ReThinking Synagogues: A New Vocabulary for Congregational Life (review)

At the beginning of the 21^st century, congregational life has changed. Yet synagogue boards complain that they are having the same conversation over and over without change or an end in sight. ReThinking Synagogues challenges congregations to change the conversation from what we do to why we do it, from what works to what counts, from surface changes to building a deep foundation, and from adding on more programs to changing the structure to respond to the essence and meaning of why we are here as a synagogue community.

Rabbi Larry Hoffman, professor of Liturgy, Worship and Ritual at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, New York partnered with Ron Wolfson, Vice President and Director of the Whizin Center for the Jewish Future at the University of Judaism to create Synagogue 2000 (now 3000), an experiment in changing congregational culture. This book, and Ron Wolfson’s book, The Spirituality of Welcoming: How to Transform Your Congregation into a Welcoming Community (Vermont: Jewish Lights Publishing, 2006), are an outgrowth of Hoffman’s work in congregations with the Synagogue 2000 program.

Hoffman’s vision for the synagogue of the future is about “doing synagogue differently.” He challenges lay leaders as well as Jewish professionals to effect congregational transformation, based on six tasks, or PISGAH—Prayer, Institutional Change, Study, Good Deeds, Ambience of the Sacred, and Healing. Synagogue 2000 insists that the synagogue has to be God-centered, a Sacred Community, meaning that everything—relationships, agenda, activities, debate—in a synagogue community has to be purposefully dedicated to the recognition of God’s reality. It is a “conscious theologizing of synagogue life.” Hoffman relates that this had enormous consequences because it insisted that Jewish gathering alone was not enough of a reason for synagogues to exist. Other Jewish organizations are very successful at bringing in the Jews. So, Synagogue 2000 emphasized ritual in every part of synagogue life—reciting blessings as part of board and committee meetings, beginning meetings with check-ins so that participants really knew one another, and frequently meeting over meals. Most of all, members were to treat everyone as made in the image of God. Instead of being limited liability communities, in which members related to the synagogue as a sort of marketplace—to “get” a bar mitzvah— leaders are encouraged to think about synagogue life through a different lens, with the focal point being sacred community. Synagogue is thus “re-thought” as a place where people meet not just to do business, but to break bread, study, pray, and share the joys and sorrows and meanings of life together. This transformative change envisions that everything the synagogue does is related to a higher purpose, creating a community in which people can find a connection with the sacred, a sense of life’s purpose and meaning, and a place to connect with God and with others who are on the same Jewish journey.

As a rabbi, I greatly appreciate the challenges that face the American synagogue of the 21^st century. And, having had the opportunity to participate in the Synagogue 2000 program for congregational life, I have witnessed firsthand the vibrant revolution that becomes possible when we begin rethinking the synagogue in this way. Hoffman has provided a creative and fresh approach to “doing synagogue” for the future. This text is a wonderful resource for congregational leaders, and should be part of a program of required reading and discussion for synagogue boards. If synagogue leaders are change-ready and willing to invest the time and energy necessary to reinvent the synagogue, as Hoffman details in this book, we will indeed be on the path toward a true Jewish spiritual transformation.