A Potomac resident and rabbi will serve as the Union for Reform Judaism’s inaugural assistant vice president of movement building, the URJ announced Monday.
In this role, Rabbi Michael Namath will aim to build on longstanding relationships across the Reform movement and create more intentional ways for leaders, communities and institutions to learn from one another, act together and strengthen Jewish life.
“Michael’s new role is about helping us do work we have long known is essential: deepening our partnerships with the leaders who shape Jewish life every day,” Rabbi Esther Lederman, URJ’s vice president of Jewish Life & Leadership, said in the news release.
“I’m very excited about this role and being more connected within the Reform movement,” Namath told Washington Jewish Week. “It’s an exciting opportunity to go from work in one area of this organization to really thinking about the whole.”
Namath previously served as URJ’s assistant vice president of the Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism’s Acting Together for Justice. Along with Director Rabbi Jonah Pesner, Namath oversaw RAC’s field and organizing team and programming.
“He brings decades of trusted relationships, deep Movement knowledge, and a clear understanding of how our leaders help people find meaning, community, and purpose in Jewish life,” Lederman said.
With more than two decades of experience working with URJ, Namath will help strengthen relationships and coordination across the Reform movement, with a focus on rabbis, cantors, educators, camp faculty and congregational leaders.
“This work is about empowering the relationships that allow our Movement to learn, lead, and act together,” Namath said in the news release. “I am honored to step into this role and to work with colleagues across the URJ as we build more intentional connections across the Reform Movement.”
The creation of this role aims to build upon the launch of Jewish Life & Leadership, URJ’s team focused on helping people, congregations and communities engage deeply in Jewish life and grow as leaders.
He previously led the teen L’Taken social justice seminars and worked with clergy and congregational leaders in the Reform movement.
In his new role, Namath will provide leadership for URJ’s “key initiatives,” including the Clergy Leadership Program and the RAC Consultation on Conscience, while offering strategic partnership for L’Taken and other movement-wide leadership efforts.
“I’m looking forward to continuing the connections that I’ve made in my role working with L’Taken, the teen social justice program that I’ve been supporting and leading throughout the past 25 years,” Namath told Washington Jewish Week.
Because the L’Taken teens come to the nation’s capital with adult chaperones — often congregational professionals — Namath has fostered those connections already.
“This is, in many ways, a continuation of that in hearing from people and also to help people connect to those resources on justice work as folks are navigating a lot of change,” Namath said. “This is an opportunity to think about the leadership we have within our movement and the ways that help people, particularly our congregational leaders, connect with one another.”
In addition to fostering conversations, both in person and virtually, Namath plans to implement gatherings of Reform movement leaders throughout the year.
“I feel very connected to the Reform Movement because of what I’ve been doing for the past 25 years,” Namath said. “And in this role, I get to think about how to make sure that other people have those connections and are able to be collaborative as well. That, for me, is a big shift and a really exciting part of it.”
zbell@midatlanticmedia.com
