Synagogues in a Time of Change: Fragmentation and Diversity in Jewish Religious Movements - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 156699389X ISBN 13: 9781566993890

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2009

Synopsis

The synagogue remains a central institution in Jewish life as a place of study, worship, and assembly, but each day brings word of a new challenging development within each of the larger movements to which synagogues belong—Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist. Jewish religious communities today share a number of challenges, from the increase in secular or unaffiliated Jews to emerging Jewish spiritual communities forming outside the synagogue. There has never been a more compelling need for a wide-ranging discussion of the diverse issues facing American Judaism.
Brought together by Zachary I. Heller, associate director of the National Center for Jewish Policy Studies, and an editorial team which included Rabbis David Gordis, Hayim Herring, and Sanford Seltzer, twenty of the leading Jewish thinkers—rabbis, scholars, authors, professors, activists, and experts in the study of the American synagogue—have contributed to this comprehensive collection of essays. Each writer brings unique expertise and perspective in describing the development of contemporary religious movements (denominations) in American Judaism, their interrelationships and tensions, and their prospects for the future. Their combined voices create a timely discussion of the many urgent issues bearing down on American synagogues.
Contributors to Synagogues in a Time of Change take on the changing dynamics of synagogue life, its organization into movements, and the organic changes taking place that are causing those movements to lose their coherence and strength, both internally and as an attractive force for seekers of Jewish religious tradition and expression. They address the current fiscal issues that face the movement organizations and the broader questions of their future stability as well as their significance and continued relevance to individual congregations. Ultimately, the book is a catalyst for personal reflection and public discussion on the past, present and future of the American synagogue.
The issues faced by Judaism in America are not unique to Jewish religious movements. Many of the issues facing synagogues will be familiar to those of all faiths. Indeed, the book includes an essay by Rodney L. Petersen of the Boston Theological Institute on denominationalism, nondenominationalism, and postdenominationalism in American Christian communities that helps us see these parallels. Religious groups of all kinds will find reflections of common struggles that can provide a vehicle for constructive conversations about their own pressing issues.

About this title

About the Author:

Rabbi Zachary I. Heller was a congregational rabbi for over thirty years before joining the National Center for Jewish Policy Studies as associate director. He has served in several international leadership roles, including as president of the World Council of Conservative/Masorti Synagogues, and has lectured and taught in twenty-two countries from Russia and the Ukraine to Australia. Among his recent publications is Re-envisioning the Synagogue.

Review:

Havurot and such Orthodox outreach programs as Chabad and Aish Ha Torah also get a nod. Throughout its long history Judaism has absorbed ideas from other cultures and re-interpreted them in the Jewish idiom. Nowhere is this more evident than in the form and content of synagogue life in America today. Rabbi Heller and the other distinguished essayists tell the story as no one else has. (Alfred H. Moses)

Do denominations matter? In this timely and provocative volume—part description, part prescription, part analysis, part case-study—some of American Jewry’s most effervescent minds wrestle with this vital question. Their contributions, no two alike, paint a vivid portrait of synagogue life today: fractious, fast-changing, and fecund. Judaism in the years ahead may be 'nondenominational,' 'transdenominational,' 'postdenominational,' or just plain 'denominational,' this book suggests, but in the final analysis the future depends upon vibrant and successful synagogues. Memorable chapters introduce us to some of those synagogues, and to their strategies for revitalizing American Jewish life. (Jonathan D. Sarna, Brandeis University)

This volume which considers the question do denominations matter could not have come at a more opportune moment. All who care about forging a path toward a robust, financially secure, and meaningful future for American Jewish life will be drawn to the thought-provoking essays in this volume. Many of the brightest and most effective Jewish leaders on the contemporary scene offer historical reflections, personal observations, and incisive insights into the venues, demographics and sensibilities that hold the key to the renaissance of synagogue life that is so essential to the vitality of American Jewry. (Shuly Rubin Schwartz, Associate Professor of American Jewish History and Dean of the Albert A. List College of Jewish Studies, Jewish Theological Seminary of America)

About this edition

• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 156699389X
• ISBN 13: 9781566993890
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 266
• Editor: Heller Zachary I.