5.29.11
This is an Archival Site
There is now a new Rogovoy Report home
5.18.11
Weekend Preview May 19-24
Bob Dylan tributes, Deborah Voigt, Tom Paxton, Bill Kirchen, John Kirk and Trish Miller
5.18.11
Celebrating Bob Dylan's 70th Birthday in Style
Paying tribute to the greatest rock songwriter ever
5.17.11
FILM REVIEW: In a Better World and Of Gods and Men
Review by Seth Rogovoy
5.17.11
'LIKE' The Rogovoy Report on Facebook
Click 'LIKE' to Receive Facebook feeds from The Rogovoy Report
5.12.11
Deborah Voigt Headlines Mahaiwe Gala
Opera star to sing arias, show tunes on Saturday, May 21
5.15.11
Famed Spiritual Teacher to Speak on Nonviolence
Mother Maya in free talk at Sruti Yoga in Great Barrington, Mass., on Friday May 20 at 7pm
5.12.11
Special Effects Wizard to Be Honored by Film Festival
Doug Trumbull to be Feted by BIFF
5.11.11
Weekend Preview May 12-16
Cultural Highlights of the Berkshire Weekend
6.4.09
Talk about a small world
Elaine and I grew up together, but only just recently met....
5.8.11
Berkshire Living to Cease Publication
A Farewell from Publisher Michael Zivyak
5.8.11
twiGs Branches Out
Lenox boutique launches new e-tail site
5.8.11
[MUSIC REVIEW] Avalon Quartet in Close Encounters at Mahaiwe
Review by Seth Rogovoy
5.8.11
[MUSIC REVIEW] Avalon Quartet in Close Encounters at Mahaiwe
Review by Seth Rogovoy
5.7.11
[FILM REVIEW] Bill Cunningham New York
Review by Seth Rogovoy
5.7.11
[FILM REVIEW] Bill Cunningham New York
Review by Seth Rogovoy
|
No sense of history
4.6.06
"There's a feeling that all the old structures aren't working," said a so-called rabbi quoted in "With Yoga, Comedy and Parties, Synagogues Entice Newcomers," a revealing but unfortunately not surprising article in today's New York Times
The "rabbi" in question is a man named Richard Jacobs, who bears that title, no surprise, at Westchester Reform Temple in Scarsdale, N.Y., where apparently history means little or nothing.
Jacobs was part of a group of "synagogue leaders" that gathered recently in Los Angeles to get advice from the Rev. Rick Warren, author of "The Purpose Driven Life" and the evangelical pastor of Saddleback Church in Orange County, Calif., which draws more than 20,000 on weekends.
What is so galling about the scene portrayed in the article is not that Jews are disaffected, but that instead of people like Mr. Jacobs examining what it is about the practices at his "temple" that have ceased to interest Jews, and instead of seeking the answers in his own venerable tradition that has survived 3,000-plus years, he seeks answers outside of his own tradition.
And his statement, that "the old structures aren't working," displays a remarkable lack of perspective. The "old structures" he's talking about are the relatively modern innovations of American Reform Judaism. THESE are the structures that aren't working: the large, suburban synagogues that are more about networking and glitz, filling parking lots with fancy cars on the Sabbath, and keeping up with the Joneses.
The "old structures," in fact, bear no resemblance to postwar suburban American Judaism. Perhaps if people like Jacobs and his ilk did a little historical research -- or visited some small, Orthodox congregations or Hasidic shtibls -- they might learn something about fostering a meaningful, spiritual Jewish community, and not about "Friday Night Live" and Jewish yoga.
This is what six million Jews died for? Oy, vey.
|
...sites that work