They’re Going to Come Back, It’s Just Going to Be Different

Recently, an article was posted on a site called Ministry Architects, a church consulting service.  The title of the post, for better and for worse, was “They’re Not Coming Back,” and points to many of the trends in the decline of organized religion that was accelerated by the pandemic.

For those of us who have not been looking at twenty-first-century synagogue life through a set of blinders, none of the claims were new to us.  Nonetheless, it struck true.  I’ve been in the shul business for twelve years now.  Apparently, it’s news in the Christian world that fewer people are prioritizing church.  In the Jewish world, we’ve been seeing this trend for far longer.

Certainly, these trends have accelerated in the pandemic.  Many who never came certainly won’t come back now (even if they did try Zoom services that one time).  The real question is: “what are we going to do to once again make our faith and our tradition compelling, interesting, and relevant?”

Here are some answers I’ve been musing about lately:

Meeting People Where They are At

While all of our in-person experiences have faltered during the pandemic, our outdoor/masked Tot Shabbat became wildly popular and has stayed popular even after the fact.  We rebranded it, held it outdoors, and called it a “Tailgate Tot Shabbat.”  Some families come to shul for the music, and for the Jewish engagement experience.  For most, it was the ennui to modern life in the pandemic.  Someday, I would love it if these families transition to the “main sanctuary” service.  My guess is that one might, but that most won’t.  What’s important is that we are meeting a need and it is working.

Our Shabbat L’Kulam experience is another way that we will be doing this for our broader community at large.  We are going to offer a wide variety of different kinds of meaningful, alternative spiritual experiences in addition to our standard service.  We’re then going to see what sticks.  We hope you’ll join us next Shabbat, October 30, for our first one.

Using small groups as a vehicle for engagements

A few years ago I met a pastor at the playground on East Cobb Park.  He told me that as the pastor of Buckhead Community Church, he oversees close to four hundred small groups.  Most of them have nothing to do with religion.  However, what building these small communities have done is make them more likely to be open to the possibility of religion.  Since that time, our synagogue has built a dozen of these groups through a program we call Roots.  Call it the reinvention of the traditional Chavura Model.

I am playing with my Wednesday golf group this week.  It’s a wonderful group of Shabbat regulars and non-regular service attendees, along with some new faces.  I’m confident for some of our less regular folks this could be a gateway to further involvement through meaningful relationship building.  For others, this could be it.  To be continued…

Building an Inclusive Vision

Even in our increasingly non-denominational world, I have long since reached the conclusion that Conservative Judaism is a philosophy that does a lot of good for the Jewish people.  We have a strong commitment to the Hebrew language.  We teach our adherents the language of prayer because we believe that it is best to communicate with God in the language of our ancestors.  We embrace egalitarianism.  We advocate for a serious commitment to Torah study and the performance of mitzvot.  We see Judaism as a lifelong commitment.  We support one another in life’s most challenging and joyful moments.

This vision should be accessible to all Jews and members of their families seeking this kind of relationship.  A colleague of mine once remarked that the only difference between a wall and a bridge is that a bridge is built when you knock over a wall onto its side.  We must build bridges to enable all who would like to participate in our vision of Judaism.

Want to discuss further with me?  More ideas?  Let’s meet for coffee to discuss!

– Rabbi Dan Dorsch