STAR’s New Blog

Our partner, STAR (Synagogues: Transformation and Renewal), has launched its first blog, CO-STAR.

In his first post, our good friend Rabbi Hayim Herring explains the origin of the name:

I remember Rabbi Harold Kushner, a rabbi who has influenced me, once either saying or writing that you shouldn’t pray for anything which you’re unwilling to act on yourself (my paraphrase). I’m taking cues for the purpose of STAR’s blog from one of the morning prayers before the Shema (the ahava rabbah). It has four key words which will guide our action on CO-STAR:

1. To learn (lilmod)—about exciting developments in and around the synagogue world
2. To teach (l’lamed)—or share our learning with anyone interested
3. To keep (lishmorr)—the focus on things which are working well
4. To implement (la’asot)—change by sharing ideas of talented, concerned individuals.

That’s why we named our blog CO-STAR. The name reflects our desire to be co-creators of knowledge, innovation and excellence in existing and emerging synagogue life. We arrived at that name by inviting our STAR PEER rabbis to suggest a name for the blog—and they were creative! They recommended about 40 terrific ideas. But we settled on CO-STAR because it best speaks to our belief that through partnership with our readers, we can together share our insights about synagogue life—the good and the bad, the creative with long-term potential and what seems to be an interesting fad. While respecting what’s working, we want CO-STAR to challenge us to think how synagogues can reach and touch a more diverse Jewish community.