How Free Ice Water can Save your Synagogue

Rabbi Michael Knopf 0 Comments

Much is being written these days about the attempt to rejuvenate struggling North American synagogues. I want to add my voice to the conversation by offering a transformative model that, I am sure, no one considered. That’s because not only does the model come from outside the religious world, it is also tucked away in a place no one would think to look: in a small South Dakota town called Wall. Wall, South Dakota is home to Wall Drug, a unique store that features everything from buffalo burgers to nickel coffee, the world’s largest jackalope, a Singing Cowboy Orchestra and a wall of news clippings about people standing at the wall of clippings reading about people standing at the wall. But more than this, Wall […]

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Theory of Change and Synagogue Innovation

Josh Fixler 0 Comments

Over the past few decades, many synagogues have worked hard to define their unique and compelling mission. Others have created vision statements of bold directions for their communities. These statements come from a self-reflective process of strategic planning and community conversation. But something is missing. We have a “what.” We lack a “why” and a “how.” We live in an age when the purpose of the synagogue is not self-evident. Baby Boomers and the generations that follow demonstrate daily that they will not join congregations unless they feel a compelling reason to do so. If we are going to attract these skeptics, we need a much more solid understanding of what synagogues are and how they work on the world. As part of this effort, […]

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Here I Show Up, Across Political Divisions

Rabbi Susan Talve 0 Comments

This article first appeared in Sh’ma Now‘s issue on “Hineni” – The complexities of being fully present (September, 2016). A local Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) organizer, Faizan Sayed, invited me recently to attend and speak at a rally to welcome Syrian refugees. Faizan invited me, a pulpit rabbi in St. Louis, knowing I believe that Israel has the right to exist — though I’m critical of Israel’s occupation and treatment of Palestinians. He invited me though we both know that the more radical pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel activists would attend the rally and would likely protest my presence. Last year, I was targeted as a hypocrite for not supporting the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign while I stood in the streets of Ferguson fighting for the […]

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All Theology is Autobiography: Reflections on Forty Years in the Rabbinate

Rabbi Laura Geller 4 Comments

Forty is a powerful number. The Torah tells the story that it rained and rained for forty days. Moses was up on Mount Sinai alone for forty days. There are forty weeks of gestation. A mikveh has forty se’ah of water. Our ancestors wandered in the wilderness for forty years, and just as the wandering ended Moses told them: “God has not given you a heart to know, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, until this day” (Deut. 29:3–4). Forty suggests renewal, clarity, rebirth, the conclusion of one phase of a journey and the beginning of the next. And if you are lucky, after forty years you have a heart to know, eyes to see, and ears to hear. I was ordained forty […]

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Jewish Life and the End of the World

Rabbi David Segal 0 Comments

I don’t want to fight anymore. Judaism has a lot to offer the world, so why does it always have to feel like a fight? A fight for continuity, for identity. A fight against the baggage of Hebrew school or the trauma of a forced bar mitzvah. A fight against anti-semitism, against apathy, against the Holocaust happening again. A fight for members, for attention, for market share. I’ve come to feel that much of the work I should be doing as a rabbi is actually undoing.  How many times do I see a non-Jewish wife who drives the family’s Hebrew School and Shabbat participation over the objections of a reluctantly Jewish father? I don’t want to fight. I want to invite. The Biblical story of […]

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The Revitalization of Shabbat Services

Rabbi Michael Ragozin 0 Comments

In July 2015 I was blessed to be appointed the new rabbi at Congregation Shirat Hayam of the North Shore (outside Boston, MA). The decisive factor in accepting this position was the testimonies I heard during Shabbat kiddush luncheon. I came to Shirat Hayam for a bat mitzvah seven years ago. I hadn’t belonged to a synagogue in years, but after the service I turned to my wife and said: “we have to come back next week.” I’ve been coming ever since. Now when I’m away from Shirat for Shabbat, I miss it. When my children were young, we belonged to a synagogue, because we wanted them to receive a Jewish education. It [being in shul] wasn’t [meaningful] for us [the parents].   A few months […]

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Re-Inventing Synagogues: From Within

Rabbi Paul Kipnes 1 Comment

Jewish pundits love to predict the eventual demise of the synagogue, decrying its dearth of deep ideas, shortage of spiritual inspiration, and absence of warmth and meaning. They say that Jews and Jewish families are opting instead for DIY Judaism, where one can rent-a-rabbi to “do it yourself,” or to start their own shuls, unencumbered by the trappings of traditional synagogue sloth. True, there are plenty of temples stuck in the 1970’s, whose music, methods and message seem to ignore that fact that the world and its spiritual seekers have changed. But contrary to these doomsday scenarios or the radical embrace of only newly birthed synagogues-without-walls, synagogue life is alive and well. Innovation is not the exclusive province of entrepreneurs. Across the country, a handful […]

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A Jewish Congregation Tackles Racism

Rabbi Ellen Lippmann 0 Comments

Four and a half years ago we at Kolot Chayeinu/Voices of Our Lives, a progressive independent Jewish congregation in Brooklyn, NY, decided to begin some deep, internal work about racism. We were determined to keep our goals internally focused. We knew we had a lot of work to do on our own attitudes. It has been amazing to see this work develop over the same years during which American racism in action has caught the attention of the media and the public. Each time a young Black man or woman is killed with impunity by a police officer, too often on camera, we white Jews realize again how ingrained our own racism is. As we have done the work —meeting every month in a group […]

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What Jewish College Students Can Learn from Their Hometown Congregations

Ethan Sobel 0 Comments

Antiquated, stuffy, boring, archaic and tranquil. Those might be the terms millennial Jewish college students would use to describe the synagogues where they grew up. Whether coming from a Reform, Conservative, Reconstructionist, Renewal, Orthodox or other background, it rarely seems “cool” to reminisce about going to Sunday Hebrew classes, attending Shabbat services or joining the local Jewish youth group as the highlight of your Jewish upbringing. At Hillels across the country, the chatter focuses on politics, romantic prospects or the in-crowd. But what if the 18-21 year olds were wrong – what if their childhood Jewish experiences did add value to their lives, offering lessons that they will never embrace or even understand? This Simchat Torah, I found myself, a 25-year-old young Jewish professional, visiting home. […]

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The Art of Prayer- V’ani Teflilati- I Will Become My Prayer

Rabbi Shawn Zevit 0 Comments

“Prayer can be electric and alive. Prayer can touch the soul, burst forth a creative celebration of the spirit, and open deep wells of gratitude, longing and praise. Prayer can connect us to our Living Source and to each other, enfolding us in love and praise, wonder and gratitude, awe and thankfulness.  Jewish prayer in its essence is soul dialogue and calls us into relationship within and beyond. Through the power of ancient and modern words and melodies, we venture into realms of deep emotion and find longing, sorrow, hope, wholeness, connection and peace. When guided by skilled leaders of prayer and ritual, our complacency is challenged, we can break through outworn assumptions about God and ourselves, and emerge refreshed and inspired to meet the challenges our lives […]

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