City Rabbi Goes Country
I put on my hiking boots and followed the Adventure Rabbi onto a trail through the w
ildflowers. I expected a beautiful hike into one of Boulder’s canyons… but I didn’t realize that as I was taking in the Rocky Mountains, I’d also gain a new insight into my generation’s quest for meaningful Judaism.
Rabbi Jamie Korngold is the Adventure Rabbi. An avid skier and lover of the outdoors, she created the Adventure Rabbi program with her husband, Jeff Finkelstein - a mountain climber and expert skier with many years’ experience on ski patrol. (There are Jews on ski patrol?? Who knew?) The Adventure Rabbi Program: A Synagogue Without Walls is a community for Jews who "like to do Jewish" outside. They celebrate Shabbat and holidays skiing, hiking, camping and learning Jewish texts and values off the beaten track. The Adventure Rabbi Program is a Jewish community without walls, in which the participants take seriously their responsibility to welcome new people, to learn about each other, to celebrate together, and to study Judaism. It is a community that brings together all kinds of Jews– the in-married, the out-married and the non-married; men, women, kids; real athletes and some urban folks who don’t mind getting a little shmutzy. This is a real Jewish community– the kind I would want to join! And most interestingly, it is a community where lots of folks who usually feel unwelcome in synagogues - single 25-45 year old women and men (hello??!! anybody seen these guys in a synagogue recently?) want to learn, share, participate, and help build a Jewish community.
How on earth did an urban rabbi such as myself stumble upon these outdoor Jews? Rabbi Korngold was invited to participate in S3K’s Emergent network - a group of innovative rabbis building unusual Jewish communities.
So, as I followed Jamie onto the trail through the wildflowers, we talked about Jewish prayer. Judaism has done a lousy job over the years of creating a prayer language that feels accessible. Think about it, our images of God from our liturgy are not images most of us can identify with: Who is this God on high who took us out from slavery with an outstretched arm?… And what does that even mean? Now we’re faced with the reality that going to shul and sitting through services is not meaningful to many people either because they have no personal internal prayer life at all or because they do, but they’d rather be somewhere other than a synagogue to pray. Synagogue membership is down. Young people, in general, are not joining synagogues– especially not the unmarried ones– and very especially not the guys. BUT, we so want community, we want to celebrate Shabbat together, we want to learn about Judaism, we want to build meaningful Jewish identities - and we crave the relationships both bein adam l’chavero - between people - and bein adam l’makom - between us and God - that Jewish communities can help us build.
What does this have to do with the Rocky Mountains? I’ll tell you. Here’s what Jamie and I talked about on our hike: The wilderness allows people to use vocabulary that would feel cheesy, sappy or otherwise overly poetic anywhere else. In nature, we’re allowed to use words of awe. It’s the only place where that vocabulary is widely accepted and can be used by "in," "out" and "non"-marrieds and by women AND men. Exclamations of wonder and awe are easy to say and hear when standing next to a hanging glacier or a tiny purple wildflower growing up from the parched desert. People get used to using vocabulary that expresses gratitude, awareness, searching when we’re surrounded by nature. And once those words enter our vocabulary and we feel safe using them… they can be used in a Jewish context, too. How easy it is to be thankful for beauty that we see, to raise questions about the inexplicable, to ask for help climbing over a huge boulder when we’ve all agreed that awe-language is appropriate.
And not only that. Once it’s ok to share the beauty, the questions, the scale of things, we realize that we’re a part of it - tiny in some ways, mighty in others - and all dependent on each other. Walking up what seemed like a vertical wall of slickrock in Moab, I looked up to find a hand waiting to help me, before I ever had to ask.
Rabbi Jessica Zimmerman
Director, Congregational Engagement
August 16th, 2009 at 10:19 am
Shalom Rabbi Jessica,
Most synagogues are in urban/suburban areas. What were the transferable takeaways and learnings from your adventure that are strategically and tactically applicable to that reality?
With Rosh Hodesh Elul coming this week, the High Holidays are fast approaching. High Holidays are the single biggest outreach and inreach opportunity of the synagogue year; more Jews in the pews than at any other time. What action(s) are you advising congregations to take to maximize this singular chance to engage or re-engage the vast majority of otherwise disengaged and disenfranchised Jews, who for whatever reason find themselves in “shul” for the holidays?
These folks are looking to be challenged and engaged. They are looking for a reason to return to the synagogue and Judaism for more than an occasional lifecycle fix and yearly high holiday fix. The clock is ticking and we can’t afford to ignore this once yearly unique opportunity to reach and teach those we otherwise won’t see, perhaps ever again.
Biv’racha,
Jordan
PS If you’d prefer to take this offline my email is eashtov and my phone # is 847 520-9610
August 16th, 2009 at 10:22 am
Shalom Rabbi Jessica,
My email is eashtov
Biv’racha,
Jordan
August 26th, 2009 at 8:13 am
Jordan,
You will find many ways to bring this type of teaching indoors in my book God in the Wilderness (Doubleday, 2008). http://www.adventurerabbi.org/buy/
One suggestion is to do a text study of Psalm 23. Why is it that the Psalmist write about God leading us beside still water and green meadows? What is it about natural places that bring us comfort and connection?
You might also look at the end of Job. Why des God take Job on tour of the wilderness instead of just answering his question of “why me?” God has an answer to that question, but chooses instead to tour Job around the wild place. Why? Are these metaphors, or did our ancestors truly go outside when they wished to connect with God?
Many of your congregants may have has spiritual moments outdoors and if you can show them how those experiences are Jewish, you have opened door to making Judaism more meaningful to them.
There are discussion guides for my book at http://www.godinthewilderness.com/
L’Shalom,
Jamie
August 26th, 2009 at 8:14 am
Jessica,
I am so glad you had the opportunity to experience the Adventure Rabbi way of welcoming people back to Judaism. I wanted to build on your reaction about hiking with us in Moab. As you said, we hiked up to the huge arch under which we had our Seder. cool photos here http://www.adventurerabbi.org/photo_gallery.htm>> the hike was bit tricky and you commented that every time you turned about someone was offering you a hand up (or down) the red sandstone.
In our congregations, we all try with all our might to create community. We try to invite people to reach out a hand and help another. But how often does it work, unless someone is in really major distress? We live in a society of self sufficiency. Its hard to ask or take help. What I love about the outdoor model is it truly give people the opportunity to reach out and help someone and to accept help. I tell people, ” Even if you don’t need a hand up the rock, take it. How often in life does someone offer you a hand?” It is a very powerful experience to let someone help you up a rock, even when you don’t need it.
I believe that this physical helping of each other translates into a caring community that can then emotionally reach out to each other and spiritually reach toward God.
L’Shalom,
Jamie
Rabbi Jamie Korngold, Adventure Rabbi
http://www.AdventureRabbi.org
August 26th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
This striking image of “offering a hand” to someone reminds me of the challenge we face to make our synagogues and programming much more “welcoming.” Hospitality - hachnasat orchim - literally begins with “offering a hand”…a handshake on a Shabbat eve, for example. I am often amazed at how many people can walk into a synagogue lobby and never shake the hand of another person. Oh, we are doing a better job of installing “greeters” in our places - but more often than not the greeter only “hands out” - bulletins or prayer books. I would love to see a dedicated greeter who only offers her “hands out” to make human contact with another with a warm, sincere handshake.
Moreover, once one gets past the greeters, how many people experience the “offering of a hand” in the sanctuary itself? Not many. That’s why I love what a number of rabbis now insert during the service - an opportunity to turn around to someone nearby and offer a handshake and a greeting. The churches call this “passing the peace.” If every rabbi in North America did this for three minutes during the upcoming High Holy Days, we would change the “experience” of the holidays for many of our three-time-a-year attendees.
There is another meaning to “offering a hand.” Since my mother (may she rest in peace) died in July, I have been attending daily minyanim. A steady stream of new mourners and those observing Yahrzeit arrive almost every day. The leader of the minyan I attend does an excellent job of “offering a hand” to these folks…but I’m shocked at how few of the “regulars” take the initiative to welcome/engage the new people. There is, of course, the “ritual” of new mourners walking into Kabbalat Shabbat at the conclusion of “L’kha Dodi” while the congregation welcomes them with the traditional words of comfort. But, it would be good to alert the regulars in daily minyanim to be extra sensitive about the welcoming of mourners.
As for our good friend, Jamie - the Adventure Rabbi - what a stunning privilege to have God’s world as your sanctuary! I highly recommend Jamie’s book for its insights into how we can bring the spirit Rabbi Jessica discovered into our urban/suburban settings.
A reflective Elul to all…and an early shana tova u’metuka!
Ron Wolfson
August 27th, 2009 at 7:32 am
August 27th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
Shalom All,
@Rabbi Jamie: Thanks for addressing my original question above re the utility of your learnings as the Adventure Rabbi, in an urban/suburban synagogue setting. While the questions you pose re Psalm 23 and Job (without the backdrop of Nature) may be of interest to someone like me, i.e., one who is already engaged in Jewish life and study, I have my doubts as to the efficacy of this approach (without the backdrop of Nature) with those on the margins of Jewish life. Psalm 23 and Job have to earn their way back into the consciousness of most non Orthodox Jews who have all but given up on Judaism and the synagogue for anything beyond a life cycle or High Holiday fix.
My other questions above remain as yet without a response.
@Dr. Ron: Extending a hand is a wonderful beginning; i.e., making a warm and welcoming, first impression. The bigger questions remain: What will the rest of the High Holiday experience look and feel like, especially to those who we don’t otherwise see during the the rest of the year and may not see ever again?
What are we going to do that will deeply penetrate the hearts and minds of the members of our communities so that they will choose to engage with the synagogue and Judaism in a more meaningful way (beyond the near trivial lifecycle and High Holiday fix) after the High Holidays?
In the consumerist world in which we live where “what’ s in it for me,” is the operative question, “relevance” is the key to bringing the disenchanted, disengaged majority of Jews back to Judaism and the synagogue. Theses folks will not even think about no less care about “Job and Psalm 23,” until Judaism and the synagogue prove that they understand their lives as they are lived and experienced in the 21rst century. The folks want to know that the synagogue and and Jewish teaching, have “walked a mile in their moccasins.” People ought to leave the synagogue saying, “yes they really get it,” and not “so what,” or heaven forbid, “whatever.” The only hope for Judaism’ s life transforming prescription of a life of holiness is through the doorway of relevance.
I just heard from a Rabbi friend of mine that President Obama, had a conference call very recently that was open to all rabbis from the non orthodox wings of Judaism. The President called for the rabbis to help him in getting his healthcare initiative passed by seeing this as a moral issue and not a political issue. Obviously the President realizes the unique opportunity presented by the High Holidays to reach more Jews in the pews than otherwise seen the rest of the year. So it’ s now obvious to me that at least one High Holiday sermon this year in many if not most non orthodox synagogues likely will be on this topic.
And it won’ t have any carryover value for the rest of the year re involvement in the synagogue nor in “doing” Judaism.
President Obama and his team better understand the importance of this unique opportunity to reach the Jews in the pews with his vision for healthcare than we do with our vision for the synagogue and non orthodox Judaism!?!!??!! What a shame!!!
In the High Holiday liturgy we find “B’ rosh hashana yikateivun, u’ v’ yom tsom kippur, yeikhateimun, mi yixyeh umi yamut…” On Rosh haShanah it is written and on Yom Kippur it is sealed; who shall live and who shall die…..
So the question is “will the synagogue and non orthodox Judaism be inscribed and sealed in the Book of Life for the coming year?” God only knows and it doesn’ t seem like we’ re doing m uch to help Her/Him out with the decision.
What is the necessary redefinition of “t’ shuvah, t’ fillah, u’ ts’ daqah” needed to “avert the severe decree” i.e., to change the fate of the synagogue and non-orthodox Judaism?
Biv’ racha,
Jordan Goodman
September 3rd, 2009 at 4:31 pm
Hi Rabbi Jessica,
The other day it came to my attention that a woman brought to the attention of the office that she had just resigned her membership, because she did not receive so much as a phone call in the last two years welcoming her to the Temple. How sad!
Ron Wolfson identifies the challenge in his observation that (He is) “shocked at how few of the “regulars” take the initiative to welcome/engage the new people.” Jessica elucidates the point in her statement, “we so want community, we want to celebrate Shabbat together, we want to learn about Judaism, we want to build meaningful Jewish identities.” We want to build relationships in a community of people we care about.
The problem is (easily) addressed. “Offer a hand” and they will come (return)–once they learn that temple life, in the mountains of the Rockies or in Manhattan, offers them such a possibility.
L’Shalom,
Barry