeed, in a recent article promoting the book, Dr. Wolfson himself extracts ten generalized “takeaways” you can read right now. Still, what strikes me most about this book is that these takeaways and abstractions are never stripped of their narrative contexts. Instead, the personal stories and experiences of the interviewed leaders, with all their messiness, take primary focus. 

In choosing the messy and human over the streamlined and polished, and the personal and specific over the general and didactic, Wolfson and Goldman follow in the footsteps of the Tanakh (the Hebrew Bible) itself — another book of “lessons” that enmeshes its legal codes and linear abstractions in a much larger web of complex narratives. The result is far more demanding of the reader than a simple, clean law book would have been — but also much richer and deeper in its potential for transforming the reader and the community. Discussing the Torah’s dual nature as law and story, the late Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks ztz”l wrote:

“Law is one thing, narrative another. Narrative answers the question ‘What happened?’ Law answers the question, ‘How shall I act rightly…?’ Why then does the Torah contain both? The answer goes to the heart of the Judaic enterprise… God wants us to know, not only what to do, but why… God's law is not arbitrary. It speaks to the human condition. It arises out of human history.”

That Jewish Communal Leadership focuses on individual specific leaders’ stories, then, is one layer of wisdom in its structure. But another layer is to present not only the interview subject’s words, but the conversation between the subject and Wolfson. For fans of Wolfson’s prior work — including Relational Judaism and the Relational Judaism Handbook — it should come as no surprise that the give-and-take of two human beings encountering each other receives such a central place in this book.

In choosing the messy and human over the streamlined and polished, and the personal and specific over the general and didactic, Wolfson and Goldman's new book on Jewish leadership demands more of the reader than a simple, clean law book would have been. But the personal stories and experiences of the interviewed leaders also offer richer and deeper potential for transforming the reader and the community.