Recently a moving and trailblazing ceremony took place at Barkai marking the successful completion of a course in personal coaching in which every rabbi received a certificate of completion dependent upon the completion of a project in their community.

The initiative to include the area of personal coaching in the Barkai curriculum was Rabbi Fine's and Rabbi Sobol's. They studied the area of coaching and came to the conclusion that the ability to strengthen others and to motivate them to achieve results and progress is most useful for rabbis being that it is part of a rabbi's job to harness the energy of the community in order to progress and to institute new programs. In addition a rabbi serves as a sympathetic ear to many and therefore it is necessary that he has the proven ability of the world of coaching so that he can be attentive and of assistance.

It was decided to turn to the head of the "Tze La'or (Go to the light)" Academy of Coaching in the Spirit of Judaism, Ran Sarid. Sarid, a former successful businessman and the founder of the Jewish cultural network, 'Dabri Shir".. Sarid's course took place over this winter. The rabbis reported acquiring skills that helped them not only in their communal work but in their personal lives as well. The warm personal relationship of Sarid towards the rabbis also contributed to the rabbi's acquisition of coaching and its tools. The moving. Barkai thanks Ran Sarid for developing a unique course for the Barkai rabbis and promises to bring more tools from the world of coaching in order to assist the rabbis in dealing with the challenges of modern times.