Envisioning Jewish Peoplehood Project
It is no secret to those of us who live much (or most or even too much) of our Judaism online that there needs to be a fundamental change in the way we understand community and peoplehood in North America.
It is also not surprising that people often overreact—in both directions—saying that we must come back to the synagogue-old-world model and abandon this new-fangled-interwebs or that we should move to some new idea that uses a bunch of hyphens and words like “post” and “neo” or “proto” all strung together and pretends to be meaningful.
But like everything, there needs to be a balance. And there needs to be a way for those who are coming out of the old-world model to integrate the new with what they already know.
Almost Rabbi Melissa Zalkin Stollman, a friend of mine and rabbinic student at HUC in New York, has published her thesis online to address peoplehood and identity (and a few other things) through the lens of the “new” Judaism at the same time as asking these questions from a Reform Jewish perspective. The site looks at peoplehood, ritual, resources, media and music, and (of course) sports a blog.
This kinds of sums it up; from the introduction:
In today’s world, the Internet is the first stop for people of all ages when they need to find answers or community, even when it comes to Judaism. My 36-year old brother brought this home for me this past December when I asked if he needed me to email and sing the Chanukah blessings to him. He responded, “No thank you, I got them on Google through my new Droid phone.” If that doesn’t sum up where Judaism is today, then I don’t know what does. He used his cell phone to find his answer instead of using it to call his sister, the almost-rabbi. Who needs a synagogue when you have a Smartphone?
If you are interested check out Envisioning Jewish Peoplehood. While I do find it interesting, I do not agree with everything presented, but I suppose that is part of the point.
If that doesn’t sum up where Judaism is today, then I don’t know what does. He used his cell phone to find his answer instead of using it to call his sister, the almost-rabbi. Who needs a synagogue when you have a Smartphone?
I don’t get it. Is the point supposed to be that this is a problem? In that case, who needs a synagogue when you already know the Chanukah blessings?
DCC, thanks for the post and for the honesty. BZ – good point. I hadn’t thought of it that way. But, now that you have brought it to my attention I guess there is an assumption there that people know the blessings and what to do….and in my experience often that has not been the case. I guess maybe we should think creatively of trying to change that situation while still working to make synagogues important and relevant for people.
This is an interesting post. Out of curiosity, what is meant by the “synagogue-old-world” model? As I envision it, there’s no reason that it couldn’t be compatible with the internet – but maybe I don’t have the same concept in mind as dcc does.
I really appreciate this post. I think that the point is that for many of us we have lost what it means to have a community that say, gathers on a Friday night to sing zmiros, or just gets together to discuss issues of our Judaism. Rather we gather here, I know I do at least. At some point it seems as though, at least for me, in the frustration of not finding the type of community I was looking for, I became content with spaces like Jew School as my intellectual community. I will say however, that though I do thoroughly enjoy and appreciate this site, it doesn’t fill what I need in community.
Why ‘make’ synagogues important and relevant? If they are important, fine. If not, fine. The only things worth ‘making’ important are mitzvot, torah, ethical living, Judaism.
But synagogues? Just a tool. A concrete tool.