Valley rabbis concur on need to reach out to boost attendance
RANDI BAROCAS
Staff Writer
Many Valley rabbis are aware of Synagogue 2000 and say they try to implement similar programs and values in their own congregations, even though none of them are active participants in the project.
Rabbi Rick Sherwin of Conservative Beth El Congregation in Phoenix says his synagogue had offered to be a program participant but was not selected. And although the congregation is not a formal part of the project, Sherwin stresses that Beth El is "already implementing large parts of the dynamics and structure (of Synagogue 2000)."
"It involves personalizing the synagogue. It involves personalizing peoples' needs," Sherwin explains. "The old days of saying, 'We are having a service and we hope you come,' (is) not enough anymore. When people walk in, they need to be touched in a way that they want to come back. And if it means changing a traditional format, that's what has to be done."
Beth El is working "very hard" on making sure that there are members to greet people as they enter the building for services and various other programs, Sherwin says, stressing that outreach within the congregation is very strong.
"Many times at the end of the service, I will say at the oneg (reception), 'Please go up to ... someone else. It's Shabbat.' Connection. Everything is connection," he says.
Reform Temple Beth Israel in Scottsdale also strives to engage members in a warm, friendly manner that makes them want to participate in a variety of programs, Rabbi Kenneth Segel says, adding that he is aware of Synagogue 2000 but his temple was not asked to participate.
"My thought is that anything that will make the synagogue more appealing and that will create a greater sense of community and will engage us in heightened spirituality - all of that is to the good," Segel says. "However, I think that in part, (Synagogue 2000 organizers and participants') motivation is driven to some extent by panic and despair, and I don't believe the patient (Judaism) is dying."
Judaism is not as troubled today as some alarmists would have the community believe, Segel says.
"All kinds of good things are going on and tremendous initiatives are going on (in synagogues). So when you hear slogans like Synagogue 2000 ... they prove to be empty rhetoric and sloganeering. I'm for substantive stuff," he says.
"I'm willing to look at anything that's new. ... All I'm saying is that to look for a quick fix that's going to solve all the problems - I just don't think it's going to happen that way," Segel says. "It's going to happen with the basics, studying Torah and God."
Rabbi Maynard Bell of Reform Temple Solel in Paradise Valley says the programs and ideologies that Synagogue 2000 promotes "are all things we have been doing instinctively for a long time."
"I think that for any generation, the synagogue has to project that it is a warm and welcoming place," Bell says, referring to Synagogue 2000's goal of reaching out to Generation X. "They have to do outreach, and not just interfaith outreach. Outreach for connecting people with the synagogue and the community and with the life of the spirit."
Rabbi Chaim Silver of Orthodox Young Israel of Phoenix, who initially was not familiar with the Synagogue 2000 program, says he is surprised that this is a new idea in Reform and Conservative circles.
"This has been the practice in Orthodoxy for years," Silver says, referring to outreach and instilling a sense of connection to Judaism. "Judaism is about community, and the stronger community you have, the stronger yiddishkeit (sense of feeling Jewish) you have."
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