April 14, 2006--Fanaticisms XXX--Synaplex Shabbat
It is the second day of Passover and it good to know that my observant coreligionists are out on the hustings signing up new members. Actually, not attempting to convert the gentiles but rather to lure lapsed Jews such as me back into the practice of Judaism. It won’t surprise you that in secular New York City, with all its other intoxicants, this effort is taking some very hip new forms (see NY Times article linked below).
For example, a couple of Lubavitch Hassids have moved from Crown Heights in Brooklyn, the center of Hassidic life, to the coolest part of Manhattan, TriBeCa, and right next Bobby DeNiro’s loft have established a synagogue which is stylishly decorated and includes sectional leather sofas and a lacy curtain that serves as the mechitza, the screen that in traditional shuls seperates the men from the women. If you think the folks who live Downtown are too gender sensitive to attend services in a place that relegates women to such second-class status, think again because 250 attended on the first night.
Jewish leaders are so concerned about shrinking numbers and the blight of intermarriage that they are even taking lessons from Christian evangelists who have used modern marketing techniques to build their congregations to mega-proportions. And I mean “taking lessons” literally: Synagogue leaders gathered in Los Angeles recently to get congregation-building pointers from the Reverend Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life. He is the evangelist pastor of the Saddleback Church in Orange, California that draws 20,000 congregants on Sundays.
Then there is the Synaplex Shabbat movement, a national effort to build synagogue attendance by adding all sorts of entertaining extras to Shabbos services—tai chi and yoga classes, nature walks, and even stand-up comedy routines.
I may be old fashioned but comedy in shul? What’s funny about being enslaved in Egypt or wandering in the desert for forty years? I thought being Jewish was about persecution and suffering. And of course Chinese food.
I checked out of Jewish practice myself when my family debased our Passover Seder by adding Egg Matzoth to the traditional, to quote my father, “hem-stitched cardboard” version. Somehow I couldn’t get comfortable with the idea that they had something that good in the Sinai.
What’s next—no more bitter herbs?
For example, a couple of Lubavitch Hassids have moved from Crown Heights in Brooklyn, the center of Hassidic life, to the coolest part of Manhattan, TriBeCa, and right next Bobby DeNiro’s loft have established a synagogue which is stylishly decorated and includes sectional leather sofas and a lacy curtain that serves as the mechitza, the screen that in traditional shuls seperates the men from the women. If you think the folks who live Downtown are too gender sensitive to attend services in a place that relegates women to such second-class status, think again because 250 attended on the first night.
Jewish leaders are so concerned about shrinking numbers and the blight of intermarriage that they are even taking lessons from Christian evangelists who have used modern marketing techniques to build their congregations to mega-proportions. And I mean “taking lessons” literally: Synagogue leaders gathered in Los Angeles recently to get congregation-building pointers from the Reverend Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life. He is the evangelist pastor of the Saddleback Church in Orange, California that draws 20,000 congregants on Sundays.
Then there is the Synaplex Shabbat movement, a national effort to build synagogue attendance by adding all sorts of entertaining extras to Shabbos services—tai chi and yoga classes, nature walks, and even stand-up comedy routines.
I may be old fashioned but comedy in shul? What’s funny about being enslaved in Egypt or wandering in the desert for forty years? I thought being Jewish was about persecution and suffering. And of course Chinese food.
I checked out of Jewish practice myself when my family debased our Passover Seder by adding Egg Matzoth to the traditional, to quote my father, “hem-stitched cardboard” version. Somehow I couldn’t get comfortable with the idea that they had something that good in the Sinai.
What’s next—no more bitter herbs?
posted by Steven Zwerling at
3:07 PM
1 Comments:
I am a Christian and this is our holiest season. I am always deeply moved by the Passion of Christ, and contemplating it during Holy Week is a very important aspect of my spirital life.
I am also deeply moved by Judaism. Jews have one of the most powerful and clearly articulated ethics I have ever experienced. Thou shalt not stand idly by whilst thy neighbor's blood is spilt. Thou shalt not harvest the corners of the field but shall leave these for the poor and the stranger. He who expects peace without justice expects the impossible. Actually I think that last one was Bishop Desmond Tutu, but it seems to fit.
Jews are a people who define themselves in terms of the mitzvah -- the value that they add or service they provide to others. This is such an important voice in our American individualistic, me first culture. I hope the Rabbis are successful in strengthening it. I also hope they are successful in strengthening it in terms of its true value, and not in terms of gltizy, morally and ethically empty marketing schemes.
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