When Karen Klemow, Senior Vice President at Kehilat Shalom in Gaithersburg, MD, first saw the CE21 plans and road map, she “got it” right away and knew she wanted to get involved. She’s a project manager by profession who was confident she could make a significant contribution to the future of her congregation. Kehilat Shalom is one of the congregations in the pilot cohort of our CE21 initiative, a process that enables congregations to create a new paradigm for Jewish education across the lifespan. Klemow, CE21 Chair, noted that her synagogue has now completed its visionary description of Jewish learning and its congregational conversations, meaning they are moving into the design phase of creating new models of Jewish education.

Klemow sees the benefits of CE21 already. “We noticed things that came out of the conversations that are not just related to education, but to the community as a whole,” says Klemow. “For example, we had congregants asking for specific programming, not knowing we offered it already. That was a sign we need to reevaluate and improve our communications.” Now, in addition to working on the new educational design, they are addressing some of the issues that came up and are planning to show congregants immediate results. Klemow says she tries to focus on the “right now” with CE21 and not just on the future. “If we do it right, one step at a time, it will work and be successful,” she noted. Klemow is very hopeful about what CE21 can offer her community. “Our lives are different now; there are more demands. The synagogue isn’t the same community that it used to be. I am hopeful that we’ll do things differently, in a way that works with our lives today.”

Want to learn more about CE21?  Click here.