An Alternative Minyan with a Twist

Rabbi Bruce Dollin 0 Comments

Over the course of the past year, our traditional Conservative congregation created a second Shabbat morning service we call Shir Hadash that meets every shabbat of the year, which includes spirited congregational singing led by a team of singers and accompanied by drums.  The service is not unlike what one might find at new congregations like Romemu in New York or IKAR in Los Angeles.  What is different here is that Shir Hadash was created and thrives in a traditional synagogue of 940 families with an 85-year history. When I came to Denver in 1994, Hebrew Educational Alliance was a declining Orthodox congregation of 300 families located on the west side of Denver.  The Jewish community had long since moved across town.   We quickly set […]

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Taking Prayer Seriously

Rabbi Laura Geller 0 Comments

I didn’t set out to transform our synagogue by creating an alternative Shabbat morning minyan.  I only wanted a place to pray. I knew that the ultimate measure of the success of my congregational rabbinate would be if I could pray in my own synagogue. When I came to Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills in 1994, it was a congregation in distress. It was close to $5,000,000 in debt, the previous senior rabbi had left, tension between the day school and the synagogue was toxic, and it was about to be acquired by another major congregation in what was called a merger. The Board of Directors of both synagogues favored the merger, as did the rabbis, including the emeritus rabbi of Emanuel who was called […]

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Vision and Change in a Conservative Synagogue

Rabbi Gil Steinlauf , , 0 Comments

When I first got to my synagogue six years ago, it was on its way to becoming an anachronism.  In many ways, it was advanced in that it had sophisticated programs and multiple minyanim.  Many members felt, however, that the clergy-led services were too formal and even passionless.  The members of the non-clergy-led minyanim felt “tolerated” but frowned upon by the synagogue leadership.  The lay-staff relationships were limited.  The various elements of the synagogue–the different age cohorts, the religious school community, the gan community, the older generations – these and many more were in silos.   The professional staff had very little sense that they were a team. Furthermore, at 150-years-old, it was the solid establishment synagogue of Washington. Its very prestige and history were weighing it down.  For some, it […]

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A Synagogue Stimulus Plan

Rabbi Sid Schwarz 0 Comments

At the recent national convention of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, Rabbi Ed Feinstein was reported to have said, “The house is on fire,” as a way to signal to Conservative congregations that the hour is too late for synagogues to think about modest changes in the way they do their business. Since the 2000 publication of my book, Finding a Spiritual Home: How a New Generation of Jews can Transform the American Synagogue, I have worked with many congregations and rabbis across the denominational spectrum about strategies to move their institutions from the current paradigm — the synagogue-center — to a new paradigm, the synagogue-community, which is far better suited to address the changing reality of American life and the next generation of American […]

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