Rutgers Rabbi Joins Jewish Outreach Organization

Big Tent Judaism/Jewish Outreach Institute (www.JOI.org) is delighted to announce that Rabbi Heath Watenmaker of Rutgers University Hillel, has become a Big Tent Judaism Professional Affiliate. 

Having completed an orientation training, Rabbi Watenmaker will help open the tent of the Rutgers Jewish community through innovative outreach and engagement programming, including Public Space JudaismSM programs that take Jewish community outside the four walls of institutions and out to where people are in public secular spaces, such as “Passover in the Matzah Aisle” and “Hands on Hanukkah” in shopping malls. 

At any given time, the majority of Jewish households are not engaging with the organized Jewish community, and Big Tent Judaism Professional Affiliates seek to demonstrate to the unaffiliated the meaning and value in participation.

Rabbi Watenmaker is the Reform Outreach Initiative Rabbi at Rutgers University Hillel. In this capacity, he oversees a cadre of student peer engagement interns and works closely with building and strengthening the Rutgers Reform community. 

Rabbi Watenmaker was born and raised in Southern California (the San Fernando Valley) and attended the University of Southern California (USC) where he received a BA in English. Prior to rabbinical school at the Reform seminary, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR), Heath earned a Masters in Social Work at USC and a Masters in Jewish Communal Service from HUC. Heath lives in South Bound Brook, NJ with his wife, Amy, and their 2 year old son.

The Big Tent Judaism Professional Affiliates program, which began in the Spring of 2012, is a training series and collaborative network for Jewish communal professionals who want to "expand the tent" of the organized Jewish community by reaching and serving less-engaged Jews including unaffiliated intermarried families. The program provides free, exclusive education on proven outreach best practices; one-on-one coaching; peer support; program implementation guidance; and program evaluation assistance. 

The program works to achieve measurable impact by tracking agreed-upon numeric benchmarks with each Professional Affiliate, working with them to not just find the less-engaged in their communities, but to create lasting relationships that lead to deeper engagement. Additionally, JOI is beginning its Big Tent Judaism Initiative in Middlesex County, working with Jewish communal professionals such as Rabbi Watenmaker, as well as community lay leaders, to open the tent of the Middlesex County Jewish community.

Rabbi Kerry M. Olitzky, Executive Director of Big Tent Judaism/Jewish Outreach Institute, looks forward to the expansion of the program, as JOI surpasses 130 Professional Affiliates. “We are equipping these communal professionals on the front line with the best of best outreach practices. They are key to the future growth of the community and we are proud to have them on our team.”

Rabbi Watenmaker began his Big Tent Judaism Professional Affiliates training in late January, and will work with local professionals, as well as staff and lay leadership at Rutgers University Hillel to implement Public Space Judaism programs throughout 2013 and create relationships with newcomers to the community to foster future engagement. 

-Big Tent Judaism/Jewish Outreach Institute