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A WILSTEIN/STAR CONFERENCE RE-ENVISIONS In Greek, it means "gathering place." But the synagogue, as a core institution of the American Jewish community, is a gathering place for fewer and fewer Jews, as younger generations question the need for religious authority in a society that prizes autonomy. That phenomenon—evidenced, to cite just one example, by an emerging trend within the Reform Movement that 50 percent of rabbis are avoiding the pulpit when job-seeking—has prompted serious thinkers to reconsider the role of the synagogue, before it becomes an anachronism. Debating the future of the synagogue and its leadership, distinguished rabbis, scholars, researchers and community leaders from across the Jewish denominational spectrum gathered at Hebrew College on November 23–24 for a conference, Re-envisioning the Synagogue, cosponsored by the Wilstein Institute of Jewish Policy Studies and STAR—Synagogues: Transformation and Renewal.
Nowhere is that conflict more pronounced than among faith communities that cling to familiar, established practices, unreceptive to the needs of a growing population of "spiritual seekers," especially within the Baby Boom generation. Citing findings by the Synagogue 2000 initiative, Herring noted, "Laypeople describe synagogues as necessary and doing some things well, but (except for the highly involved synagogue leaders) they find religious services banal and baffling." Even worse, according to the same research, unaffiliated Jews "find the ambiance of synagogues cold and unwelcoming." For Generation Xers in their thirties and the Millennial Generation of twenty-somethings, the traditional, hierarchical synagogue structures, with rabbi as authority and congregant as follower, is even more alienating. With a high priority on serious Jewish study, a universalist worldview and strong independent streak, these younger spiritual seekers expect a much more democratic, diverse and inclusive religious community than they often encounter in an established synagogue. The solution, proposed Herring, is multifold, and requires rabbis and synagogues that are willing and able to articulate religious expectations and underlying values, while enabling members to grow in their own spiritual quest. Multigenerational institutions are key, he said, as are synagogues that embrace diversity and recognize that becoming a member is a process with many stages of cultivation. Multigenerational institutions are key, as are synagogues that embrace diversity and recognize that becoming a member is a process with many stages of cultivation. In a second keynote address, Dr. David E. Kaufman, associate professor of American Jewish studies at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, argued that the synagogue plays an essential role as a "mediating institution" in Jewish communal life. "Throughout its history, the synagogue has served to mediate the tensions and conflicts of Jewish life," said Kaufman. Whether a haven from the impact of American assimilation, a medium for negotiating with other elements of the Jewish community, a resource for mediating religious differences among Jews or a force for bringing together old and young, the synagogue has always played and will continue to play a critical part in the lives of American Jews, he said. It remains the one institution that can integrate the need for spiritual fulfillment, study and communal life—and resolve conflicting views of how to meet those needs under one roof.
The role of the rabbi, argued Weiss, should combine that of "moreh/rebbe," or spiritual leader, with "abba/ima," a parent who leads with unconditional love. "The ideal relationship of rabbi to congregant should be as parent to older child—nonjudgmental. I am persuasive, never coercive," he said. "Unless we train rabbis to respond to the questions seekers are asking, they will play to dwindling numbers," says Rabbi Sidney Schwarz. Commentating on the need to train rabbis who understand their constituents' contemporary concerns, Rabbi Sidney Schwarz, founder and president of PANIM: The Institute for Jewish Leadership and Values, said, "Unless we train rabbis to respond to the questions seekers are asking, they will play to dwindling numbers."
Also participating in presentations were Dr. Michael Hammer, author of Reengineering the Corporation; Rabbi Zachary I. Heller, Wilstein Institute associate director; Lee Meyerhoff Hendler, author of The Year Mom Got Religion; Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman, author and cofounder of Synagogue 2000; Dr. Sherry Israel, associate professor at the Hornstein Program in Jewish Communal Service at Brandeis University; Dr. Barry Mesch, Stone/Teplow Families' Professor of Jewish Thought and provost of Hebrew College; Dr. Riv-Ellen Prell, professor of American studies at the University of Minnesota and author of Prayer and Community: The Havurah in American Judaism; Terry Rosenberg, leadership training specialist and national chair of Synagogue 2000's Advisory Board; Dr. Harvey Shapiro, dean of Hebrew College's Shoolman Graduate School of Jewish Education; Barry Shrage, president of Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston; Dr. Scott M. Sokol, director of Hebrew College's Jewish Music Institute and hazzan of Congregation Kehillath Israel in Brookline, Mass.; Dr. David B. Starr, dean of Me'ah at Hebrew College; and Rabbi Gordon Tucker, spiritual leader of Temple Israel Center in White Plains, N.Y., and president of the Masorti Foundation for Conservative Judaism in Israel. |
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In a keynote address, Rabbi Hayim Herring, executive director of STAR, characterized the challenge as a clash between "the synagogue's attempt to create a normative, commanding religious community, where the synagogue articulates an ideal vision of Jewish life to which individuals are expected to adhere," and "the rejection of that effort by individuals who believe that the self is sovereign in all matters, including religious choices."
Proponents of new models of synagogue life provided powerful examples from their own experience. Speaking at a symposium on new concepts of rabbinic leadership, Rabbi Avi Weiss, senior rabbi of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale (N.Y.) and founder and dean of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, described his synagogue "not as community, but as nothing less than mishpachah—family, bayit. The synagogue is our home, and the congregation is our family."
Other symposia explored the role of cantor, educator and lay leader. Conference participants included Rabbi Morris J. Allen, founding spiritual leader of Beth Jacob Congregation in Mendota Heights, Minn.; Dr. Isa Aron, professor of Jewish education at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Los Angeles; Rabbi Saul J. Berman, director of Edah, an organization devoted to the invigoration of modern Orthodox ideology and religious life; Sandy Cardin, executive director of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation; Rabbi Jerome M. Epstein, chief executive officer/executive vice president of The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism; Abner D. Goldstine, president of the Bond Fund of America and member of the Wilstein Institute Executive Committee; and Dr. David M. Gordis, Hebrew College president and director of the Wilstein Institute.