Shul offers a range of options for experiencing the Holy Days

by Robert Wiener
NJJN Staff Writer

As they prepare for the High Holy Days, a planning committee at Congregation Beth Hatikvah in Chatham is concerned about making two different groups of congregants — those who favor traditional services and those less comfortable with long hours of worship and ritual — feel engaged with the proceedings.

So, when synagogue members convene from the evening of Sept. 22 through Sept. 24 to observe Rosh Hashana, then gather 10 days later for Yom Kippur, they will be offered a choice between traditional services and a range of alternatives.

On the agenda at various time during the High Holy Days will be a number of new programs, including a symposium on liturgical music called the “Yom Kippur Hit Parade,” a panel on parenting, and a discussion of hunger in the middle of the Day of Atonement fast.

“We are trying to address the widest range of needs of our congregation,” said Michael Hyman of Madison, chair of the congregation’s High Holy Days planning committee.

“Some people have a solid traditional background, and on the High Holy Days, they are looking for an experience that is consistent with the past,” said Hyman. “At the same time, we have people from non-traditional backgrounds who would like an alternative to a service which to them might not be familiar.”

The intent of the counter-programming is to keep members engaged throughout long days of worship, no matter what their level of comfort with age-old rituals.

According to Rabbi Amy Small, religious leader of the Reconstructionist congregation, “What we’ve learned is that for some people who don’t come from a traditional background, the Hebrew prayers don’t have value. They find it overwhelming,”

Small said she had been concerned about the alienation she observed among members during previous holiday seasons.

“We were finding that by mid-morning, some people came late; others would leave early. It was disruptive. It didn’t feel like one congregation.”

So Small and Hyman formed a planning committee with members representing backgrounds that ranged from Orthodox to secular.

Without dissent, they came up with a two-tiered approach. The holidays will begin with traditional morning services, then worshipers will be offered a choice between the old and the new. They may elect to stay in the main sanctuary or move to another room for what are being called “breakout sessions.”

The first program, on the first day of Rosh Hashana, will be the “Yom Kippur Hit Parade.” The synagogue bulletin describes it as a “session that will introduce the main tunes sung on Yom Kippur, giving attendees a chance to learn the melodies and practice the prayers with the group.”

At an alternative session called “Parenting and Being Parented,” teenagers will be invited to attend along with their parents “so we can raise a dialogue about the challenges of raising children in today’s society,” said Hyman.

Another discussion will take place on Yom Kippur, Oct. 1, in addition to the Torah reading, which focuses on the priestly rituals. The talk will draw on an alternative reading in the Reconstructionist Mahzor, or High Holy Day prayer book.

“A long time ago, folks realized the traditional reading isn’t really moving to some people. It just falls flat,” said Small. “They don’t find any value in that.”

As people continue fasting in the afternoon of Yom Kippur, they may choose to join a session on social action that will offer study of Birkat Hamazon, the traditional grace after meals.

“We are going to study the prayer after meals in the context of where it came from and in the context of social action, looking at it from the Jewish approach to dealing with hunger,” said Hyman, adding that it seemed particularly appropriate on a fast day to consider that “others may be hungry all the time.”

To be incorporated into the days of worship is what Small called “transitional music,” enlisting members with musical skills to “enliven and enrich” the services with guitar, piano, drums, and a cappella singing in English and Hebrew. “We have a lot of talented musicians, and we realized we weren’t taking advantage of all that talent,” she said.

“If we are successful this year, we might expand it with additional topics next year,” said Hyman, who expects to be “everywhere at once” while the services are going on.

While such alternative offerings may sound unusual, Professor Hasia Diner, who teaches American-Jewish history at New York University, has observed such breakout sessions at services in Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist synagogues for some 20 years, she told NJ Jewish News. “In the old days, when people got bored, they said, ‘Let’s go outside and shmooze.’ So this is a much more serious engagement of what’s going on.”

“Here you have a congregation that says, ‘Let’s use the minutes we have here to make this as meaningful as possible,’” said Diner. “I would say this is a very positive innovation.”

The rabbi has great expectations.

“I hope we will have a…larger percentage of our members walking away saying, ‘Wow. That was truly inspiring,’” said Small. “We’ve always had people who felt that way, but we want to catch more people. So, we hope by offering these diverse options, more people will find it very meaningful to their lives.”