Reform Judaism

An Unusual Family Bar Mitzvah
August 20, 2008 (3 Comments)

By Marge Eiseman
The preparations for my youngest son's bar mitzvah celebration are getting underway. I am not feeling stressed about it, nor will we spend a fortune (that we don't have). Here's a peek at some of the process.

We are admittedly an unusual family -- we began our preparations over a year ago, and never hired a party planner, a caterer or a disc jockey. I think the first thing Zach and I did was read through the Torah portion together, Shofetim, to see which section Zach wanted to read. He saw the most famous verse, "Tzedek, tzedek tirdof" (Justice, justice shall you pursue), and owned it!

Filed Under: Lifecycle

Strengthen Reform: 11. Making Judaism Meaningful to Teens
August 20, 2008 (7 Comments)

By William Berkson
As I explained in previous posts, Reform Judaism can become much stronger by serving families. And it can do this by showing how the personal ethics of the Talmud, updated, can powerfully assist sacred relationships, strong marriages and families.

However, before this we first have to convince teens that Judaism can make a difference to their lives. As is well known, there is a huge drop off of students attending religious school after Bar and Bat Mitzvah. What can we teach teens that will be compelling evidence that it will help them to have Judaism as part of their lives?

Filed Under: Ethics | The Future

Theological Summer Camp
August 19, 2008 (6 Comments)

By dcc
David A.M. Wilensky, RJ.org blogger, Kutz Campus regular and liturgy-wonk, was a bit offended by yesterday's post from the Society for Classical Reform Judaism's Executive Director Rabbi Howard A. Berman. His post on the Reform Shuckle outlines and deconstructs the argument that the SCRJ is a vital and important aspect of present day Reform Judaism.

My perusal of the rest of Rabbi Berman's post and of the Principles page of the SCRJ website leads me to believe that beyond [supporting] an increasingly outmoded aesthetic, there are no differences between SCRJ and the mainstream of the movement. Certainly the ideology the SCRJ labels Classical is no more than standard Reform ideology.

While I am not sure which theological camp is right (or more to the point if any camp can be "right"), it does seem a bit out of place to go to the extremes that have often been supported in posts and comments this blog. My hope for the future of Reform Judaism is that we move past these broad stroke definitions and focus on our mandate to be the light onto the nations, have our youth see those vision and do justice while we walk humbly with our God.

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Filed Under: Religious Life | The Future

Kiev Revisited
August 18, 2008 (2 Comments)

By Larry Kaufman
As regular readers of this blog may have noticed through my comments on other people's posts, I've recently returned from a river cruise through Ukraine -- fortunately arriving home before the Georgian crisis erupted -- and want to share some thoughts in three general areas:

Differences between Jewish and secular travel

The changes that appear to have taken place in Ukraine since my prior trip in 2001

Ukrainian roots for American Jews

Filed Under: Community | Religious Life | The Future

Strengthening Clasical Reform
August 18, 2008 (7 Comments)

By Rabbi Howard A. Berman
A number of comments in the current discussion on "Strengthening Reform" have referred to various dimensions of Classical Reform Judaism as an "early historic chapter" of our Movement's development, rather than a vital and viable position within the diverse religious community that the Union embraces today.

As the Executive Director of the newly organized Society for Classical Reform Judaism, I trust that many readers of this blog saw our first full-page advertisement in the current issue of Reform Judaism Magazine, introducing this new alternative voice in the national Reform family. The SCRJ has been founded as a voice of advocacy for the preservation and creative nurturing of the historic progressive principles, rich intellectual foundations, and beloved worship traditions of American Reform Judaism.

Filed Under: Religious Life

RDS at DNC
August 18, 2008

By dcc
This weekend Rabbi David Saperstein was asked by the Democratic National Committee to offer the Invocation on the night that Sen. Barak Obama accepts the nomination in Denver. Rabbi Saperstein joins a group of men and women come from across the country and from churches, synagogues, mosques, temples and organizations that are as diverse as the population of the United States. Frank Lockwood, an Evangelical blogger, writes that the "prayer line up that looks, demographically, a lot like America."

To me this is the most interesting aspect of this "prayer line up." Regardless that these men and women of the cloth are leaders, and in some cases pioneers, they look like America. I suppose it is only fitting that when the Democratic Party nominates a man of African and American heritage, hailing from Hawaii via Kansas through New York, Boston and Chicago, rising from poverty into wealth, the people who offer prayers and words of faith during this nomination would also reflect America's growing diversity.

Filed Under: Community | Religious Life

I am a poem
August 15, 2008

By David A.M. Wilensky
Thursday's 10 Minutes of Torah are all about prayer and this week's by Rabbi Edwin C. Goldberg, was about the left-hand-side-of-the-page (not the mention the left of the ritual spectrum) reading on page 41 of Mishkan T'filah. The reading serves as an alternatative option for what our Reform liturgists have aptly termed Nisim B'chol Yom (daily miracles).

In last week's edition, Rabbi Richard Sarason explained that the purpose of this collection of blessings is to bring a little kodesh (holy) into the chol (mundane) of our morning routines. Each one, with the exception of the three identity prayers, addresses a particular part of our morning, from waking up to putting on clothes all the way to the set of shorter blessings into Asher Yatzar, a prayer for going to the bathroom.

Filed Under: Religious Life

Forum on Decorum
August 15, 2008 (2 Comments)

By Larry Kaufman
There is no question that the introduction of decorum in religious services was an important motivator in the early stages of Reform Judaism in Europe. (The other key liturgical changes were worship in the vernacular, elimination of repetitions, addition of a sermon, and excision of "unacceptable" content - Messiah, resurrection of the dead, restoration of the Temple.)

But what did the Reformers mean by decorum?

Filed Under: Community | Religious Life

An iTunes Shabbat
August 14, 2008 (5 Comments)

By JanetheWriter
This past Shabbat, I spent more than four hours aboard an Adirondack Trailways bus from New York City's Port Authority to Albany and then, after a quick change, on to Saratoga Springs to surprise a friend for her birthday.

Much to my own surprise and delight, the bus, together with my iPod, provided me with a most unique and enjoyable Shabbat. For starters, it was a glorious day, and from the minute we pulled out of the bus garage, brilliant sunshine flooded the coach from a bright cornflower blue sky filled with fluffy cotton candy clouds. As the city grew faint in the rearview mirror, we entered God's country--first the Ramapo and then the Adirondack Mountains, each covered with an abundance of lush, green foliage; summer at its peak.

Filed Under: Shabbat

Strengthening Reform 10: Synagogues and Families
August 14, 2008 (6 Comments)

By William Berkson
In the last post in this series, I argued that Classical Reform took a wrong turn in rejecting the Talmud, and that this mistake led to the neglect of a key strength of Jewish tradition: rabbinic ethics.

Fellow blogger Larry Kaufman argued, "I for one do not believe the health of our movement depends on our attitude towards the Talmud, but rather on our attitude towards our congregants."

There is no doubt that good management both by clergy and lay boards are keys to the health of congregations. But there is more: what does the congregation do with and for its members? How does the congregation meet the needs of its members, and potential members?

Filed Under: Community | Religious Life | The Future