Alison Kur

“My career has been grounded in a few basic ideas: learning is like water, we need it to survive; we are better in community than we are alone; evaluation and change help us reach our highest potential; and collaboration is the best tool we have to achieve excellence. My role is to promote relationships built on experiences that facilitate both individual and communal discovery of and engagement in Jewish life. My work is about finding the presence of G-d when we join together to share words of Torah and engage in the actions they teach.”

Since 2011, Alison Kur has been the Executive Director of Jewish Living at Temple Beth Elohim (TBE) in Wellesley, Massachusetts. During her tenure, Alison has re-imagined and re-oriented all levels of community education, doubled student enrollment and dramatically increased adult education participation. In 2006, TBE began the process of building a new synagogue. This became an educational experience, as an architect joined staff members and congregants to study Torah and Jewish conceptions of holiness, nature, and more. “We wanted a building that could be read like a text—we wanted it to facilitate learning. There are stories to be told and interpretations to uncover in the structure of our ark, the tiles on our lobby floor, the design of our hallways and Beit Midrash. This was one of the most meaningful projects of my life.

Alison began her career as an attorney in the public sector. In the midst of her career, she participated in the Wexner Heritage Program. “I entered this program as a young lawyer looking for ways to connect in the Jewish community. I gained a foundation for understanding Jewish history and thought, and was inspired to expand my volunteer efforts and, ultimately to make a career change and become a Jewish educator.”

Alison has worked in the Jewish world since 2002. First, as Program Director of the Leadership Development Institute at Combined Jewish Philanthropies where she launched a leadership development program combining case studies and Jewish texts for synagogue professionals and lay leaders, and then as Director of Congregation Learning at TBE.

Alison earned a B.A. from Brandeis University in 1983, a J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law in 1988, and an M.A. in Jewish Communal Service and Jewish Education from Brandeis University in 2002. She has served in leadership capacities in Jewish organizations across the country such as the Union for Reform Judaism, the Progressive Association of Reform Day Schools (PARDES), and The Rashi School.