Leadership Development Institute: Our Mission & History

Our Vision (Our aspirational view of the future)

Greater Boston’s Jewish community lives in a network of vibrant institutions whose leaders are knowledgeable, skilled and passionate, able to shape, communicate and drive an aspirational vision of Jewish life.

Our Mission  (Our purpose)

As the leader, so the generation; as the generation, so the leader. Arakim 17a

CJP’s LDI empowers Jewish leaders to learn together, to hone the needed skills to assess and recommit to their vision and values, and to create and implement action steps to move their organizations forward.
We accomplish this mission by:

• Supporting organizations and their leaders through intensive seminars, workshops, consultations and executive coaching
• Working with executives, clergy, boards, professionals and “emerging leaders” to deepen their knowledge and effectiveness as leaders as they shape institutional change
• Drawing on classic and modern models of leadership and management, business school and synagogue case studies, and Jewish texts and traditions

Our History 

CJP’s Leadership Development Institute is a unique federation resource born from the 1998 community survey of Greater Boston’s Jewish community. Synagogues, Jewish agencies and the federation recognized the need to better understand organizational change and the leadership needed to guide and inspire changes that support Jewish and communal values. Furthermore, there was recognition that these central institutions were and would remain dependent on volunteers to step forward and play critical roles in envisioning an inspired, inclusive and meaningful future for the community within their institutions and beyond.

Hence, the LDI was formally launched in 2001 with the support of the Goldberg Cahners Family Fund for Jewish Education and Continuity and under the guidance of Continuity Commission Director Carolyn Keller, the Jewish Resource Network Initiative Chair June Rokoff and CJP President Barry Shrage.

Staffed by its Founding Director David Trietsch and Assistant Director Alison Kur, the LDI completed its first comprehensive program for synagogue leadership in 2002. Lead faculty and co-designers of the program were Rabbi Larry Hoffman and Professor Carl Sloan.
Currently, the LDI offers a range of leadership programs not only for synagogues, but also for other Jewish communal agencies and groups of professionals and volunteer leaders. The current Director Daniel Langenthal works with a varied team to continue LDI’s mission of innovation and excellence in leadership for the Jewish community of Boston. The current offerings include strategic planning, board development and retreats for individual institutions, coaching of clergy and volunteer leaders, “leading change and renewal” seminar series and strategic partnership workshops for clergy and incoming synagogue presidents.