I always enjoy the Forward's list of Most Inspiring Rabbis.

I like that the focus is not on fame, but on inspiring others. In-spiring: infusing people with spirit, connecting people with God. That's a metric I admire. Each year when the Most Inspiring Rabbis list comes out I read it avidly, kvelling for friends and colleagues when I see their names there, and resolving to try to meet those on the list whom I do not yet know. 

I'm humbled to be able to say that this year I am on that list. This year there are 32 people on the list, out of some 350 nominations. (I'm not sure why 32, though the Hebrew number לב -- when read as a word instead of as numbers -- reads "heart." I'd like to think this reflects the fact that as a group, we have a lot of heart.)

I'm in amazing company, with some of my ALEPH / Jewish Renewal hevre (friends), and with some of my Rabbis Without Borders hevre, and with others whom I have long admired.  Here's this year's list: Most Inspiring Rabbis 2016. Mazal tov to everyone on the list, and deep gratitude to those who nominated me!