The Way the Congregation Worships Is Focus of New Temple Israel Committee

Vol. LVII, No. 1 August 4, 2014 8 Av 5774 The Way the Congregation Worships Is Focus of New Temple Israel Committee By Marc Katz, Editor Stecker, Cantor Raphael Frieder, and Rabbi It should create a mood in which we pray Looking at the way worship services Amy Roth, the director of congregational with one voice, bringing us closer together are conducted at Temple Israel—and find- schools. as a kahal kadosh, a holy community.” ing ways to make them more engaging and “The goal of the committee was to de- The committee developed a number of interactive—has been the goal of a commit- velop a method by which to explore tefillah suggestions, which they termed “impacts,” tee appointed by President Alan Klinger. and its relevance to us as individuals and as including: “In looking at the state of Conservative a community,” Mrs. Husney said. “It seems • Ruach, or spirit—Developing ways to Jewry,” he said, “it is more important than that at times traditional prayer can, in fact, make religious services more spirited and ever to show our relevance to the commu- do the opposite of what it is intended to enlightened. nity and to have congregants stay members do. Because many do not understand He- • Strengthening connections—Developing of Temple Israel beyond a Bar or Bat Mitz- brew prayers, the essence of the meaning ways to improve the connections between vah. I asked the committee to determine if can be illusory. The music of prayer should members. we, as a congregation, are serving the needs serve as a bridge, bringing us closer to let- • Increasing participation—Growing the of today’s members.” ting in God’s words and speaking to God. ——Continued on page 4 The committee was charged with assess- ing the state of tefillah, prayer, within the congregation, and suggesting potential changes that could be introduced, if warranted. Observe Tish’ah Be’av “The prayer service should be the center- Commemorating the destruction of the First Temple in 586 BCE piece of what the synagogue does,” said one of the Re-Imagine Committee chairs, Brent the Second Temple in 70 CE Greenspan. “Our committee has looked at and the Exile of the Jewish People. what we do, the way we do it—and what we could do differently to make our prayer ser- This solemn day reflects the greatest tragedies of Jewish history, including the Ho- vices more relevant and better attended.” locaust, but also serves as a reminder that the Jewish tradition of renewal is alive in The committee co-chair, Sherry Husney, Israel and America. It is customary to fast from sunset until dark the following night. concurred. “Tefillah is central to our practice as Jews,” she said. “Our committee wants to Monday, August 4 • 8 P.M. find ways to make tefillah more relevant to Minhah, Ma’ariv and the reading of Eikhah (the Book of Lamentations) led by the members of the congregation.” Rabbi Seth Adelson and members of the congregation who will chant Eikhah The co-chairs also serve as the co-chairs and other selections. of Temple Israel’s Ritual Committee. Look- ing to assemble a broad cross-section of the membership as committee members, they Come prepared to sit on the floor and sing mournful melodies. Chairs are available if needed. were joined by Zina Rutkin-Becker, Jonathan Tuesday, August 5 Bloom, Rachel Geula, Dan Goldberger, Ruthe Golden, Madelyn Gould, Larry Greengrass, Shaharit 6:45 A.M. (without tallit and tefilin), including Torah reading and Simone Kahen, Andrea Katz, Alan Klinger, kinot (Poems of Lament). Robert Lopatkin, Cheryl Eisberg Moin, Ei- leen Putterman, Mickey Putterman, Rebecca Minhah 8 P.M. (including Torah and Haftarah appropriate for Tish’ah Be’av Yousefzadeh Sassouni, Neda Sedgh, Abe with tallit and tefilin) and Ma’ariv. Sheffy, Sima Taeid, Gil Weitzman, Marty Werber, and Michael Ziegelbaum. Fast ends at 9:08 P.M. Staff and clergy participating in committee discussions, included Rabbi Howard FROM THE PRESIDENT Second, on the religious front, we spent Shabbat in Berlin, and went to Friday night services at a progressive synagogue. There were about 100 people in attendance, where there On Visiting Germany—Part II was separate seating, but no mechitza, with an organ and choir. The service was warm, with By Alan Klinger congregant participation. While the service was familiar, the use of the organ was quite over- Editor’s Note: Temple Israel President Alan Klinger and his wife, Susan, are just back from a powering (even for someone who grew up in a trip to Europe’s Jewish community. This is the second in a series of reports on his travels. Reform congregation with one). Shabbat morn- ing we went to an Orthodox synagogue where First, the frankness by which Germany temporary society and, if anything, it had be- there were about 150 people in an impressive today acknowledges the role of “regular” come trendy to be Jewish. We met a number sanctuary in a former B’nai B’rith building. Germans, to me, was astounding. There are of people who were part of inter-faith mar- While the Rabbi was German, the vast major- exhibits throughout Berlin that reflect that riages, where the non-Jewish partner was in- ity of people were from Former Soviet Union the Nazis could not have carried out their volved in Jewish activities. We also met non- countries. They were quite open to us as visi- reign of terror without the cooperation of Jews who professionally were part of Jewish tors—we also were with Susan’s parents—and ordinary Germans, with activities ranging the Rabbi invited us to an expansive kiddush. from the “outing” of neighbors to the seizure ...the time may have come The congregation maintains a daily minyan of their property. There is a sign outside one and seems to have a devoted following. of the train stations in the heart of the Berlin not to forget, While there is Jewish religious life in shopping district, which displays a list of the Berlin, there seems to be more progress in concentration camps—a signal that people but to move forward. re-establishing Jewish traditions and cul- should never forget the loss of life. The coun- ture. We visited a Bambinim Club, which community centers and Jewish-themed tour try seems to have made real efforts to sup- services Jewish families and whose mission groups. (Indeed, our guide was non-Jewish, port the rebuilding of synagogues and Jewish is to teach Jewish traditions in an engaging but had devoted significant time to capturing community centers as part of the reparation way. The population here is mainly from the the stories of survivors, had published a well- process. While there is a police presence at former Soviet Union and Israel. The director received book on the topic and was working Jewish sites for security, people we spoke is German-born but much of the nine person towards completion of a second.) with reported that Jews were welcome in con- staff were from other countries, along with FROM THE RABBI two American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee interns who were recent gradu- ates of UCLA and Berkeley. Our next stop was Cologne, best known for its majestic cathedral. But it, too, had Uprooting the Hate a rich Jewish heritage that suffered at the By Rabbi Seth Adelson hands of the Nazis. (Our stay there was prompted by Susan having great grandpar- The Talmud (Yoma 9b) teaches us that the condemned while the world collectively ents buried in a bucolic cemetery just out- Second Temple in Jerusalem was laid waste yawns at the Syrian massacre taking place side the town, which somehow escaped des- by the Romans due to sin’at hinam, causeless a few hundred kilometers away, the uncon- ecration.) While the Jewish presence there is hatred. On August 4-5 we commemorate the scionable heartache brought by the death of comparatively much smaller than Berlin’s destruction of the First and Second Temples Gazan civilians who are cynically used as (no kosher restaurant; Berlin had Bleiberg’s), as we chant mournfully the book of Eikhah human shields by Hamas, the pain of loss they do have a fledgling community. We vis- (Lamentations) on Tish’ah Be’av. This is the of IDF soldiers (including two Americans ited an operating synagogue, with regular saddest day of the Jewish year, the only full with dual citizenship, as I heard just today), classes and a growing number of members. day fast other than Yom Kippur. and on and on. So many levels of anger, dis- Again, a functioning Jewish community. appointment, and helplessness. According to our guide (from the Milk Our task, and Israel’s And I return to the idea of sin’at hinam. and Honey tour group, highly recommend- Hamas is the bad actor here; they have cho- ed), there are believed to be approximately task, is to find a way sen to fire rockets indiscriminately and to 200,000 Jews living in Germany, although only boost the body count deliberately by plac- slightly more than half of them are registered not to hate the civilians ing civilians in harm’s way. 70 percent of Ga- as such (registration being important as part zans do not support Hamas. Yes, they voted of the government funding process). Through of Gaza, who onlywant for them back in 2006, but mostly that was a UJA-Federation, we met with Benny Bloch of protest vote against the ruling Fatah, widely the European Council of Jewish Communi- to live and work perceived to be corrupt and ineffective.

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