High Holiday Connection Opportunity

   

Each year we are provided with a valuable opportunity to reach beyond our inner circles and make the High Holidays a time of reaching out to make new connections. Our Jewish community is a microcosm reflecting the diversity of our broader communities, including youth, single or newly married 20-and 30-somethings, LGBT and interfaith couples and families, baby boomers, retirees, and on and on. While the Jewish thread may run deep through each of these groups, every demographic, and especially every individual, will experience and participate in the High Holidays differently.

Yet all too often, our synagogues--often filled to the brim--offer a one-size-fits-all experience of the High Holidays. As a result, many Jews do not step foot inside a synagogue at all during this very special and important time of the Jewish year.

There is no quick fix for this situation.  What is needed is a long-term program that:

• engages more of the congregation that does show up for the High Holidays to become involved throughout the year; and
• meets the needs of the Jewish community that does not come to synagogue during this time, yet seeks ways to be connected nonetheless.

In our small Jewish community here in Burlington, Vermont, one of the local synagogues provides traditional High Holiday services in the sanctuary and a parallel service at the community boathouse located on the shores of Lake Champlain. Each draws its own participants. Another area synagogue holds a mountainside service, taking advantage of our powerful natural surroundings.  What can your community be doing to meet more Jews where they are most comfortable gathering, and where they are most likely to feel the holy sparks of connection and community?

In order to successfully meet the individual and communal spiritual needs of an increasingly diverse Jewish population during the High Holidays, every community, each organization, must have at its core a passionate and committed group holding a broader vision of the community. This core group must embody the connection between giving of themselves and welcoming those who might be less inclined to participate. After all, what we all have in common is the fundamental desire to belong.

This year, what will your core community do to increase a sense of inclusion and belonging among more and more of your members during the High Holidays?  

by Yoram Samets

Posted by judy@jvillagenetwork.com at 9/11/2012 3:01 PM