Shared Spiritual Leadership in a Reform Synagogue Setting: a Single Instrumental Case Study
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1 SHARED SPIRITUAL LEADERSHIP IN A REFORM SYNAGOGUE SETTING: A SINGLE INSTRUMENTAL CASE STUDY A thesis presented by Lisa S. Eiduson The College of Professional Studies In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education Dr. Elisabeth E. Bennett, PhD Northeastern University Boston, Massachusetts March 21, 2019 2 © 2019 Lisa S. Eiduson All Rights Reserved 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are so many people who have helped to shape me and, by extension, this research: Thank you to Community Synagogue, the site at which this study was conducted. I am so appreciative to the rabbi, professional staff, and leadership of Community Synagogue for opening the doors of your wonderful congregation so graciously so that I could conduct the research for this dissertation. I could never adequately thank everyone enough for making sure I felt at home during every minute of my visits and for encouraging me along the way. Thank you also to the two Boston-based congregations that I served while pursuing the doctoral program at Northeastern University. I am so fortunate that both Temple Beth Avodah and Congregation B’nai Torah appreciated the significance of this course of study to me and that they continually found occasions to express and demonstrate their support of and excitement for this academic endeavor from its beginning through its conclusion and beyond. I am grateful for the many extraordinary mentors, professors, rabbis, teachers and guides I have had who taught me the difference between knowledge and wisdom, who demonstrated the connections between practice, perseverance and perfection, and who modeled how to live one’s lessons as well as learn and teach them. I am thankful for each one of the students I have had the opportunity to work with over the years, from preschoolers to graduate students and beyond. Truly, “the world is sustained by the breath of schoolchildren” (The Talmud, Shabbat 119b), and for me, the classroom is my sanctuary. I realize that I stand on the shoulders of those who came before me, and that my own upbringing offered me full and complete access to any educational opportunity that I could imagine. My grandparents on both sides of the family loved books and put them into my hands and the hands of my sister early and often. They taught our parents, my sister, and me to be 4 proud American Jews, and they lived out the stories and values of Reform Judaism, told in these pages, in their homes, synagogue and families. My parents and sister have long supported me in my endless desire to ask questions, learn, and experiment with big ideas. A half-century later, they are still cheering me on with sincerity and vigor. In Judaism, teachers and parents are of equal significance. I am fortunate to have had an outstanding group of professors who accompanied me on my journey through Northeastern University and this doctoral dissertation. Dr. Gary Zola, of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati, who served as my “outside reader,” is anything but an outsider in my life. What a gift that Dr. Zola was able and willing to serve on my doctoral defense committee, and how meaningful it is to know that one of the great American Jewish historians of our time and all time had a hand in my research and writing. Dr. Elizabeth Mahler was my first professor in the doctoral program at Northeastern University. Through her course, Introduction to Doctoral Studies, Dr. Mahler taught me about the rigors as well as the joys of doctoral work. Her positivity, wise and insightful critique, and kind words added sweetness and meaning along the way. Finally, I was supremely blessed to work with Dr. Elisabeth Bennett as my doctoral advisor and dissertation committee chair. Having been a student in a few of her classes, I had hoped to have the opportunity to work under Dr. Bennett’s guidance for my dissertation. I could not have asked for a more brilliant, kind, creative, and patient mentor. She always seemed to know when to push me and when to stand by, when I needed the clarity of an explanation and when I just had to figure things out for myself. Dr. Bennett always offered me the perfect balance of words and silences and believed in me during those moments when I ran short of belief in myself. 5 This dissertation has been like a member of our family. It has traveled extensively, been the topic of many dinner table conversations, has permitted me to participate in some opportunities and has caused me to miss out on others. Despite the many twists and turns of this experience, I could always rely on my husband, Joe, and our two daughters, Rosie and Carly, to remind me that the journey was worthwhile and that they would be there for me throughout the process. They have more than lived up to their promises. I began the doctoral program when Rosie and Carly were still in high school and I am completing it as they are receiving their own college and graduate degrees. They were instrumental in keeping me focused, in telling me when it was time to stop working and go to sleep, in reading and editing and, and in always being interested enough to inquire as to my progress without imposing any judgments. Finally, I am indebted to my husband, partner, colleague and best friend, Joe. Joe thinks about our almost thirty-year marriage and tells people that he has spent a good part of our lives “looking at Lisa’s back” as I worked on any one of several academic or professional projects. The truth is that Joe has been at least as enthusiastic about this dissertation and my emerging identity as a scholar-practitioner as I have been. I am so fortunate to have a life-partner who not only understands shared spiritual leadership, but who practices it at home, at the synagogue, and wherever he is. 6 Abstract This instrumental, qualitative case study was conducted to investigate the sharing of spiritual leadership by a rabbi and his professional staff team. The research took place in a mid-size Reform synagogue. The study was guided by two conceptual frameworks: (a) the spiritual leadership theory of Ashmos and Duchon’s (2000), and (b) the shared leadership model of Carson, Tesluk, and Marrone (2007). These frameworks enabled the researcher to examine spiritual and shared leadership both as individual phenomena and as they intersected. Three research questions guided this study: 1. How is spiritual leadership shared in the synagogue? 2. What elements of spiritual leadership belong exclusively to the role of the rabbi? 3. How does shared spiritual leadership influence the growth and development of this synagogue? Selected through purposeful sampling, the eight subjects were members of the synagogue’s clergy and professional team. Data collection included interviews, focus groups, observations, and document reviews. Data analysis took place throughout the data collection process and continued through the conclusion of the study. Field notes, member-checking, and audit trails added to the rigor of the study, ensured authenticity and increased the credibility of findings. Data were analyzed through open, in vivo, and axial coding. Constant comparison, inductive analysis, analytic memo-writing, and triangulation of results were used to reduce and refine themes. Nine themes emerged that led to four conclusions (abbreviated here): (a) Horizontal and vertical leadership styles were evident in shared spiritual leadership; (b) The leadership style and personality of the rabbi was significant in determining how he shared spiritual leadership; (c) Shared leadership was dependent on the composition and interactions of the team members; and (d) Shared spiritual leadership was a process that included a dimension of the sacred. Keywords: rabbis, shared leadership, distributed leadership, clergy teams, spiritual leadership 7 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..........................................................................................................3 ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................................6 LIST OF TABLES .......................................................................................................................10 LIST OF FIGURES .....................................................................................................................10 CHAPTER ONE: STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM ..........................................................11 Introduction .................................................................................................................................11 The Reform Movement in Judaism.............................................................................................19 The Selection of the Synagogue Site ..........................................................................................24 Conceptual Framework ...............................................................................................................27 Spiritual Leadership Theory .................................................................................................28 Shared Leadership Theory ....................................................................................................30 Problem Statement ......................................................................................................................36 Research Purpose and Research Questions .................................................................................38 Significance of the Study ............................................................................................................38