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chapter 8 Beit Knesset Hazon A Visionary Synagogue Isa Aron with Nachama Skolnik Moskowitz Beit Knesset Hazon, a Reform congregation whose modest building is tucked away on a side street of an East Coast suburb, does not look like an educational powerhouse. At 8:15 on a Sunday morning in November it looks quiet, even a bit sleepy. But as the building fills with the voices of teachers, students, and parents, it becomes clear that this is no ordinary congregation. Every available space, including the back of the social hall and the offices of half the professional staff, are used as classrooms for the Yesod (elementary) program, which runs on double sessions. Seven adult classes (including beginning and intermediate Hebrew, Talmud, and a course entitled “What Does it Mean to be Israel?”) meet in a public school down the road. Groups of middle school students set out for the sites of their “ma’asim tovim” (good deeds) social action projects. From 10:45 to 11:15, in between the first and second sessions, fifty members of the AlefBet choir sit at the front of the bimah, singing in harmony, and with hand motions, while their parents sit, beaming, in the audience. At 1:30, fifteen minutes after the second session has ended, the Mishpacha Missions social action group prepares for a visit to a senior citizen center; and the teachers sit down to lunch, to be followed by two and a half hours of professional development. The maintenance staff scurries to and fro with tables and chairs, and the social hall is set up for a sixth grade family education program, which runs from 4:30 to 6:30. And, just to round things off, from 7:00 to 8:30 forty adults meet for a class called “Modern Israel: Beyond the Headlines.” On a different Sunday afternoon one might see one or more of the seven 236 ❖ Job Name: 560670 PDF Page: txt_560670.p254.pdf denisek high school havurot (friendship groups), such as the Jewish Actor’s Workshop or Sherut (literally “service”—devoted to community service and social justice). One might, in addition, see Chug HaSefer (the book club), a family-based alternative to the religious school that is still in the pilot stage, and a number of different adult classes. All this in addition to the Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon classes, weekday adult classes, and the Shabbatonim, that are held off-site. What makes this rich and variegated menu of educational offerings even more impressive is that it is relatively new, and viewed very much as a work in progress. Ten years ago there was only a religious school that was, in the words of one parent, “really a mess”; ten years from now there are likely to be many additional changes. To fully appreciate Beit Knesset Hazon (BKH)1 one must understand both its recent past and its aspirations for the future. Perfect Storm You asked about how it all happened and I started thinking . . . [it was] a bit of a perfect storm . . . This is the congregation that disproves the [idea] that it is all about the rabbi . . . [It] was a lay-driven revolution that was happening here. We did not have rabbinic support. Sometimes we had resistance and sometimes we just had neglect, but it was really a lay-driven thing for many, many years. —Brenda Hecht, former vice president for learning Founded in 1949, BKH had approximately 350 member units in 1994, the year Irwin Levy became president of the congregation. “I became president , I think, because no one else wanted to be . . . there was just an apathy that existed in the synagogue,” Irwin notes. It was not long before people began coming to him to complain. “Everybody had their own problem. So it became clear to me that we had no direction, we were having a lot of problems.” Irwin decided to bring together a small group of potential leaders for a day-long retreat, at which they could dream together about the synagogue ’s future. He had been active in the local Federation, and sought advice from a key Federation professional. “I said, ‘Carl, I’m in way over my head. I have no idea what I’m doing.’ And Carl said ‘I’ll do whatever I can do to help you.’ I said, ‘Well I’d like you to come to a meeting and help us form a vision.’” Everyone present remembers Carl Taller’s speech, the same speech he 237 Aron...

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