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Is Your Synagogue Complacent?

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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 Jewish version of what we get elsewhere. I want to be challenged. I want to learn. I want to be made to feel a part of something ONLY if I work at it. The problem isn’t why 20s or 30s aren’t joining congregations; the problem is the lack of substance, content and meaning in our congregations that results in Reform Jews of all ages staying out of congregational life.

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  1. Wonderful message! You may not want to hear this but consider it for a moment – try an Orthodox Rabbi or an Orthodox Yeshiva this year. You are 100% right when you say: “I want to be challenged. I want to learn. I want to be made to feel a part of something ONLY if I work at it.” I do not think you will find a real answer anywhere but in our heritage – given at Sinai and as relevant today as it was over 3500 years ago. Look into your roots you may be pleasantly surprised at what you find here. Shana Tova u’metuka!

  2. Substance is the key word! People today are not fooled by frivoloty. The best way to insure membership is to make membership meaningful – and that’s by creating a culture of learning. Once young people recognize the value of Jewish studies and learning texts, its intricacies and excitement, they become participants and members in the Jewish community. It’s all about quality learning!

  3. It is true that synagogues need to offer substance. But a lot also depends on the congregants. They need to come to synagogue seeking substance and prepared to respond to it. Not “make me repent”, but “come prepared to repent.”