A couple of month ago, during
the annual convention of Reform rabbis, we were addressed by Dr. Ron Wolfson,
who teaches Jewish education at American Jewish University in Los Angeles.
Wolfson spoke about his new book, Relational
Judaism. His talk was so powerful that it inspired many of us to buy the
book right there (and have it signed by the author). One of his main points is
that Jews who attend Jewish programs and activities not always make a personal
connection with those institutions. For sociological reasons he explains in his
book in great details, despite our 24/7 connectivity, what Jews seems to seek
most in the 21st century is “relationships,” more princely, personal
contact.
In
a recent blog published on the Forward, Dr. Wolfson writes, “No doubt that the
social media platforms such as Facebook […] have enabled many to create and
support relationships among friends and family. Jewish organizations are just
beginning to marshal the power of these platforms for building online
communities and for encouraging face-to-face communities. Finally, it turns out
the best fundraisers in the Jewish community all agree that relationships are
at the heart of securing funding.”
Let me be clear less we trivialize Wolfson’s contribution to Jewish
communal life and the challenges we face. We are not talking about passing
acquaintances –we would be pressed to find a congregation who sees itself as
unfriendly and does not care about establishing relationships. Wolfson challenges
us to switch the focus back to basics. We must ask ourselves, does what we do
as a congregation foster lifelong relationships that can develop within
communities and that will lift us up and beyond our own individualism?
Relationships must be based on listening to one another’s needs and on shared
experience, and through commitments to work side by side and to join together
in prayer. Needless to say, the relationships Wolfson’s book promotes are those
that require face-to-face encounters.
Echoing
the title of his book, Wolfson blogs, “I believe the time has come for us to
shift the paradigm of engagement from programmatic to relational.”
I
would encourage everyone in our congregation to read his book first and then
begin a conversation about our future together. I share Wolfson’s concern that
Judaism will not survive in the 21st first century if we continue
the paradigm of the past. Paradigm changes are not easy but necessary.
I invite you to post your comments here. Please respond: Have you read the
book? Are you planning to? In the coming year, I would like to hold some forums
with those interested, to share our thoughts about how we can switch the
paradigm at our congregation. I hope to hear from all of you.
Read more about Wolfson's ideas at http://blogs.forward.com/the-arty-semite/175899/cutting-edge-work-in-the-jewish-community/#ixzz2TYkLnIEj
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