At Lippman Kanfer Foundation for Living Torah, we believe that Jewish Wisdom can help people thrive and contribute to shaping a better world. That’s why we’re focused on exploring new ways to make this wisdom more accessible, engaging, and applicable to everyday life.
To that end, we are focused at present on two initiatives: developing powerful and accessible Jewish Wisdom content and experimenting with Small Groups as a transformative way to encounter Jewish Wisdom.
Our Small Groups Lab initiative focuses on experimenting with lay-led, regularly meeting Small Groups centered on Jewish Wisdom.
The initiative draws inspiration from one of the most profound organizational insights in the Torah: Jethro’s advice to Moses in Exodus 18. After observing Moses struggling to serve the entire community alone, Jethro counsels dividing the people into groups of ten as a fundamental building block of community. This counsel is particularly valuable in our time, as it was in the time of the story, when the Jewish people are experiencing a “wilderness period” of upheaval and change.
Small groups have been important throughout Jewish history — from the early Rabbis who instituted the minyan (groups of ten for prayer), to Kabbalists and Hasids who studied mysticism in intimate circles, to the Havurah Movement that transformed American Jewish life in the 1960s and 1970s.
We hypothesize that the Jewish Wisdom of Small Groups is vitally important today, and we are testing this hypothesis through a combination of research, experimentation, and analysis. We are not alone in this hunch, having noticed Small Groups bubbling up both in Jewish contexts and in American society more broadly.
There’s something special about the Small Group dynamic that makes it uniquely powerful for encountering and living Jewish Wisdom. It’s not just the inherent magic found in the closeness and familiarity of Small Groups (though that matters). It’s that Jewish Wisdom was always designed for intimate communities.
There’s something special about the Small Group dynamic that makes it uniquely powerful for encountering and living Jewish Wisdom.
Jewish Wisdom thrives in intimate spaces — where people can wrestle with big questions together, support each other through challenges, experience joy and spiritual connection, and discover how anciently rooted wisdom illuminates modern lives.
Furthermore, we have a sense that this moment in America is particularly ripe for the next evolution of Small Groups. After extensive research exploring community needs, and because of the potential for Small Groups centered on Jewish Wisdom to create meaningful change, we have launched an initiative aimed at testing the power of Small Groups, understanding what kinds of leadership and experiences make being part of a Small Group valuable, and what kind of infrastructure is needed to allow a Jewish-Wisdom-centered Small Groups ecosystem to flourish.
If this hypothesis is right, we see Small Groups as one thread in a wide tapestry of Jewish organizations and experiences, including synagogues, families, study partnerships (chevrutot), and solo exploration through books, podcasts, videos, and other media.
“You shall also seek out, from among all the people, capable individuals who fear God—trustworthy ones who spurn ill-gotten gain. Set these over them as chiefs of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens”
Exodus 18:21
More Details
Click on each heading to learn more!
Why Jewish Wisdom?
Because Jewish Wisdom is a blueprint for living well.
Over thousands of years, Jewish civilization developed a vision of flourishing—for individuals, families, communities, and the world. Jewish Wisdom translates this vision into concrete values and daily practices that help us live it out.
These aren’t abstract ideals. They’re lessons learned from real life, tested across generations, refined by millennia of human experience.
Individual insights of Jewish wisdom are valuable on their own. But the real power emerges when these pieces come together—creating something greater than the sum of its parts, with the potential to transform lives and communities in profound ways.
This wisdom shouldn’t be closely held (it’s not only for those born to Jewish parents). It’s more powerful when shared, and it’s meant for everyone who wants to live with greater purpose and connection.
Why lay led?
Because wisdom belongs to everyone. When people think that only a rabbi or professional educator can unlock Jewish Wisdom, they engage with it less often, they viewit as something outside themselves rather than part of their daily lives, and they remain a step removed from truly internalizing it and making it their own.
Because we can reach MANY more people. Small Groups create a pathway to massive scale—potentially meeting millions of people where they are in ways that traditional institutions simply can’t match. The math is straightforward: there aren’t enough rabbis and Jewish professionals in the world to lead a small group for every Jew who wants to be in one, even if that’s all they did.
Because it’s sustainable. Even if we had unlimited professionals, the costs would be prohibitive—both for groups themselves and for philanthropic funding.
Professionals still play vital roles. In a world of Small Groups, professionals empower, train, and coach lay people to serve as group leaders. They create compelling content. They connect Small Groups to larger institutions like synagogues (which will grow stronger!). A thriving Small Groups ecosystem could be a major contribution to the Jewish professional pipeline challenge—the most successful and enthusiastic group leaders might seek to become rabbis or to serve in other professional leadership roles in the community; these professionals would have proven track records of engaging Jews in meaningful Jewish experiences and expression. At the same time, having many empowered volunteer leaders would reduce professional burnout by sharing the load, just as Jethro explains to Moses in the Torah.
Why regularly meeting?
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Because consistency creates community. Research shows that groups meeting less than monthly don’t feel like real communities—people feel less accountable to show up and less likely to carry insights into their daily lives.
But when groups establish regular rhythms, they hit “escape velocity”—like book clubs that last for decades, they just keep going.
Regular meetings turn Jewish Wisdom from an occasional experience into a life-changing habit.
Why Small Groups? How small?
Because Small Groups meet deep human needs. Being part of an intimate community means less loneliness and more people looking out for you. It’s also a chance to give to others—which research shows increases our sense of purpose and meaning.
Small Groups make wisdom both personal and practical. Everyone encounters Jewish wisdom at a level of intimacy that makes real application possible. People practice together — whether through study, ritual, conversation, prayer, meditation, movement, singing, or acts of repair in the world — while holding each other accountable and amplifying each other’s impact on their lives and communities.
We crave intimacy—with people and with ideas. While some find closeness to others in larger organizations, many don’t. Small Groups fill that essential gap.
From Jethro’s wisdom about the power of groups of ten, the minyan (a group of ten for prayer) was conceived. We believe that’s still about the right number of people to make a small group work, give or take a few on either end (8-15 people).
Our Strategic Approach
Experiment with Partners, Learn, Share
Each partner organization we work with co-creates an experiment with us that includes a learning system for iteration, adaptation, and sharing.
When it comes to our learning approach, we draw from Jewish Wisdom. The book of Numbers opens with a census—the counting of every individual in the community—and many commentaries remark that this act is a lesson to us about the significance of every single individual. The central principle of our learning system derives from this insight: we believe that every person counts—literally. We therefore track real impact on participants to measure individual and communal transformation.
We will also share our insights broadly. Check back here for updates over the next year.
Please note that Lippman Kanfer Foundation for Living Torah will be making very few, if any, new Small Groups grants in 2026 and will not be holding an open RFP process. However, we love learning about aligned programs and building relationships. If you think your program may be a fit, we welcome you to take our eligibility quiz. If eligible, you’ll be directed to fill out an intake form. Please note that due to high volumes of inquiries, it will take us some time to respond. We’ll do our best to reply; thanks in advance for your patience.
Questions?
Reach out to smallgroups@lippmankanfer.org. Please note that due to high volumes of inquiries, it will take us some time to respond. We’ll do our best to reply; thanks in advance for your patience. If you have a program idea, see above for the process of getting in touch.
