Interacting with other movements

Subject: Interacting with other movements Fri Jan 20, 2012 11:20 am

First topic message reminder :

I have a question about interaction with other movements. Since I have been unaffiliated until this year I have spent time attending services in the different movements within Judaism. I have friends who go to different shuls then I do. I still do not refer to my self as a Reform Jew. I am just someone who is Jewish. I have always hated labels.

When I first became interested in Judaism I had no real friends who were Jewish, now most of my friends are Jewish. My Rabbi said the most important thing was to make friends and not just within my community but across the spectrum that is Judaism.

What has been the experience of others. Have you been encouraged to learn about other movements? To make friends who are different?

Posts: 658 Join date: 2011-09-05 Age: 30

Do you think there may be others who want to learn but are afraid to ask about starting a program for adults?

Subject: Re: Interacting with other movements Wed Aug 22, 2012 10:18 pm

mikedoyleblogger wrote:

So I'll update my answer here after having thought about it over the past couple of months. I guess the thing for me is that my Reform shul just doesn't offer education programs or resources aimed at increasing Jewish knowledge, observance, or participation for adults. If you're past bar/bat mitzvah training, or are an adult convert, everything aimed at you at my shul is social in nature. The only specifically religious events are our non HHD holiday services and activities that are all (seriously, all) aimed at families with young children.

Meaning, if I want to develop my Jewish identity beyond the oneg table, my only choice is to seek out participation elsewhere. As the HHDs get closer, I'm thinking that a bit of my teshuvah I owe to myself, because I've been holding back in this vein a lot for fear of upsetting fellow congregants, some of whom don't feel comfortable with my traditional observance or desire for adult learning. So I think it's time I much more fearlessly reach out to Conservative and MO friends and rabbis to, frankly, find what I'm missing.

I don't understand why they don't have the avenues of learning. I do think that communities that have more in the way of learning have Rabbis who think it is important. I could be wrong but I am just going by my community.

I am part of a Reform shul that has a new Rabbi who thinks continued learning is so important for all the members that the Hebrew school was changed in a big way and the adult learning classes became more dynamic and now we have more choices.

The Torah class that meets Saturday mornings before services is always crowded and this month we have a weekly class on the views on after life. There is modern, biblical and prayer Hebrew. They change the classes every couple of months and offer more choices. I am about to start in a group to learn how to lead services.

We all have joined and have logs that allow us to keep track of the classes we take and they recognized a few of the adult learners who had logged 25 hours or more of adult learning classes in a service geared to recognizing the adult learners in the community.

But I think it does come up in come circles and someone asked the question tonight that as Reform Jews why do we really need to bother learning about traditional Judaism.

The Rabbi who was leading this class said that the continued learning and Jewish growth is central to Judaism and that we should always strive to learn about out tradition. We need to understand the traditions of Judaism from the Orthodox to the non Orthodox.

I hope you find a community where you can continue to grow. I know as a JBC the continued learning is really important to me and my Jewish identity.