Erica Brown

A thought book and actionable guide for Jewish teens who want to make a difference in the world. Teens are changing the world. Teen leaders are dreaming, planning, and raising the social consciousness of those around them. They are questioning the status quo, using technology to do good, and pushing others to do so as well. They know that they don't have to wait for adults to make the world a kinder, better place. Do you look at problems others ignore? Do you find joy in helping others? Do you want to do something big in the world? There are many ways to be a leader, and we each have unique strengths. Jewish values such as tzedakah (charity, or justice), and tikun olam (healing the world) can help show us the way. And Jewish heroes throughout history and in the present offer us leadership lessons and personal examples. While we may never finish the work, we can't wait another minute to begin. Now's the time to find your voice and your cause, to think about your influence, mission, courage, and purpose, and to bring others along with you to do good in the world. You are leading. You are dreaming bigger. Dreaming Bigger is a call to action. It's a workbook, an inspiration, a guide for teens who want to make a difference in the world, supported by their Jewish heritage. It can be read alone or with a friend, in a group, or in a class. Topics include managing stress, making better decisions, deepening empathy, using technology, speaking in public, ending bullying, fighting antisemitism, advocating for racial justice, and more. Packed with leadership advice for teens from teens and from experts around the world, insights from Jewish texts, thought exercises, and discussion prompts, it invites readers to grapple with the classic call to action from the sage Hillel: If I am not for myself, who will be for me? And if I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?

First Published in 1999. Helping children come to terms with and be aware of loss, change and grief is an undeveloped area within education although they are universal features of human experience. Here the author fosters a positive attitude to teaching and learning about such issues. She explores many experiences of loss and grief and different beliefs and practices are discussed so that the reader can gain a better understanding of how children grieve. She also provides suggestions for ways in which this topic can be taught within the school curriculum and offers practical suggestions for effective, professional collaboration.

Elizabeth von Arnim and Elizabeth Taylor wrote witty and entertaining novels about the domestic lives of middle-class women. Widely read and enjoyed, their work was often dismissed as middlebrow. Brown argues their skilful use of comedy and irony provided the receptive reader with subversive commentary on the cruelties and disappointments of life.

Practical, inspired, and bite-sized wisdom from renowned religious scholar Erica Brown, these daily meditations help add greater depth and purpose to your leadership. Few leaders have a plan when it comes to soul-building at work. As a result, they often find themselves spiritually or emotionally depleted, and they can lose the larger ideals that made them want to lead in the first place. Take Your Soul to Work is a daily meditational for business and nonprofit leaders looking for inspiration. Each entry focuses on a different quality, emotion, or aspiration ("on discipline," "on compassion," "on impermanence," "on callousness," "on productive narcissism") by presenting a relevant quote, story, or question inspired by the traditions of all faiths as well as artists, poets, and business thinkers to help leaders reframe, rethink, and reset. Leaders rarely have time to reflect between the meeting, calls, and emails that eat away at the work day. With just one thought per day for the entire year, these 365 meditations will anchor, ground, and enrich corporate titans and nonprofit visionaries. Take Your Soul to Work provides spiritual nourishment and encourages leaders to steer their organizations with honesty, grace, and courage--and experience transcendence in the process.

Called cathartic by The Wall Street Journal, this wise and affirming book helps you accept and prepare for death through important conversations about what matters most. Extreme empathy with extreme tough-mindedness. Thats how David Brooks, of The New York Times, describes Erica Brown. In Happier Endings, she helps us confront our fears about deathfor ourselves and our loved onesand demonstrates how the last days of life can be among the most inspiring if we learn to leave a legacy of words and values, to forgive and apologize, and to make important decisions. Along the way, she introduces us to people of all faiths who deal with death in enlightening ways, including a mother who arranged for her children to sprinkle her ashes on a favorite ski slope; an ex-nun who prepares people to die; a group of women who ritually wash their dead; and a family whose grandfathers ethical will is read by his survivors each year. After reading Happier Endings, you will have a greater understanding of what a good death can be and what a life well lived looks like.

Confidently navigating the ancient wilderness, master educator Erica Brown guides readers through the tumultuous events of the book of Numbers in search of the key to successful leadership. How might a leader overcome unrest? How to contend with external challenges and internal doubts? And how to rekindle the faith of a people who have all but given up? Bringing together Bible and commentary, literature and philosophy, travelogues and corporate manuals, Leadership in the Wilderness presents a guide to good government, as relevant today as it was three thousand years ago.

Elizabeth von Arnim and Elizabeth Taylor wrote witty and entertaining novels about the domestic lives of middle-class women. Widely read and enjoyed, their work was often dismissed as middlebrow. Brown argues their skilful use of comedy and irony provided the receptive reader with subversive commentary on the cruelties and disappointments of life.

In Return: Daily Inspiration for the Days of Awe, Dr. Erica Brown, one of today's most sought-after Jewish educators, leads the reader on a transformative journey spanning the ten days between Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur. In her distinct interdisciplinary approach, Brown presents an original guide to teshuva that is both highly scholarly and deeply personal. For each day, the book offers a biblical- or rabbinic-themed essay, passages for textual study, and a practical exercise of self-improvement. The result is an engaging dialogue with both text and self, empowering Jews of all backgrounds to connect to the Days of Awe.

"We can battle insensitivity, immorality and dishonesty in our lives individually and collectively as a people. We have a wonderful road map in the Torah and its traditions. It is time to think seriously about our reputation in the world and what we can do to enhance it, not because we want to look good but because we want to be good."--from Chapter 6. What should we do when we see other Jews behaving badly? Most Jews are good, upstanding people who live by a strong moral code and follow Isaiah's words to be a light to others. But when Jews in the public sphere make headlines for being caught in scandals, their actions can provoke anger, shame and a sense of betrayal in the larger Jewish community. In this insightful and timely book, Jewish scholar Dr. Erica Brown presents an intentional, disciplined framework to explore the emotions provoked in the Jewish community by reports of Jews committing crime. She proposes that we transform our sense of shame into actions that inspire and sustain a moral culture. Drawing from the Hebrew Bible, Talmud and our centuries-long Jewish commitment to ethics, she outlines ways you can activate and operate your personal moral compass, and shows how you can empower yourself with sacred obligation, responsibility, kindness and knowledge to increase Jewish pride.

Break the Surface of Spiritual Boredom to Find the Reservoir of Meaning WithinWe need to be bored. When we get bored and take responsibility for our boredom, we arrive at a new level of interest, introspection, or action that has been stirred by the very creativity used to keep boredom away. The relationship between boredom and creativity is far from accidental. Creative minds are often stimulated by boredom, regarding it as a brain rest until the next great idea looms on the horizon of the otherwise unoccupied mind.from Chapter 10Boredom is a crisis of our age. In religious terms, boredom is sapping spirituality of its mystical and wholesome benefits, slowly corroding our ability to recognize blessing and beauty in our lives, to experience wonder and awe. What happens when our need for constant newness minimizes our interest in prayer, learning, and the mysteries of nature? This intriguing look at spiritual boredom helps you understand just what this condition is, particularly as it relates to Judaism, and what the absence of inspiration means to the present and future of the Jewish tradition. Drawing insights from psychology, philosophy, and theology as well as ancient Jewish texts, Dr. Erica Brown explores the many ways boredom manifests itself within Judaismin the community, classroom, and synagogueand shows its potentially powerful cultural impact on a faith structure that advises sanctifying time, not merely passing it.

Break the Surface of Spiritual Boredom to Find the Reservoir of Meaning WithinWe need to be bored. When we get bored and take responsibility for our boredom, we arrive at a new level of interest, introspection, or action that has been stirred by the very creativity used to keep boredom away. The relationship between boredom and creativity is far from accidental. Creative minds are often stimulated by boredom, regarding it as a brain rest until the next great idea looms on the horizon of the otherwise unoccupied mind.from Chapter 10Boredom is a crisis of our age. In religious terms, boredom is sapping spirituality of its mystical and wholesome benefits, slowly corroding our ability to recognize blessing and beauty in our lives, to experience wonder and awe. What happens when our need for constant newness minimizes our interest in prayer, learning, and the mysteries of nature? This intriguing look at spiritual boredom helps you understand just what this condition is, particularly as it relates to Judaism, and what the absence of inspiration means to the present and future of the Jewish tradition. Drawing insights from psychology, philosophy, and theology as well as ancient Jewish texts, Dr. Erica Brown explores the many ways boredom manifests itself within Judaismin the community, classroom, and synagogueand shows its potentially powerful cultural impact on a faith structure that advises sanctifying time, not merely passing it.

Peoplehood—everyone's talking about it. But what does it actually mean and why is it important to the future of Judaism? "Why is this conversation important? Why does it merit your attention? If you care about Jewish identity and community, then you know that we have no trouble identifying the problems that fragmentize us as a people but have far less success identifying that which unites us. Without a unifying, collective notion of Jewish identity that is meaningful and robust, it is virtually impossible to make a strong case for Jewish continuity." —from the Introduction This call to Jewish community explores the purpose, possibilities and limitations of peoplehood as a unifying concept of community for a people struggling profoundly with Jewish identity. It defines what peoplehood is—and is not—and explores both collective and personal Jewish identity and the nature of identity construction. Drawing on history, sacred texts and contemporary scholarship, The Case for Jewish Peoplehood identifies some of the obstacles that challenge a shared notion of peoplehood: personal choices, construct of membership and boundaries, growth of Jewish illiteracy, identity fragmentation between Israeli and Diaspora Jewry and the generational divide affecting traditionalists, baby boomers and generations X and Y. To help you join the conversation, the authors support a vision for the future and provide practical guidance and recommendations for getting there.

Peoplehood--everyone's talking about it. But what does it actually mean and why is it important to the future of Judaism? "Why is this conversation important? Why does it merit your attention? If you care about Jewish identity and community, then you know that we have no trouble identifying the problems that fragmentize us as a people but have far less success identifying that which unites us. Without a unifying, collective notion of Jewish identity that is meaningful and robust, it is virtually impossible to make a strong case for Jewish continuity."--from the IntroductionThis call to Jewish community explores the purpose, possibilities and limitations of peoplehood as a unifying concept of community for a people struggling profoundly with Jewish identity. It defines what peoplehood is--and is not--and explores both collective and personal Jewish identity and the nature of identity construction. Drawing on history, sacred texts and contemporary scholarship, The Case for Jewish Peoplehood identifies some of the obstacles that challenge a shared notion of peoplehood: personal choices, construct of membership and boundaries, growth of Jewish illiteracy, identity fragmentation between Israeli and Diaspora Jewry and the generational divide affecting traditionalists, baby boomers and generations X and Y. To help you join the conversation, the authors support a vision for the future and provide practical guidance and recommendations for getting there.

Help sustain the Jewish tradition's legacy of community leadership by building strong leaders today. "Great Jewish leadership has helped us survive slavery, guided us to the Promised Land, given us hope through exile and oppression, helped us enjoy membership in a nation of overachievers and given birth to the State of Israel. Great Jewish leadership generates vision and, as a result, followers. It inspires us and helps us to stretch higher, see farther and reach deeper."--from the IntroductionDrawing on the past and looking to the future, this practical guide provides the tools you need to work through important contemporary leadership issues. It takes a broad look at positions of leadership in the modern Jewish community and the qualities and skills you need in order to succeed in these positions. Real-life anecdotes, interviews and dialogue stimulate thinking about board development, ethical leadership, conflict resolution, change management and effective succession planning. Whether you are a professional or a volunteer, are looking to develop your own personal leadership skills or are part of a group, this inspiring book provides information, interactive exercises and questions for reflection to help you define leadership styles and theories, expose common myths and coach others on the importance of leading with meaning.