A solo pulpit rabbi in a suburban setting, Rabbi Mark Kaiserman sometimes misses the creative flow of working with colleagues. "I'm always looking for new approaches, but you're limited to creative innovations that come your way," he said.

Still, after 10 years in the field, he feels he has realized his vision — to make Judaism accessible to all people — to some extent. "Too many groups and demographics are pushed to the fringes and margins. Our job is to make everyone feel welcomed and have a place in Judaism," he said. But he hasn't realized the vision "as fully as I would want. It's just a victim to the realities of time and money and other pressures."

Enter STAR Rabbis. Kaiserman, 37, religious leader of Temple Emanu-El of West Essex, a Reform congregation in Livingston, was selected to participate in the second cohort of the new initiative of the Minnesota-based STAR — Synagogue Transformation and Renewal.

STAR Rabbis: From Good to Great is a one-year program designed for rabbis who have at least 10 years of experience and have a track record but need to reenergize.

"This is for people doing good work but who are hungry and who want to do better," said STAR executive director Rabbi Hayim Herring.

With the opening retreat of the year scheduled for the weekend of June 1, From Good to Great enters its second year. The project, funded by the Lasko Family Foundation, consists of two retreats — one launching the year and one at its close — on-line conference calls with faculty and colleagues, and up to four coaching phone calls through the year.

"It is not a 911 for rabbis in crisis," said Herring. "During the first decade, a rabbi's vision can be worn down by important but mundane parts of congregational life, by politics and life-cycle events. This is for people who still conceive of a congregation as a place where they could, in partnership with lay people, change Jewish lives, change the synagogue community, and make a greater impact.

"From Good to Great will help them reconnect with what called them to congregational life in the first place."

Kaiserman has been with Temple Emanu-El for three years, and he hopes his participation will push his rabbinate to the next level.

"I'm at a transition point in my life," he said, having just signed a five-year contract with the temple. "That means I'm going to stay here, and I want to do things here — to build toward things. And I want to keep the excitement and the freshness and the newness going."

Among the 17 rabbis in the first cohort was Rabbi John Schechter of Congregation B'nai Israel in Basking Ridge.

He spoke glowingly about his experience. "I thought this program offered tremendous benefits to me as a pulpit rabbi who, having been in congregational life for over 15 years, needed both guidance, readings, and advice about how better to understand my role and articulate my vision."

He found using organizational models from the business world particularly useful, since many of his congregants come from the corporate world. Mostly, Schechter pointed out, none of the rabbinical associations offer the kind of continuing education courses required in other professions, and, he said, he hoped they would take note. "If you work in a supportive and honest environment, and you realize as a rabbi and a board that you are doing your tasks pretty well, there is no framework, language, or plan for how to do better. I saw STAR as a good try."

He was thrilled with the spectrum of rabbis, culled from Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist synagogues, but acknowledged his disappointment that no Orthodox rabbis had participated. "There are few places where issues are not theological or halachic but practical," he said, pointing out that this project was just such a venue.

This year, Kaiserman was chosen from a pool of 25 applicants; Herring expects the numbers to increase as the word gets out, which is what happened with STAR's previous programs.

From Good to Great takes its title from the self-help business book Good to Great by Jim Collins. Herring happened to have read the book shortly before the Philadelphia-based Lasko family approached him with their idea. Collins' book focuses on qualities of leadership that distinguish 11 "great" companies from their merely "good" competitors.

Having spent the earlier years of his career at a large synagogue in Dallas with multiple rabbis, Kaiserman said he is looking forward to interaction with rabbinic colleagues, especially from across the denominational spectrum, as well as learning from the scholars who will present throughout the year. (This year, one Orthodox rabbi is participating.) He also has a specific goal: to gain guidance on how best to work in the larger community without losing his way.

"There is an allure of community work. But you can get caught in it if you're not doing the work that really matters to you," he said. "You can't do everything. The trick is finding the right opportunities at the right times."

Mostly, though, he's seeking an opportunity "to learn and exchange, and then take risks to try new things that maybe I haven't tried before."

That's exactly what Herring wants to happen. Realistic about what can be accomplished in a single year, he still has high hopes.

"We don't want rabbis to just continue to do an excellent job, but to stretch further to get more Jews in and show that congregations can respond in a timely fashion to pressing issues," said Herring. "If we can start people down the path of making changes that have a ripple effect beyond their regular attendees, then over the next few years, we can expect to see wonderful things."