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[sh'liach k'hilah] outreach (mostly)
On to outreach...
The instructor stressed that "outreach" really means two things to her -- ahavat ger, welcoming the stranger, and kiruv, drawing (everyone) near. Our goal should be to build welcoming communities in general, recognizing that we have a diverse community with different needs. She also scored points with me by saying we need to not neglect the knowledgable, committed Jews in the process, or assume that everyone is a family (with kids). Data point: the NJPS survey in 2000 found that only 20% of Jewish households consisted of two parents plus kids; we (she says, and I agree) under-serve 80% of our households. (She talked about some programs that the Reform movement encourages to aid in all this; we received literature. :-)
We also received some good checklists on the theme of "is your congregation user-friendly?". Some of the points are excessive in my opinion (e.g. they suggest that your yellow-pages ad include a map), but others are things we could definitely be doing better on.
During the conversion class we looked at two texts, Avram's covenant with God and Ruth's conversion to Judaism. I noticed two interesting things here. First, with Avram God is the priority; with Ruth it seems to be more about peoplehood, with God as a side-effect. Second, Avram is given some assurances by God; Ruth is making a leap of faith with no real basis for predicting the outcome. (Will she be accepted by these people?) At least Avram had an invitation. So I guess it makes sense that Ruth rather than Avram is the model for conversion, because most of us don't receive divine invitations to do anything these days, but Avram's story makes a better source in setting priorities IMO. Yeah, we're also a people, but I think God has to come first or what's the point? (I realize this view is controversial with some.)
I found the CCAR guide on conversion to be largely familiar, which isn't surprising. :-) (The guide post-dates my conversion but had clearly been in progress for some years. My rabbi didn't follow it, but he did a lot of the same things and surely had input into the guide.) The format is clever: they have the core guidelines in the center of the page, with commentary, alternatives, and suggestions for implementation around the outside. It sort of resembles a page of talmud, which can't have been an accident.
According to the guide there are six questions a would-be convert has to answer affirmatively before being accepted. (This is a necessary, not sufficient, condition.) My rabbi used those same six but added a single word to one of them when I had to answer them; he added the word "exclusively" to "if you should be blessed with children, do you promise to raise them as Jews?". I approve of his addition. While I'm all for being as welcoming as we can to interfaith families, I have seen too much evidence that a child raised with two religions ends up with zero, and if you aren't ready to raise your hypothetical children as Jews, perhaps you need to rethink whether you'll be able to keep Judaism alive in your home in other ways.
I note in passing that the CCAR resolution on patrilineal descent -- which doesn't quite say what many people think it does -- also requires an exclusive religion for the child. I wonder how widely this one is enforced; the class on education and curriculum brought up the problems of dealing with kids who alternate between your Sunday school and the church's, or who celebrate both Christmas and Chanukah. Of course, sometimes doctrine and poltiics are at odds with each other.
facing which way
Background note: I was raised "Orthodox" (although rather unorthodox in some ways), and my husband's family goes to a Conservative synagogue (and I worked in one for a while), so those are the types of services I'm most familiar with.
The idea of the chazan facing the congregation is new to me, so I'm curious when/where this started. The closest thing I've seen is the torah reader facing the congregation (in a Conservative synagogue), but for the prayer parts of the service the chazan was facing the ark along with everyone else.
Re: facing which way
I don't know when/where it started. It certainly seems to be the norm in Reform, but two of the three local Conservative synagogues do it too, except during the Amidah, Barchu, and Aleinu, where everyone faces the ark. That's what I've seen in most Orthodox services I've visited too, though I don't have a lot of experience there, particularly with the farther-right Orthodox.
Apparently the trend had become common at least in the Reform movement by 1962, because that's when this article was written.
The closest thing I've seen is the torah reader facing the congregation (in a Conservative synagogue),
Wow. Every torah reading I've seen, including those few Orthodox, has been with the desk facing the congregation. (I've never been to a Sephardi synagogue, where I understand they put the reading desk in the middle of the room, facing front.)
but for the prayer parts of the service the chazan was facing the ark along with everyone else.
Including for things like nisim b'chol yom and p'sukei d'zimra?
Re: facing which way
Huh. Most of my experience is with "modern Orthodox" and slightly more to the right. (Much further to the right is likely to have problems with my learning gemara, wearing pants, and/or following my family's tradition and not covering my head/hair all the time even though I'm married.)
I've put an entry in my LJ asking what others have seen.
(I've never been to a Sephardi synagogue, where I understand they put the reading desk in the middle of the room, facing front.)
I've seen this in at least one Sephardi synagogue and various Ashkenazi synagogues too. I've also seen the chazan put in the middle of the room, facing front, which would mean he's facing some of the congregation, but they're facing front too*, so I think there's less of the issue of self-consciousness that you mentioned at the start of this thread.
*or sideways towards the middle, except for one place where the congregation is seated on all sides of a hexagon, facing in, so a few are face-to-face with the chazan.
Including for things like nisim b'chol yom and p'sukei d'zimra?
Yup, including the brachot at the beginning (is that what you mean by "nisim b'chol yom"?), korbanot, and p'sukei d'zimra.
It occurred to me that the rabbi (and sometimes a few other people) are often seated at the front of the room, next to the ark and facing the congregation. I wonder if this is connected to having the chazan face everyone else, possibly starting with small congregations where the rabbi led the services because few if any others knew how...
Re: facing which way
As something of an outsider to orthodoxy, I can't always correctly identify the substrains. I have been to multiple congregations that called themselves modern orthodox, to one that was definitely farther to the right (I don't know if "black hat" applies, though there were many in attendance), one Lubavich service where the mechitzah was so high and opaque that I couldn't actually see what they were doing on the men's side, and a couple ambiguous ones. Much of this was a few years back, though, so my memories may be fuzzy. I know the torah reader in at least one of the MO congregations faced the congregation, for what little that's worth. (I've been there a few times.)
I look forward to hearing the results of your survey. Most of my experience is concentrated in one city.
Yup, including the brachot at the beginning (is that what you mean by "nisim b'chol yom"?), korbanot, and p'sukei d'zimra.
Yeah, that's the part I meant. (I've heard the term applied specifically to the sequence that includes all the "...who opens the eyes of the blind", "...who gives strength to the weary", etc brachot.)
Korbanot? (I know the word, but not in a liturgical context.)
It occurred to me that the rabbi (and sometimes a few other people) are often seated at the front of the room, next to the ark and facing the congregation. I wonder if this is connected to having the chazan face everyone else, possibly starting with small congregations where the rabbi led the services because few if any others knew how...
That makes sense. Our rabbi faces the congregation during most of the service. (We typically have a rabbi and a cantorial soloist on the bima -- also a couple other people, but they sit to the sides and sort of face in at an angle, so they're not directly facing the congregation.)
Re: facing which way
Saying the sections from the torah that describe the daily sacrifices (and the additional ones as appropriate on shabbat, rosh chodesh, etc) between nisim b'chol yom and p'sukei d'zimra.
I think many/most Conservative & Reform leave this out, the same way they changed the wording of the relevant section in the shemone esrei from future to past (making the korbanot only a thing of the past and not something to be resumed in the future).
Re: facing which way