10/11/2024
When I first decided to be a rabbi in the mid-1980s, having toyed with the idea for a number of years prior to that, I had a dream to not only qualify as a rabbi and work as a pulpit rabbi but to make a wider impact.
I had no idea at the time what kind of impact I might make or how that might come about. I may well have simply been suffering from illusions of grandeur, but that was my dream.
I grew up in the British Reform movement and began my rabbinic programme at Leo Baeck College in London. However, I spent my first year in Jerusalem (mostly improving my Hebrew) before studying for four years at the University of Judaism in Los Angeles (now the American Jewish University), which is under the auspices of the American Conservative Movement.
After a further year in Jerusalem - at the liberal Orthodox seminary Mechon Pardes - it became apparent that I no longer belonged in the Reform Movement. (Perhaps more accurately, the leadership of Leo Baeck College had decided that I no longer belonged in the Reform Movement). I, therefore, negotiated my way out of Leo Baeck College and, by doing, set a record that I doubt will ever be broken: I had been on the College’s books for 6 years but never attended even one hour of classes at the College in London!
Circumstances were such that I actually gave the Reform Movement one last try - in Sydney, Australia.
After that opportunity ended on an unpleasant note, God led me in a new direction. I began my journey “across the fence” becoming the Assistant Minister of the Orthodox synagogue in Adelaide, South Australia.
After 2 years with the congregation, there was a period of about 6 months when they were between rabbis. Although I had no formal qualifications, I became the de facto rabbi.
I learned a tremendous amount during that time, having been thrown into the deep end unexpectedly.
I initially felt quite intimidated and underqualified to play a leadership role in the Orthodox community. However, I coped remarkably well in the interim role, which gave me the self-confidence to study to become an Orthodox rabbi.
To cut a long story short, having served in two support roles in the US (the first of which I discuss here), I became ordained in August 2005.
Just under 3 years later, I became the senior rabbi of a congregation in Melbourne, Australia, where I served for over 6 years.
I was now a rabbi—an Orthodox rabbi, to boot—and had been given the opportunity to lead a congregation.
But the dream of making that wider impact remained unfulfilled.
Having moved from the UK to Israel, Israel to the US and back to Israel, then from Israel to Australia, back to the US and back to Australia, I decided that it was time to stay put.
With rabbinical positions hard to come by (especially as I was already in my early 50s), I began to explore other opportunities. This led me to the wonderful world of the Internet and a new dream - to become an entrepreneur who could work from anywhere.
After trying a few different businesses, my brother Ashley (who has lived his entire life in the UK, unlike his globetrotting brother) introduced me to iMA and to its genius creator, James Knight.
Training with James over Zoom was a true eye-opener. I fell in love with iMA and realised that helping people improve communication and deepen connection through iMA was my new life mission.
After completing my training with James and being certified by him as an iMA Accredited Professional, I completed the goal that James had set for me, namely absorbing iMA’s principles so well that anyone learning iMA from me would think that I had created iMA myself.
The next step was to find my own unique path to bring iMA to the world.
It took a while, but with the help of some incredible teachers and mentors, I finally determined the most effective way for me to make a positive difference with iMA.
Given my 30 years of experience working in Jewish communities, I would be able to make the biggest difference by helping the leadership of synagogues and other Jewish communal organisations work more effectively with each other and with their professional staff.
Once the leadership experienced the incredible power of iMA for themselves, they would be excited to introduce it to their wider membership.
After all, almost every one of their members likely faces a situation where someone important in their life - a business partner, a boss or manager, a key employee or team member, a client or potential client, a family member (adult child or sibling) or even their intimate partner - they currently perceive as “difficult”.
In addition, a percentage of the members of these synagogues or other Jewish communal organisations are suffering from loneliness, declared by the US Surgeon General in May 2023 as the world’s newest epidemic.
iMA helps people understand that the person causing them so much grief is not difficult but merely different from them.
iMA also addresses loneliness and its devastating effects (equivalent to smoking 30 ci******es a day) by helping people to identify other people who typically think and behave like they do (25% of the world’s population), with whom they can best build new friendships and relationships.
A few days ago, I came to a realisation. By introducing iMA - taught in my unique way, meditated through the lens of Jewish texts and traditions and my own extensive communal leadership experience - to Jewish communal leaders around the world, and through the leadership to the general membership of those organisations, I am finally making that wider impact that I dreamed of almost 40 years ago.
Whether you are being kept awake at night by that “difficult” board member, rabbi, spouse, work colleague or client, or whether you are one of the 33% of the world’s population suffering from loneliness, you can transform your life faster than you had ever believed possible.
It all begins with iMA.
How many stressful work situations can you relieve?
How many Yom Tov or Seder table arguments can you eliminate?
How many broiguses can you fix?
How many marriages can you help to save?
How much goodwill would you engender as a result, and how might that translate into increased membership and more donations?
If this resonates with you, I look forward to speaking to you soon.
Just book an appointment using the Calendly link below:
