Big Tent Judaism

Making Jewish Memories that Matter

I haven’t been a congregational rabbi since 1984, although I have pinched hit for colleagues every so often for Shabbat and holidays. And I still receive invitations to speak and teach and the like so I feel like I still have my finger on the pulse of congregational life. When I was in the pulpit, I served a large New England congregation that was affiliated with the Reform movement. Nevertheless, it has certainly anomalies of which I was proud. It was a pro-Zionist congregation from its founding—even at a time, thankfully well behind us when the Reform movement was not so inclined. It had daily services and encouraged its members to recite kaddish in the daily minyan when they were obligated to do so. I could go on. But one of the things that it did share with many other of its peer institutions was its level of decorum. There were just certain things that were not to take place in the synagogue.

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Sharing Shabbat and Jewish Life

Although the most often repeated commandment in the torah is to “welcome the stranger,” we still see the Jewish community struggle daily to adhere to this principle. Whether the “stranger” is a spouse of another background or someone unaffiliated with the community, doors never seem to open wide enough to welcome everyone in. But Temple Beth El, a synagogue in Spring Valley, NY, recently took steps to try and reverse this trend among the Jewish families in their area. They held a Shabbat of Sharing service which was designed to “explain some of the rituals and traditions of Reform Judaism to interfaith couples and others wishing to learn more about the religion.”

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Advancing the Cause of Inclusion for Jews with Special Needs

JOI established the Big Tent Judaism Coalition as a way to bring together organizations across the globe that all shared a common goal: to create an inclusive and welcoming Jewish community. Specifically, this means doing more to welcome in folks who have traditionally experienced barriers to participation, including intermarried families, children of intermarriage, Jews-by-Choice, and LGBT Jews. While much is being done to help better integrate these folks in the Jewish community, one segment of the population is all too often overlooked, except by a dedicated few – Jews with special needs.

Writing in eJewishPhilanthropy.com, Rabbi Mitch Cohen, Director of the National Ramah Commission, believes this is something of a travesty. “Despite all of the 21st century political correctness in our discourse, public accommodations in our infrastructure and spirit of inclusiveness in our society, those with special needs… are still locked out of so many moments of meaningful involvement and growth.”

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The Value of Free

[The following article originally appeared in the Examiner.com. We invite you to Click Here and sign up to receive email alerts when new Examiner articles are published by Rabbi Kerry M. Olitzky]

The Jewish community has just concluded its fall holiday season. No more holidays until Hanukkah (this year, at the beginning of December, several weeks in anticipation of Christmas). With the end of the fall holidays, the expensive tickets for the so-called High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur give way to the fall tribute season which now begins in earnest. What was thought to be expensive for “pay-to-pray” tickets seems to pale in comparison to the various levels of giving, albeit voluntary, for these tribute events. Even though they are all for the worthy cause of sustaining the Jewish community, its institutions, and furthering its good works, many young Jews today have a completely different outlook when it comes to paying for the ability to participate in Jewish communal life.

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With God as My Companion

[This blog entry originally appeared on the website of Jewish Lights publishing]

With the exception of Shabbat and holidays, I exercise each day. And I write each day. Both activities are part of my daily routine. When I am not able to do them, for any reason, I feel diminished, out of sorts, off. I also pray each day—three times, actually—and unlike the other two regular parts of my daily regimen, this is what really provides me an anchor among the shifting sands of our chaotic world. It helps me to maintain my dialogue with the Divine.

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Celebrating Rosh Hashanah in Cairo

Recently, in the New York Times, there was an article featured by travel writer Jennifer Conlin about her family’s experiences celebrating Rosh Hashanah in Cairo. The article is a poignant one, describing the family’s disorientation at trying to pray in a country where there are few or no Jews. But there is an added twist to this story: Ms. Conlin has an Irish Catholic heritage, and is mourning the loss of the support network in her British Jewish community which helped her raise her children as Jews.

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