Welcome to the website of resources developed during Synagogue 2000/3000’s twenty-year run as a catalyst for excellence in synagogue life.
Out of the mouths of babes...
Why the Covid lockdown has been good for Judaism
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The lockdown has forced Jews to be true to the words of Rabbi Samson Hirsch who said he wanted to close synagogues for 100 years.This article is pseudo-political and I don't like posting political stuff, it does follow my recent post about Chabad's growth while liberal synagogues are failing. There is still a group of American liberal Jews who see hasidism as "authentic" Judaism and support it with their dollars (some even while being members of Reform and Conservative congregations).
I hesitate to lump all hasids in one basket, but this article illustrates that much of the hasidic world is neither "authentic (to the Old Country of pre WWII Eastern Europe) nor devoid of Americanization. Chabad is brilliant at welcoming people to Judaism, i.e. their presentation is excellent. Yet their content is often overlooked because their just so darn nice about it. What can synagogues learn from them?
How Did Hasidic Jewry Become a Stronghold of Trumpism?
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Is American Hasidism in crisis? After successfully rebuilding its institutions after the war, Hasidism in America has flourished. And yet, its response to COVID and its newfound reactionary political populism, leads us to ask the question: is something changing in contemporary Hasidism that’s wort...As most synagogues from the liberal movements struggle to pay their bills, Chabad in North Palm Beach county seems to be flourishing. This isn't happening just in Florida. What is Chabad's secret?!
Five Million Dollar Renovation Project Underway For North Palm Beach’s Jewish Community Synagogue
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Jewish Community Synagogue undergoes a five million dollar renovation project to serve the influx of Jews moving to North Palm Beach’s growing community. NORTH PALM BEACH, FL – To cater to the growing needs of the Jewish community in North Palm Beach, the Jewish Community Synagogue (JCS) is curr...jewishjournal.com/commentary/324722/mergers-and-more-what-is-happening-to-the-american-synagogue-... I posted last week about this merger and it's giving deserved attention to synagogue mergers. These two LA synagogues aside, this inevitable trend started years ago and is exacerbated by the pandemic. As a researcher, I will be interested to see if smaller synagogues are able to remain viable and what role (if any) the movements will play. We won't know for several years.
Rabbi Ed Feinstein comments that the movements will, "... not disappear, but morph into forms more suited to the needs of the next moment of our communal life. This reflects an age-old pattern of Jewish life — the remarkable adaptability, inventiveness, and resourcefulness of Jewish culture, its genius for turning catastrophe into creativity. Our history shows us that the “ever-dying people” is in fact, an ever-renewing people. And so it will be again.” Time will tell!
Mergers and More: What Is Happening to the American Synagogue, and Why?
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In a joint statement issued on November 6, the leadership of Wilshire Boulevard Temple (WBT) and University Synagogue announced the latest merger withinIt's likely that many will not remember the Havurah movement of the 1970's. Some may not even know of its existence. Simply put, it was a reaction to the proliferation of large, institutional synagogues that were seen as too program-focused and disconnected from the lives of their members (sound familiar?).
Most havuroth were swallowed up by the very synagogues they meant to replace but some did not as this article describes. Interestingly, these egalitarian experiments check the boxes of all the things my research interviewees said they wanted in a synagogue - small, accessible, relationally-focused, member led, unaffiliated, warm, and welcoming community.
Most failed because over time the needs of the community changed, for instance, young families needed religious education. Rather than meeting the needs it was easier for those families to move to a traditional synagogue. Some met the challenges, stayed together, grew together, and will die if and when no one is left. I think that's what synagogue is really about. Kudos Philadelphia’s Unstructured Synagogue Havurah!
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What keeps a group of friends together for 50 years? For Philadelphia’s Unstructured Synagogue Havurah, the answer is simple. “The one word that it can be boiled to is acceptance. We accept one another. For all the mishegas that individuals have, we accept each other,” said Rabbi Steve Stroima...