Subscribe to Print Edition | Sun., February 17, 2008 Adar1 11, 5768 | | Israel Time: 17:10 (EST+7) web haaretz.com   Back to Homepage Rosner's Domain Diplomacy Defense Jewish World Opinion National Print Edition Advertising Books Arts & Leisure Business Real Estate Easy Start Travel Week's End Anglo File

Dancing on Shabbat morning. This year's Biennial revealed a shifting center of gravity. (Shmuel Rosner) Last update - 06:56 22/12/2007 A changing Reform movement attempts to resurrect Shabbat By Shmuel Rosner, Haaretz Correspondent Tags: San Diego, Eric Yoffie  SAN DIEGO - The kabbalat shabbat ceremony, welcoming the Sabbath on Friday evening, began with a joke. On the dais, behind the microphone and the podium, and facing about 5,000 worshipers, stood Rabbi Donald Goor. "Shana tova [Happy New Year]!" he greeted his amused congregation. Many of those present watched his image on huge screens suspended from the ceiling of the conference center - in a hall that had been turned into a synagogue last Friday and Saturday, during the biennial conference of the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ). Shana tova, Rabbi Goor explained with a smile, because when a prayer hall is so full, a rabbi knows that the Days of Awe have arrived. An audience like this doesn't converge on the synagogue at just any old time. Goor did not necessarily intend to link his opening remarks to the central theme that the movement's president, Rabbi Eric Yoffie, chose to address this year. However, the connection is possible: If Goor's joke was aimed at his own movement - whose members are not necessarily strict about attending synagogue all year around - then this is exactly the phenomenon targeted by Yoffie's speech. Advertisement The president of the movement, who only once in two years garners attention like this from thousands of the movement's rabbis, cantors and congregational leaders, opted this year to speak about Saturday mornings. This is such a basic issue that it is almost surprising to talk about it: to propose to a Jew that he go to synagogue on Saturday morning? The Reform movement, it emerges, has been changing at a dizzying pace, and more changes are on the way. In what Yoffie calls the process of "push and pull" that determines the desirable degree of a Reform Jew's traditionalism, the rabbi demonstrated a very forceful and energetic pull. And no, he did not intend to propose Sabbath observance according to the traditional rabbinical rules, in the style of the Shulhan Arukh (the 16th-century code of Jewish law). But there has to be a Sabbath, and a Reform Sabbath; the time has come to clarify exactly what that is. Attendance On the eve of the well-attended biennial event, which involved nearly a week of meetings, discussions, lectures and group work, the URJ completed an online survey (see box) among movement members. More than half said that they attended Friday night services, even if not with strict regularity. Only 25 percent said that the Saturday morning service succeeded in getting them out of the house. Even among the rabbis and the cantors of the movement, only 57 percent said they worship on Saturday mornings. "A major religious movement does not forgo regular Shabbat morning communal prayer," said Yoffie last Saturday morning, speaking in that hall, on that dais, to that same audience that had laughed at Goor's joke. A day earlier, on the 25th floor of the Marriott Hotel, from his room overlooking the glittering blue bay of San Diego, Yoffie said that he discerns that the movement is "ready." Over a period of years now, its members have grown accustomed to a renewed emphasis on ritual and traditions that were heretofore neglected. Some of them through gritted teeth - and with a feeling that the Reform Jews are no longer as "Reform" as they were in the past - many imbued with the joy of rediscovery. In a parallel survey undertaken in 2001, only 32 percent of the respondents said they lit candles on Friday evening. This year, 55 percent said they did. In 2001, half of the respondents said that "being Jewish involves studying Torah"; this year, 82 percent said so. This year, participants in the biennial worshiped from the movement's new prayer book, "Mishkan Tefilah" (about which we have written in these pages). Nearly the entire service was recited ... in Hebrew. And this, too, is one aspect of a continuing movement in the direction of tradition. Change The shifting of the "center of gravity" of Sabbath services from Saturday morning to the evening before was no mishap. It was a revolution, perhaps one of the most important in the history of this movement and in the history of American Jewry, and it happened about 150 years ago. On Saturday mornings back then, most Jews went to work and were not at leisure to worship. The changing hours of the formal start of the Sabbath also did not always suit their needs. Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise - the pioneering founder of the Reform movement in America - offered late Friday night services as a new institution, better suited to the modern era. In his congregation, he scheduled this service for 7 P.M. Thus, he explained, the members would be able to leave services in time to make it to the performance of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. And as the status of the Friday evening service grew stronger, that of Saturday morning services grew weaker. If Reform Jews used to work on Saturday, today they are doing other and apparently no-less-important things. Only few attend the morning service. The rest are busy: with their children's sports activities, shopping, outings, lazing around. Therefore, Rabbi Daniel Gottlieb, speaking during the biennial last Thursday, noted that the question is not how we are going to get people to worship on Saturday morning, but rather how we are going to get them to temple. Gottlieb represents a model congregation when it comes to the Sabbath: Temple Kol Ami in Thornhill, Ontario, near Toronto, with 240 families, where he has served as spiritual leader for 12 years. The discussion at which he spoke - "Reform Reforms Shabbat" - was attended by representatives of congregations like his own: those who hadn't waited for the movement's directives, but had already begun independently to initiate the return of Saturday morning to the center of attention. They came from Abington, Pennsylvania, from Charlotte, North Carolina, from Hillsboro, New Jersey. And there are more like them. Yoffie mentioned Congregation B'nei Israel in Bridgeport, Connecticut, which rescheduled Saturday morning services for 8 A.M., so that they are now attended by "parents with children in soccer uniforms, and merchants who open their stores 10 A.M." In Gottlieb's congregation, it wasn't the clock that played a major role in this process, but rather a different, far more dramatic move - one frequently discussed in congregations interested in strengthening Saturday mornings, although few dare to implement it: At Kol Ami they have moved Sunday school - the educational framework in which most Jewish children in America learn the little Judaism that they know - to Saturday morning. Thus, the children come to study Judaism, the parents who drive them there are pulled inside, and activities are arranged to suit the family's convenience. And there is also a bonus: It isn't necessary to come to temple again on Sunday. It is clear to everyone that coming two mornings in a row is way too much for most families. Cult For more than a decade and a half now, the congregation of which Richard Molish is a member - Beth Am in Pennsylvania - has been holding a Shabbat morning service for congregants in a side room. He doesn't call it "alternative." A few dozen worshipers attend the service, which they also conduct. The rabbi is not present. He is busy. And now, when Yoffie is trying to rehabilitate Saturday morning services, another sacred cow that he needs to slaughter is standing in his way: the bar-mitzvah ceremony. This is the reason the rabbi of Molish's congregation is busy on Saturday mornings - and the reason that many members of Reform congregations are uncomfortable worshiping at the main service. What is left of that service, in a considerable portion of the temples, is a ritual that has become a monster, scaring worshipers away from the horror show of the cult of bar-mitzvah boys and girls. Saturday mornings have been hijacked by the celebrating, demanding, spoiled families that expect full and exclusive attention to themselves. Yoffie was relatively polite when he talked about this. "How painful it is," he said, "to sit in a service where the child is the star and the theme is 'Steven Schwartz, king for a day,' or 'Sarah Goldstein, queen for a day.' Inevitably, this leads to speeches in which every boy or girl is smarter than Einstein, a better soccer player than Mia Hamm, more of a computer whiz than Bill Gates, and more of an activist than Bono." When he spoke about the bar-mitzvah issue, there were those in the hall who said "Amen." The time has apparently come to set this matter straight. The bar mitzvah, Yoffie noted, is a ritual that is supposed to bring the boy or girl into the congregation - but how can they be brought into a congregation that is not present? How will they join when in most synagogues the only people there on a Saturday morning are guests of the family, who are united by one thing only - the "invitation?" In any case, the Reform movement is facing a major challenge. I agree, said Yoffie, that most members "are not there yet." They have not reached the level that will enable increased commitment that includes attendance on Saturday mornings and perhaps other efforts as well. For example, turning off Blackberries on the Sabbath, or refraining from any housework. A Sabbath that lasts for 24 hours - not for two, on Friday night. Two years from now, at the conference in Toronto, the movement is promising to make special note of congregations and individuals who observe Sabbath differently. New, Reform ways will be found for doing so. Indeed the movement is preparing to help in this process - via a new Internet site, "the Shabbat Blog," by distributing instructional and advisory materials, and by directing congregations toward the path that is appropriate for each of them. Thus, as they left the hall on the way to the anticipated meal after a long morning of prayer and the Torah reading, and a programmatic speech that is given once every two years, each biennial participant received a small box, the size of a deck of cards. Indeed, it contained 52 cards for 52 Sabbaths. On each card - a suggestion. For example: "I will try to do something cultural in the afternoon - go to a museum, listen to the Metropolitan Opera broadcast, etc." On the box was written: celebration, joy, prayer, friends, study, renewal. More Jewish World news and features Bookmark to del.icio.us   Seeking refuge 123 Sudanese refugees infiltrate Israel from Egypt overnight. Bracing for terror Israel, U.S. fear retaliatory strikes after killing of Mughniyah.   1.   STATE OF JUDIASM: OCCUPATION & APARTHIED 16:40  |  Romni 21/12/07   2.   Rediscover Shabbos 17:49  |  MichaelF 21/12/07   3.   And we`ve seen radical Islam 9-11 Bali, London, Spain etc. 17:52  |  Petra 21/12/07   4.   IF..... 17:58  |  Danite 21/12/07   5.   whay we need the Sabbath 18:06  |  Marbpl 21/12/07   6.   Romni 18:08  |  Dennis M Starkman 21/12/07   7.   Shabbat Never Died! 18:13  |  Joan 21/12/07   8.   The flag of the reform movement has fallen to the ground 18:22  |  Peter Eriksen 21/12/07   9.   I noticed a Shift in Haaretz 18:50  |  Yechiel 21/12/07   10.   I always thought I was reform... 19:08  |  Steve 21/12/07   11.   Romni, shut up. That has nothing to do with this. 19:16  |  Steve 21/12/07   12.   #7 - Joan, I think the problem MIGHT be.... 19:25  |  Steve 21/12/07   13.   #9 - justify "bad" 19:26  |  21/12/07   14.   daily killing of non-Jews apartheid 19:32  |  janet 21/12/07   15.   Why Reform is bad 20:20  |  Yechiel 21/12/07   16.   If Israelis want religon then why not Litvish Haredi? 20:22  |  Yechiel 21/12/07   17.   Reform movement figuring it out 22:27  |  Jon 21/12/07   18.   Positive article 00:23  |  Moises 22/12/07   19.   Yechiel, what do you expect to accomplish with that? 00:30  |  Moises 22/12/07   20.   Thank you Romni 04:34  |  Joseph 22/12/07   21.   An important shift - called for by the people 09:20  |  Mira 22/12/07   22.   and also ... 09:25  |  Mira 22/12/07   23.   #20 Mira 11:14  |  Peter Eriksen 22/12/07   24.   #22 Mira 11:47  |  Peter Eriksen 22/12/07   25.   Not all in Israel are or were Halactic Jewish proselytes. 13:33  |  John 22/12/07   26.   Ignorance 14:09  |  Reform Israeli 22/12/07   27.   to Joan No 7 14:23  |  Jackie 22/12/07   28.   gee, what an original idea 19:37  |  S 22/12/07   29.   The Reform traditionalist movement 19:59  |  Yonatan 22/12/07   30.   # 17 Jon 19:59  |  Jim 22/12/07   31.   either or 20:17  |  Nate 22/12/07   32.   # 25 John 20:21  |  Jim 22/12/07   33.   How I enjoy my Shabbat, and why being Orthodox would spoil it 20:29  |  Yonatan 22/12/07   34.   Peter Eriksen - Why Reform has not deserted its principles 20:36  |  Yonatan 22/12/07   35.   Jim, an uncircumcised Jew is still a Jew 22:10  |  John 22/12/07   36.   Jim, I hope you are understanding me? 22:42  |  John 22/12/07   37.   Orthodox: The Happiest Jews in the World 03:48  |  Yechiel 23/12/07   38.   This is why modern Orthodoxy is growing. 17:10  |  mea, too 23/12/07   39.   This is why modern Orthodoxy is growing. 20:36  |  HB 23/12/07   40.   Reform 09:38  |  Manny 24/12/07   41.   Yechiel will have to do extra hard work comes next Yom Kippur 14:03  |  hms 24/12/07   42.   A GREAT ORTHODOX MAN 18:37  |  Yechiel 24/12/07   43.   Rabbi Yoffe`s speech 21:38  |  Ellen Lerner 25/12/07   44.   # 17 Jon Sabbath an everlasting covenant 16:51  |  Petra 17/02/08   45.   # 43 SHABBOS IS NOT TO BE SLIGHTED OR FORGOTTEN 16:55  |  Petra 17/02/08

Today Online Barak: Syria, Iran may help Hezbollah avenge Mughniyah Responses: 127 Issacharoff and Harel: What Hezbollah could lose in avenging Mughniyah Responses: 76 Yossi Sarid: Where is Israel's Barack Obama? Responses: 28 U.S. Reform leader supports concessions on Jerusalem Responses: 62 Gideon Levy: Killing Mughniyah was playing with fire Responses: 37 Rosner's Domain Brzezinski didn't show up (WTR) How would Obama handle Israel? Ex-advisors offer clues Clinton's peace team: the attacks on Rob Malley "vicious" (WTR) Most blatant example of Israeli interference in American election The U.S. and Mughniyah / Not just 'who' but also 'where' More Headlines 15:54 IDF soldier seriously wounded in southern Gaza Strip 15:41 Barak: Syria, Iran may help Hezbollah retaliate for Mughniyah killing 16:57 Kosovar PM declares Kosovo an independent, democratic state 17:08 Egypt: No Gaza border deal without consent of Israel, PA 17:08 Ministerial forum approves plan to fortify 8,000 Gaza-area homes 15:58 The row over Obama's stance on Israel is a dispute between Jews 16:44 Tiberias police detains suspect of mass fish poisoning 14:57 UN humanitarian chief visits Sderot, condemns Qassam rocket fire 13:15 U.S. Reform leader says supports concessions on Jerusalem 15:52 Knesset panel to propose amendment to wiretapping procedure 15:39 French FM to Peres: Lack of progress in PA-Israel talks is dangerous 10:54 Likud MK: Stop prisoner talks until Hezbollah provides sign of life Previous Editions Select Day 15 feb 14 feb 13 feb 12 feb 11 feb 10 feb 08 feb 07 feb 06 feb 05 feb 04 feb 03 feb

Special Offers Advertisement Fattal Hotel Chain Perfectly located hotels on best resorts of Israel. ISRAEL BONDS Build Israel Israel bonds - a multi-purpose way to celebrate Israel's 60th Dead Sea Salt Beauty and skin care from the Dead Sea. Coupon code HAARETZ for 10% off! Eldan Rent a Car Israel's leading car rental company offers you a 20% discount on all online reservations U.S. CITIZEN IN ISRAEL Register now to vote in national election. Do not wait. Junkyard Junk a car - get free towing nationwide and a tax-deductible receipt