by Jackie Menter We Jews are a picky people. If we don’t find what we are looking for, or don’t like what we find, we either get up and leave, complain vociferously, or do it ourselves. This persnickety character trait explains why the alphabet soup of Jewish organizations is so numerous, with many of them seemingly redundant. Also, it reveals why within Judaism there is a full panorama of religious movements to chose from; Orthodox, Ultra Orthodox, Modern Orthodox, Reform, Conservative, Reconstructionist, and the list continues evolving. When I was at Brandeis there were no less than two Conservative Shabbat services to chose from: Traditional Conservative and Egalitarian Conservative. Guess which one I chose. The Jewish quality of knowing what you want and figuring out how to make it … Continue Reading
Please Welcome Me at Services Thursday Morning
Please Welcome Me at Services Thursday Morning .... A Plea For All the New Faces at Your Synagogue As a communicator, I like to observe how strangers successfully find their way into a social situation or, sadly fail to make an initial connection that held the potential promise for real friendship. As we approach the High Holidays, I am reminded of how great an opportunity we have during the holidays to meet the stranger and offer ourselves as connectors and introducers to our Jewish community. This week we will come together to pray, to welcome the new year, remember all that has transpired over the past one and hopefully spend a few moments greeting one and other with love, kindness and a hearty L'Shana Tova. If you are a synagogue leader, or simply an active and engaged member of your … Continue Reading
Marketing Rosh Hashana
This season is a time of reflection, self-assessment, and new beginnings for Jews the world over. To synagogues it can mean something much more practical: an unmatched opportunity for attracting new members and new revenue. That’s why synagogues fill pages of Jewish newspapers with advertisements at this time of year as they compete for worshippers and their dollars. A fight in Boca Raton, Florida, shows just how high the stakes can be. For the first time the Levis Jewish Community Center is offering High Holiday services this year, and synagogue rabbis are reportedly “enraged.” One calls the JCC’s move “a usurpation and invasion of the synagogues here.” He protests, “This is what we do. They have stepped over the line and are acting as a synagogue.” In other words, he … Continue Reading
Is Your Synagogue Complacent?
from RJ.org blog: Congregational Life ... The issue at hand is the possibility of not providing anything of meaning in our congregations. So I guess this is a challenge that must go back to our leaders. Stop trying to tweet to us. I don't need to be your friend on Facebook and the "turn off your cell phone" jokes at the beginning of services were never funny. Teach me something. Make me think. Make me repent. Don't play to our collective weaknesses, play to our strengths and make us stronger. Then I will come back to your services and even read your blog. But first, be my rabbi, cantor or teacher. For there to be meaning there must be substance. My generation has grown up in a time of instant information and somewhat lackluster content. Our religious experience should be more than just a … Continue Reading
America’s Influential Women Rabbis
The 'Stained Glass Ceiling' and The Sisterhood 50 an editorial from The Forward The “stained glass ceiling” is such a common condition that it has its own Wikipedia page. It refers to the barriers placed before women who strive to become leaders in their churches - barriers that are both overt (no Catholic women need apply) and more subtle. The metaphor doesn’t quite fit the Jewish world, but the condition does, particularly because women are largely absent from professional communal leadership even as they have made great strides in the broader American society. Consider: Should Elena Kagan be confirmed, there will be more Jewish women on the U.S. Supreme Court than have led any of the 18 major Jewish community federations. Ever. In that context, it’s not surprising that when … Continue Reading
Shifting Paradigms in Synagogues
This week marks the 200th anniversary of a foundational event in Reform Judaism, the dedication of a Temple in Seesen, Germany. With the aim of reconciling Jewish tradition with modernity, it embraced a different aesthetic and modeled a new practice for Jewish worship. Today’s non-Orthodox synagogues face a different challenge - not to adapt their ideology to the present day, but rather to transform their institutions. The Jews of twentieth-century America celebrated their achievements partly by erecting magnificent buildings that conveyed the solidity and success of the communities they served. The staff and operations of the synagogues, which often became correspondingly large, were supported mostly by member dues. Although synagogue attendance may not have been frequent, members paid … Continue Reading
Update: Young Israel’s Female Problem
As an update to a story we posted last week, representatives of 18 Young Israel synagogues are trying to make their national organization ‘more transparent, accountable and responsive.’ from The Jewish Week: Disaffected Synagogue Leaders Push For Change In Young Israel A group of disaffected leaders of 18 Young Israel synagogues has begun soliciting support for constitutional changes that they say would make the National Council of Young Israel “more transparent, accountable and responsive to member branches.” The action came in the wake of a June 24 conference call meeting of representatives from Young Israel’s 150 member synagogues. An item originally on the agenda - to expel a Syracuse synagogue for refusing to pay dues and electing a woman president - was withdrawn … Continue Reading
Don’t Worry, Be Breslov
Don't Worry, Be Breslov: Signs Point Young Jews to the Na-Nachs by Shifra Mincer In a post-modern, post-Nietzschian world where God, apparently, has supposedly been dead for decades, many young American Jews have not given up on spirituality or the hope of finding that elusive sense of “meaning,” a connection to something larger than themselves. In recent decades, increasing numbers of young Jews are finding that sought-after spark in the writings and communities of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov. He has acted as a symbol of meaning, driving them to make personal decisions that can change their lives. Violet Gurian is a former punk rocker with pale skin, bright red lipstick, and jetblack hair, cut straight with bangs. From a secular Jewish background, she first explored her Jewish identity in … Continue Reading
Rules of Engagement: How Heroes Show Us The Way
by Ezra S. Shanken Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, “A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is braver five minutes longer.” How can we relate to those historical figures who hold a place in our Jewish life, having been braver for five minutes longer? Are they a tool to be used by our teachers, or reminders of our own ability reach farther, do more, and make a real difference in the world? We turn to three young rabbis from different streams of Judaism for their thoughts. Rabbi Ethan Tucker (Independent) is Rosh Yeshiva of Mechon Hadar and Chair in Jewish Law. He was ordained by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and earned a Ph.D in Talmud and Rabbinics from the Jewish Theological Seminary. He was a founder of New York’s Kehilat Hadar. Rabbi Ari Weiss (Modern Orthodox) is Founding … Continue Reading
Young Israel Threatens Synagogue Over Female President
from The Jewish Week: Young Israel Movement In Turmoil Over Upstate Shul In the wake of an unprecedented move by the National Council of Young Israel to expel a member congregation in upstate Syracuse, a rebellion is brewing among some of the Orthodox congregations affiliated with the movement. The planned vote on the expulsion of Shaarei Torah Orthodox Congregation of Syracuse - and possible legal action to seize the synagogue’s assets - was said by the National Council to be over the synagogue’s failure to pay $20,000 in back dues. The National Council withdrew the matter at the last minute to permit time for a negotiated settlement, and cited those talks as the reason for its refusal to discuss the matter with The Jewish Week. ... The Syracuse congregation, however, contends that … Continue Reading
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