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BY: MARGI HERWALD ZITELLI
City Editor
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| Roxanne Sukol covers her eyes while
leading candlelighting blessings at The Shul’s informal
Shabbat gathering. |
The Shul offers Judaism and
community in an informal setting
Denise Jaffe is busy
in the kitchen of her Pepper Pike home, setting up food to
feed around 30 guests. In the
living room, toddlers crawl
around the floor while couples in their 20s introduce
themselves to each other. Other couples and singles in their
50s and 60s mingle, discussing everything from Middle East
politics, to what they think of local synagogues, to “Project
Runway.” Rabbi Eddie Sukol stands in front of the bar
holding
two clear plastic containers, one filled with
kipot and one with Hebrew songbooks.
Welcome to Shabbat
at The Shul, a 10-month-old experiment in portable Judaism.
Sukol, 50, was a pulpit rabbi for 12 years at Congregation
Bethaynu before leaving the synagogue to start The Shul,
branded as a “synagogue-without-walls.” It is an informal,
nondenominational, home-based program for anyone who wants to
show up for a little nosh, a little singing, and a little
Jewish learning off the beaten path.
 |
| Rabbi Sukol gave up a pulpit to pursue
his idea of a “shul-without-walls.” |
While some of his
constituents describe him as a “pioneer,” Sukol insists “What
I’m doing is not unheard of in the synagogue
world.”
What happens inside “no walls”
The Shul
meets twice a month in people’s homes for Shabbat dinner. The
group n primarily baby boomers, but also including a variety
of ages and families with small children, notes Sukol n always
“welcomes Shabbat with singing” before traditional
blessings.
Bread for the motzi is Sukol’s homemade
“almost completely organic” wheat challah. The rabbi leads a
parents’ blessing of their children, his hands resting on his
son Micah’s head. Other parents follow suit. One man places
his hands on his wife’s pregnant belly.
After a potluck
dairy meal (out of respect for kashrut), Sukol leads the group
in an “interactive, informal, intergenerational learning”
session. The most popular activity is “Jewpardy,” in which
Sukol quizzes members on Judaic information in a format
similar to the game show “Jeopardy.” Members compete with
couples, families and good friends split from each other on
separate teams. But sometimes, the learning portion of The
Shul’s Shabbat is as traditional as Sukol leading a discussion
of the weekly Torah portion.
“Kids see parents learn;
parents see kids learn,” says The Shul’s education director
Randi Zeid. “It’s not ‘I’ll drop you off at Sunday school. You
go learn.’ It makes Judaism a family pursuit.”
In
addition to the twice-monthly Shabbat gatherings, Sukol leads
two adult weekday morning study groups, one at Corky &
Lenny’s that draws around 15 people, and a smaller one at
Barnes & Noble at Eton. He also facilitates in-home study
groups that members set up among their own groups of friends
and acquaintances.
No matter the age and Judaic study
experience of the group at Shabbat or at study sessions, The
Shul’s discussions are all based on “understanding how Judaism
can inform day-to-day decisions and putting Jewish values in
everyday life,” Sukol explains. So, while religious texts play
a part, overall discussion topics include issues like organ
donation, tattoos and piercings, or how parents can approach
discussing teen sexuality.
The Shul “really speaks to a
need,” says Dr. Roxanne Sukol, the rabbi’s wife of 30 years,
who leads singing and music programs for the group. “We need a
huge variety of ways to express ourselves Jewishly. And the
informality resonates with people.”
Sam Jaffe, host of this
particular Shabbat dinner, agrees. He and wife Denise
discovered The Shul at a time when they were “shul-less,”
having dropped membership at a synagogue they found too
“rigid.”
“This is nice,” Jaffe says with a smile. “You
can read as little or as much as you want (of Jewish texts).
It’s flexible.”
People’s reasons for attending The Shul
vary. A 20-something man admits that he never connected with
Judaism growing up, except the free-flowing dialogue of
confirmation class. The Shul reminds him of that. A
50-something single woman in attendance says she’s looking for
a spiritual environment in which she isn’t made to feel
excluded because she’s not part of a “family”
unit.
While kids and teens take part in the Shabbat
events, educational programs for youth are still being
developed, says Zeid. A student in the Moreshet program run by
Siegal College and the Jewish Education Center of Cleveland,
she is the only paid employee of The Shul. Zeid helps Sukol
plan the intergenerational Shabbat programs and this fall,
will launch a religious school. Children grades K-2 will
participate alongside their families, while grades 3-6 will
work with Zeid and Sukol on learning Hebrew and prayer and
taking on social action projects. A program for teens will
follow shortly after the launch of the school; Zeid says it
will focus primarily on social action, Jewish values and
ethics.
The Shul also holds special
events and holiday celebrations, such as a Purim party. Among
Sukol’s favorites is the blessing of the animals. During the
week of the parsha relating to Noah and the ark, Shul members
bring their pets to the Metroparks for a special ceremony
Sukol developed. Participants have brought dogs, cats, birds
and guinea pigs.
Rabbi, why quit your job for
this?
“Cleveland is a wonderful, well-organized, active
and fairly geographically compact Jewish community,” Sukol
says, all of which gave him hope his shul-without-walls idea
could work. “I had sensed there was a target audience who
wanted something like this. I was right!”
Sukol read
demographic studies of both Cleveland’s Jewish community and
American Jewry in general. “The Jewish community has changed
dramatically since World War II,” he says. “We went from urban
to suburban, from a low rate of intermarriage to high. The
dividing line between Reform and Conservative has blurred, and
the line between Orthodox and non-Orthodox has become clearer.
And the community is aging. Yet, our communal institutions
haven’t changed as dramatically or at the same pace as their
members.”
That is not a criticism of established
congregations and Jewish institutions, Sukol insists.
“Institutions by their nature change slowly, and
membership-based organizations are struggling everywhere n not
just Jewish ones. So, I’m creating opportunities and
alternatives for people.”
When the CJN first spoke to
Sukol at the beginning of his Shul venture, he speculated that
it would draw members of Congregation Bethaynu who had a prior
relationship with him. While some of The Shul’s participants
are old friends from Bethaynu, the majority are
not.
Many are dues-paying members of various
traditional synagogues who also attend Shul programs. This
doesn’t surprise Sukol. “I love synagogues; they create Jewish
souls,” Sukol says. “But, the notion that a family joins a
synagogue and their Jewish needs are solely met (by that
single affiliation) is non-functional.”
Let’s get down
to business
The Shul officially opened its
(non-existant) doors at High Holidays 2007, when Sukol led
services in Solon High School’s senior lounge. Attendance was
strong; around 225 people discovered The Shul through
newspaper articles and word-of-mouth. But after the holidays,
Sukol felt his project was falling into a lull.
“What I
hoped for was happening but not always fast enough,” Sukol
admits. “Patience is not my strong suit.”
But
activities and interest picked up, and Sukol was able to
develop his programs once Zeid came on board to enhance
educational offerings. Supporter Leon Adato helped create a
website, which Sukol hopes to expand in the
future.
Sukol performs lifecycle ceremonies from baby
namings to funerals for Shul participants. When a sanctuary is
required, The Shul maintains a relationship with Temple Israel
Ner Tamid (TINT), which allows the group to rent its sanctuary
for b’nai mitzvah or weddings. TINT also loaned Sukol a Torah
scroll for Shul events. The Torah travels from event to event
in a portable “ark-without-walls” built by Shul supporter
Allen Frydenburg. It has an LED battery-operated ner tamid
(eternal light) and is sized perfectly to fit in the back of
Sukol’s Toyota Camry.
Sukol keeps Shul-goers up-to-date
on programs and events primarily through e-mail and text
messages, which he says both garners more notice and is more
cost effective than mass mailings. The Shul has a couple
hundred people on its e-mail list, with a core group of 25-45
frequent participants.
Initially, The Shul demanded no
dues or financial commitment. Now that the venture is up and
running, Sukol says he will begin asking frequent participants
to affiliate and provide some financial support. High Holiday
services will remain free and open to the
community.
The Shul is incorporated in the state of
Ohio, and its application for 501(c )3 nonprofit status is
pending so it can accept donations. As the only true employee
of the enterprise, Zeid receives a salary. But, is all this
enough to provide Sukol, who has three children ages 22, 19
and 15, financial compensation for his efforts?
“We’re
getting there,” he says with a shrug, “and on a pace I had
anticipated.”
While Sukol expects activity to slow down
over the summer, he and The Shul advisory board will be busy
planning for the future. In addition to the fall launch of the
religious school, his agenda includes a more traditional
Friday night service once a month, a request made by some
members. “It will feel more familiar for some people” than the
informal Shabbat potlucks, he concedes. “For people who have a
yahrzeit, they like to do that in the context of a
service.”
Also on the agenda: social activism. Part of
Sukol’s original plan for The Shul, the social action element
has been slow to get off the ground. He hopes to plan
activities in two categories: action (volunteering, holding
food drives) and advocacy (working with policy and
organizations).
As The Shul is “still young,
developing, and of modest size,” Sukol and company can respond
“fairly quickly” to members’ needs and suggestions. “Someone
puts an idea on the table; we can make it happen.”
mherwald@cjn.org
The
Shul calendar
Tuesday: Weekly study session, 9:15 a.m.
at Barnes & Noble at Eton
Thursday: Weekly study
session, 7:30 a.m. at Corky & Lenny’s
Friday: Twice
monthly Shabbat potluck dinners and services in Shul members’
homes
For more info: http://www.theshul.us/, rabbieddie@theshul.us
or 216-509-9969.
Evelyn wrote on Jul 4, 2008 11:31 AM:
" Rabbi Eddie
Sukol,
Wonderful and fascinating article, I really
enjoyed reading about your new venture.
Wishing you
much Mazel and may your congregation continue to
grow.
Best wishes always,
Evelyn Boxerbaum
"
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