THE APERTURE by Uri Cohen

Thanks to co-founder Jonathan Stein for this:

“Rodeph Sholom deserves a ton of credit for giving us space at cost.  I just
cold called them out of the blue and their desire for real
inter-denominational interaction was very genuine.  We even had their Rabbi
speak at DN once.  So the back story about institutional versus
non-institutional minyanim needs more nuance.  The Reform establishment was
backing some upstarts from the Modern Orthodox community.

And while DN certainly fits within the independent minyan framework, it also grew
out of stirrings within the Modern Orthodox community for something more
egalitarian, e.g., Rabbi Silber and the Drisha Minyan, the Edah Journal
article by Mendel Shaprio, etc.

I think that explains why DN attracts relatively more families than some of
the other ind. minyanim.  And that demographic in turn explains some aspects
of how DN grew and didn’t grow, its fundraising, its later ties with
Heschel, etc.

And something I’d love to clarify for posterity: DN developed completely
independently of Shira Hadashah in Jerusalem, though SH’s larger numbers and
earlier launch date have often meant that DN is viewed as the UWS version of
SH.  I’m not sure I mind the label, but the goings on in Jerusalem did not
have any direct impact on the development of DN.”

Thanks, Jon!

I’d love to get some more information on the cooperation between Rodeph Sholom and Darkhei Noam here. Can anyone elaborate on the methodology and/or thinking that contributed here?