Judaism
Synagogues should step out of their comfort zone to create spiritual connections
How do we revive synagogue communities post-pandemic? Rabbi Dr Samuel Landau offers his recipe
August 4, 2023 09:50
How do we revive synagogue communities post-pandemic? Rabbi Dr Samuel Landau offers his recipe
August 4, 2023 09:50Over the past few decades our expectations of close relationships have changed. In the past, we were content with stability. To be partnered with someone reliable, dependable and solid was good, or at least good enough. Nowadays, we want more.
Terry Real, a Jewish American expert in relationships, describes the shift from stability to needing something deeper. We want to feel heard, cherished and known by our partners. We want intimacy.
Terry charts two societal forces that have driven us far from intimacy and left us lonely and bereft in the process.
The first is that of post-enlightenment Western individualism, which presents the ideal of humanity as an independent rock rather than an interconnected group.
The second is the long history of patriarchy that paints some people as better and more powerful than others.
Patriarchy stops us joining another on the same level. Individualism tells us that there is no value in joining another in the first place. Both result in the greatest health epidemic that we are facing today, loneliness.
As we move out of the pandemic, our focus has now turned to how we can revive synagogue communities.
What can we learn from Terry to help us? I would argue that the same need we have for intimacy in one-to-one relationships is true in our faith communities.
Historically it was sufficient for a shul to offer stability. Indeed, when the United Synagogue was founded more than 150 years ago and until the recent era, it flourished by providing a safe and stable Jewish space. The services were austere and formal but they were regular and reassuring.
The rabbi was present in times of need and his sermons spoke of ethics and morals that helped give value and direction. There were committees that helped each person contribute to the community, which was personally rewarding.
The synagogue institution, despite its hierarchical nature, helped people locate themselves and grounded them.
Chicken soup is the basis of Jewish Sabbath and holiday meals (Photo: Getty Images)
