Having just completed a wonderful High Holiday season, we were the beneficiary of unseasonably warm and crisp weather to sit in our Sukkot, and to reflect on the recent chagim with our friends and family. Around many Sukkah tables, there was conversation about the contrast that our services offer. On a given Shabbat where Minyan Koleinu is convening, it is not uncommon for over 120 of our members to join in their commitment to a more intimate, spirited davening. The conditions that make for the success of Minyan Koleinu is attributable to what I believe are four key factors: A core group of knowledgeable lay leaders who take responsibility for the organization and assignment of ritual responsibilities, a tolerance for diversity of expression, the acceptance and embracing of children, and practice. The last factor cannot be underscored enough, as the Koleinu participants recognize the importance of learning new tunes prior to attending a service, and seizing on the excitement of applying this new-found mastery in the service. Mastery breeds repeat customers.
In the burgeoning research literature on the topic of synagogue transformation, we know that the difference between functional congregations and transformative congregations lies in the degree to which there is passivity by the membership and excessive professional control. These dynamics can then lead to detachment, rote performance of scripted interactions, with less genuine significance or feelings of transcendent connection with fellow Jews or Judaism. The feedback I have received this year actually confirmed my own personal observations about the High Holiday Services, where our largest services – held in the auditorium and sanctuary - had a majority of members who do not sing, or actively participate in the service. For them, the service was highly scripted. Combined with a large number of our most committed membership davening in the Minyan Koleinu, their absence in both upstairs services was conspicuous. Whereas the functional congregation delivers specified services to “consumer” members who pay for a ticket to sit, watch and to listen, its visionary counterparts provide sacred experiences to engaged members of a kehillah kedosha – a holy community. This feedback should in no way represent anything negative about our Rabbis and Cantors who led our services, with great professionalism and dedication once again.
I think we are at the crossroads.
We need to define what our aspirations are for our kehillah kedosha, and commit to infusing the regular Shabbat sanctuary experience with something new and different, to compel our members to want to stay, sing, pray, and to participate more. The mistake we have made as a synagogue culture is to believe that there are dichotomous choices – either the Sanctuary minyan or the Minyan Koleinu. This is really not the case. We should look at the factors that contribute to the success of Koleynu as an opportunity, and replicate their success in the main sanctuary service. I am not suggesting that Koleinu “merge” with the Sanctuary minyan, or lose its identity. Rather, I am saying that there are important lessons learned from the living laboratory we call Koleinu. There is room for multiple minyanim, provided each minyan works at staying vibrant and relevant. Why should we only look to the Minyan Koleinu as the place where learning and mastery of text and tunes are experienced? Imagine the choices members would have to make, if both services offered singing, some freedom of creative expression, and an inclusion of children&8230;. The challenge we face is in the polarities of the two current experiences.
It is for this reason that a new structure, called the Va'ad (Hebrew, for committee) has convened. This committee is not part of our synagogue table of organization. Rather, it is comprised of sensible people who are committed to prayer and worship, and who have participated in all of our minyanim – parallel, sanctuary, and Koleinu. The members meet – not to represent a particular constituent interest – but rather to grapple with the importance of advocating for the Kehilla, which must become the sum of our spiritual parts. The members of the committee understand the importance of the collective, and recognize the promise and potential that all our minyanim can offer. I have asked for this committee to meet, in order to frame the issues we must reconcile, in order to avoid future polarization, or the possible segmenting of the congregation by age, family composition, prayer skill, or religious background. They will develop a framework for recommendations to be made to the Rabbi and to the Board.
The Rabbi has been my partner in the idea and planning of the Va'ad Committee, and will certainly be participating in the process, as it develops. The Rabbi and I both recognize the need to respect Rabbinic authority as the ultimate decision – maker of matters related to Halacha, to respect our established practices and institutional arrangements which are comforting and familiar to many members, but also acknowledge a new sense of purpose and vision felt by some of our membership, which is a response to ever-changing cultural, demographic, and spiritual conditions. Left unattended, we face the risk of merely tolerating three distinctly different minyan cultures – albeit housed under one roof, called Beth Sholom.
We can do better. We need to be better. Our future depends on it.
– Reuben Romirowsky, President
