Advantage Newsletter About Us Contact Resources Testimonials

• 
• Coaching
  •  Executive Coaching
  •  Life Coaching
  •  Rabbinic/Board Coaching
  •  Coaching Process
• 
• Leadership Development & Training
• 
• Leadership Alliance
• 
• Energy Leadership

June 2008

• INTRODUCTION
• SERMON WRITING MADE EASIER
• RELATIONSHIP WITH LAY LEADERS - Forum
• SOPHIE THE SABBATH SKUNK - Short Story
• MAN'S SEARCH FOR MEANING - Market Place
• EFFICIENCY TRAINING - Humor
• NEW BEGINNINGS - Quotes

Welcome to the 1st quarterly Advantage Newsletter, primarily written for and by rabbis. The purpose of this newsletter is to provide tools, techniques and ideas for dynamic, inspirational leadership. The key areas covered within each newsletter will be:

1. The main article -on a key topic or development area of interest to rabbis
2. Forum - a question or series of questions will be asked with the desire to hear from all readers. The responses will be provided in the next newsletter, without reference to name(s) of respondents. The purpose is to hear from your colleagues and share best practices for overall success
3. Poetry, short story or short article - submitted by rabbis - any topic is game!
4. Market Place - Have you published a book recently or would like to tell us about an upcoming book? This is the place!
5. Humor - Jewish and secular - submissions welcome
6. Quotes - to include leadership, and motivational topics

All submissions that support any of the items above are welcome for possible publishing in any future newsletter.

Every rabbi is blessed with innate skills; there are facets of our job that come easy to us, for which we have a natural ability. There are, however, tasks that do not come as easily, aspects of our job with which we struggle. Often times, these tasks become a wedge between us and our congregants, a locus for disappointment. Now, while we wish that our congregants would accept our foibles as willingly as we accept theirs, and with far less judgment, we cannot dismiss their criticism out of hand. Rather, it is helpful, with some perspective, to accept criticism as a true measure of our performance. It does us no good to become defensive or to adopt an adversarial role towards our congregants. Critique is a reminder that we need to be honest with ourselves and continue to work to improve our skills.

One skill that is difficult to master is the art of writing a major sermon. For fourteen years, my wife, who is a professor, edited my High Holy Day sermons. When we first began this task, of writing and editing, I would write a sermon, and as if the sermon were on fire, throw it at her and run. The result was hours of editing for her, always with a red pen, and painful hand-ringing for me. Over the years, as my confidence and ability to write coherent sermons grew, I edited the sermon before handing it to her. Now, I have reached a point where I do not need my wife to edit my sermons, although a second pair of eyes is always useful. I have learned to better organize and to write, without anxiety or displeasure. I have accomplished this through writing about those things which I feel are important; through being an honest editor and allowing time to edit, and through following an organized ritual. Writing a sermon is one skill I believe we all can master.

The first step in writing a coherent and compelling sermon is to choose a topic. One topic! Short of endorsing a particular candidate for public office, all subject matter should be open to us. It is important, however, to ask yourself the "so what" question when choosing a subject. Will this topic be of value to your listeners? Remember, a sermon is not an academic exercise, but a vehicle to inspire conversation, contemplation or change.

The next step is to begin to define the main points of the sermon. Sometimes this is accomplished by brainstorming, listing every idea or example that comes to mind and then categorizing these ideas. Sometimes we have definite ideas of how we want to approach a sermon (keep these points to a maximum of three). Either way, it is important to have a sense of the major sections of the sermon. As a precursor to this, or as a subsequent act, we need to do a little research, gathering illustrations of what we are going to talk about. One of the most important lessons I have learned about writing a sermon is to: "Make your point, illustrate, illustrate, illustrate."

Now we turn to the all important thesis statement. This will serve to keep the sermon in focus. Without a clear sense of where we want to go with our sermons we doom ourselves to wandering, a fate not kind to us or to our congregants. The thesis should delineate how the topic is to be addressed in the body of the sermon and to what purpose. The thesis statement need be but two to three sentences; still, it is the most essential part of the sermon. If you have a good thesis statement the sermon should be easy to write. If you are unclear, however, the entire sermon will be unclear as well.

It is here that one may begin to work on the introduction. The introduction should lead to the thesis statement, drawing the listener in, making the listener interested or curious as to what will come next. Do not jump in right on topic. I find that personal stories or observations are a good way to start a sermon. These stories or observations are common threads between the rabbi and the congregation. Beginning with a "we" rather than an "I" and "you" is also a good idea. Don't set yourself apart from your listener.

Once the introduction is written you can start on the body of the sermon. A few important things here: stay on topic - ask the "so what" question, remember that you do not need to share all your research or ideas (save them for other sermons), and work at making your transitions from paragraph to paragraph and topic to topic smooth and complete. Don't stop and start, jumping from one idea to the next. Often referring back to the thesis statement or tying in to your introduction helps to keep the listener from tuning you out, closing his eyes, or leaning her head on her neighbor in sleepy repose.

Now that the body is written you can write the conclusion. It should tie together all the major ideas back to your original thesis and, in some way, connect to your introductory story or observation. In a manner, end where you began but with energy that moves the congregation forward in action or thought.

The sermon is finished! Not so fast! Edit and edit again. In fact, you should be editing each day before you start the next section. It is helpful when doing the final editing to set the sermon aside a few days and just enjoy the accomplishment before looking at it again.

A short sermon: Once you master the skill of writing a major sermon, shorter sermons are a breeze. You need only explore one point or two in the body of the sermon. Remember, illustrate, illustrate, illustrate.

This quarters' forum focuses on your relationship with your lay leaders or others in leadership positions, if you do not work within a congregational setting.

Please click on the link below to answer 3 survey questions:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=8nD2UNngWqa6a0WnNWwzwQ_3d_3d

The results will be provided on the next Advantage newsletter.

There lived, on a farm in rural Ohio, a family of four girls: Jenny, Janet, Kellie and Natalie. Every Friday night the girls, freshly washed and well fed, would get into their van with their parents, Judy and Ike Levy, and drive forty minutes to go to synagogue.

On the way they always smelt the spray of a skunk; not once or twice, but every time they went to synagogue: winter, spring, summer or fall. Thus begins our story of "Sophie, the Sabbath Skunk." You see, even though the Levys did not know it, all the animals on their farm considered themselves to be Jewish. But it was only Sophie, a local nuisance, who was able to go to synagogue. All the other animals lived in pens or stalls. Sophie, on the other hand, was wild; she could come and go as she pleased. And every Friday night, as it pleased her, she would go to synagogue.

At a main crossing on a country road, Sophie would wait patiently in a tree for the Levy's van. When it made a stop, Sophie would drop as quietly as she could upon the top of the van and nestle herself into a corner of the luggage rack. Of course, even though the Levys could not see her, they certainly could smell her. In jest, they even suggested that the skunk they smelled was going to services. Little did they know how right they were. Still, Sophie was careful not to be caught. She always made certain to leap from the van into a clump of bushes two blocks from the synagogue. From there she would make her way through drainage pipes until she reached the synagogue's basement. Pressing her head and body against its foundation, she would hum to the prayers, move to the music, and quietly mewl the songs with the congregation.

No one at the congregation ever suspected that Sophie the skunk was part of the Shabbat minion; the drainage pipe vented two blocks away and the breeze usually carried the skunk smell away from the synagogue. Once a year however, on Purim, a skunk odor would waft up in the vents of the synagogue. Everyone always laughed at the coincidence of the reading of Haman's name and the perfume of skunk. Sophie had no grogger. Letting out a tiny spray every time Haman's name was read was her way of showing disdain for him. No one ever suspected a thing, especially the Levys, until the day they awoke to the strains of Bim Bam being whinnied, mooed, baaaaahed, snorted, and clucked, and to an overwhelming smell of skunk.

VIKTOR FRANKL'S Man's Search for Meaning is one of the great books of our time. Typically, if a book has one passage, one idea with the power to change a person's life, that alone justifies reading it, rereading it, and finding room for it on one's shelves. This book has several such passages.

Rabbi Harold S. Kushner, author of When Bad Things Happen to Good People

Attention: Have you published a book recently or would like to tell us about an upcoming book? What is your favorite book and why? How has it impacted your life? This is the place to share it! We anxiously await your contributions!

The efficiency expert concluded his lecture with a note of caution. "You don't want to try these techniques at home."

"Why not?" asked someone from the back of the audience.

"I watched my wife's routine at breakfast for years," the expert explained. "She made lots of trips to the refrigerator, stove, table and cabinets, often carrying just a single item at a time.'Hon,' I suggested, 'Why don't you try carrying several things at once?'"

The voice from the back asked, "Did it save time?"

The expert replied, "Actually, yes. It used to take her twenty minutes to get breakfast ready. Now I do it in seven."

"No river can return to its source, yet all rivers must have a beginning." Proverb

"The secret to a rich life is to have more beginnings than endings." Dave Weinbaum

"You will never reach your goal until you start to take action, any action." Byron Pulsifer

"I believe that nothing in life is unimportant every moment can be a beginning." John McLeod