Setting Their “Sites” On The Future: A New Shared Campus Collaboration

This case study, authored by Susan Wolf Ditkoff, reveals the behind-the-scenes story of the Hebrew College–Temple Reyim Shared Campus: its roots from the perspective of each partner, its intertwined trunk as the “deal” grafted together (and nearly unraveled), and its budding branches that each partner hoped would grow as new opportunities emerged in the years to come.

The history of this Shared Campus unfolded over four broad phases: Dreaming, Exploring, Aligning, and Launching (conveniently, “DEAL”). In reality, these phases were not quite so linear. But with 20/20 hindsight, the phases of the deal are clear.

Phase I: Dream
When an organization considers any new collaboration or alliance, the goal of the initial Dream phase should be to dream big before homing in on the best path forward. At this stage it is critical to open the aperture and tackle “the Big Why” without getting bogged down in the details of any specific path forward. The Dream phase should cast a wide net and lean into the theme of imagine, imagine, imagine.

Phase II: Explore
Once the Dream phase has identified a high potential option, then what? The goal of the Explore phase is to zoom in from the big dream starting point and ask the clear-eyed, no-kidding questions about what it might really take to bring a collaboration to life. The Explore phase should inform the dream by developing different scenarios and options, and lean into the theme of learn, learn, learn.

Phase III: Align
As the ancient Greek proverb warns, “Many’s the slip ’twixt the cup and the lip.” It’s hard to imagine more sage advice for the Align phase of a collaboration. The goal of the Align phase is to hammer out the niggling, seemingly endless details and land a signed financial and operating agreement. The theme of this phase is negotiate, negotiate, negotiate—the more granular the better.

Phase IV: Launch
Once the deal is signed, the work is far from over; in fact, it’s just beginning. The goal of the Launch phase is to share the new plans with each entity’s constituents, answer questions from the broader public, and generate excitement about the move. The theme of this phase is communicate, communicate, communicate.

Read the case study: Setting Their “Sites” On The Future: A New Shared Campus Collaboration, Susan Wolf Ditkoff, December 2025

Read an op-ed in eJewish Philanthropy on early outcomes of the shared campus by Rabbi Sharon Cohen Anisfeld, president of Hebrew College, Rabbi Dan Berman, senior rabbi of Temple Reyim, Judith Rosenbaum, CEO of the Jewish Women’s Archive, and Jordan Namerow, president of Mayyim Hayyim’s board of directors.