Declining membership: How one Reform shul is bucking the trend

It isn’t good enough to read the words of our ancient texts; we have to see their impact on our lives today doing tangible work to be partners in creating a just society.

We can wrap ourselves in tallitot and remember the obligation of the commandments but unless we turn those mitzvot into relationships the call to action diminishes.

The JPR report suggests the Jewish community is seeing the choice as either to run back to the shtetl or to grasp the essence of Judaism and be the pioneers of building a better civilisation.

Judaism gives us the language and framework but it is all too easy for the essence of the mitzvot to get lost in a preoccupation with rules and details.

Doors are closed, people alienated and the potential for good squashed by the obsessional detail; but when Judaism is given the chance to breathe and be a lens to see the world and our duty within it, 
our communities 
flourish.

So this is why FRS membership is increasing: because our Judaism is relevant to our members. We engage them in innovative prayer opportunities, we reach out to our neighbours to provide them with a home for a winter and Christmas shelter or for a month of Ramadan prayers and at the same time provide opportunities for our members to find their Judaism in today’s world.

 

Miriam Berger is principal rabbi at Finchley Reform Synagogue