Coming together October 18, 2006
Posted by uricohen in Darkhei Noam, General, Kehilat Hadar, Kol Zimrah, Minyanim, New York City, Synagogues.add a comment
By the end of 2003 Kol Zimrah, Kehilat Hadar and Darkhei Noam had begun, stabilized, and developed as individual prayer communities. They got better and better at serving the needs of their constituents, and the communities flourished on the upper west side, surrounded by the synagogues and other groups which had preceded them.In March of 2004 a new group came on the scene, bent on giving the UWS Jewish community an opportunity to expand its horizons.
Tikvat Yisrael was formed in late 2003 by 8 post-college individuals who had moved to New York City. I was one of them. We had enjoyed our college experiences, which were based on our experiences on our campuses, mostly in Hillel environments. We had enjoyed the opportunity to celebrate shabbat and other Jewish commonalities with others on the campus, and really understand what it means to be a Jewish community made up of a multitude of backgrounds.
When we moved to New York we had a whole new experience. No longer were we limited in our prayer options to the two or three or four services which were sustainable in our Hillels. In New York each person could come as close as is possible anywhere to finding a prayer service which meets their exact needs and interests. Floating from shul to shul, minyan to minyan was possible, and we enjoyed it. By the end of 2003, however, we realized that the community aspect was missing, and we felt that lack quite strongly.
We organized in late 2003, incorporated in January 2004, and had our first program in March of the same year. Our core model involved multiple prayer services operating simultaneously, yet independently under one roof in the same building. Housed in the Abraham Joshua Heschel lower school on 89th and Broadway, we operated three services which we called “liberal”, “traditional egalitarian” and “orthodox”. We stayed away from “conservative” and “reform” because it was our experience that many people felt pigeon-holed rather than described by these titles, and that those terms carried associations that were more harmful than helpful. On the other hand, we felt that we should call the third minyan “orthodox” to serve as a “hekhsher” of some kind for the attendees who would be looking for assurance that the service would meet their needs.
Following the services (held along the same hallway on the first floor), we devised a communal shabbat dinner, to be held upstairs in the gym. The idea was to provide an opportunity for everyone who attended to see, not just hear about others who were dedicated to prayer. To experience community, rather than just read or think about it. The doors on the service rooms were open, melodies flowed out as people could see in. We were hoping that this would be an attractive model, and one that would draw at least 10 people per service (and at least 10 men for the orthodox service).
We were absolutely shocked by the result. We took registrations for the dinner (and charged a nominal fee) and we sold out a week in advance with 140 registrants. We had been hoping to hit 40. We were hoping for 40-50 people come to services, and we were thrilled to see 200. There were people asking if they could come for dinner at the last minute, and we sat as many as we could.
The traditional egalitarian and orthodox services each saw around 80 attendees. The services were lay-led, and featured a traditional liturgy and a devar torah. The traditional egalitarian service featured mixed seating and full participation for women, and the orthodox service featured male-led prayer and a mehitzah. The liberal service was led by an accomplished service leader who led a beautiful non-traditional service using a guitar, with the chairs formed in a circle. This service had around 50 attendees.
For this first event we had men lead kiddush (blessings over the wine) and birkat hamazon (the grace after meals). A woman led the hamotzi (blessing over the bread). While we knew that this could not be a long-term solution to the gender participation issue, we thought that people would allow us some leeway in using this relatively mainstream approach. Though we did get some feedback about this, for the most part people were satisfied with this solution – for now.
The feedback was wonderful. People enjoyed the services, the experiences and the meal. People told us how they had missed these experiences and had really enjoyed them in their college lives. They were grateful to have such an opportunity and were excited for the next one to take place.
Meanwhile, we got press in the Jewish Week, and word began to spread…
Corrections, 2003-2004 update and KOE developments September 13, 2006
Posted by uricohen in Darkhei Noam, KOE, Kehilat Hadar, Kol Zimrah, Minyanim.add a comment
Some corrections:
The Hadar Shavuot retreat in 2002 was actually from May 16-19, Thursday through Sunday. The all-night learning sessions (Tikkun Leil Shavuot) began at 11pm, and the davening at 5AM was led by another Hadar co-founder Mara Benjamin. Julia Andelman davened on the morning of the second day, not the first.
The success of this retreat was a shocker to the organizers, as well as everyone else. Originally planning the retreat for 75 participants, the eventual 230 participants blew those expectations out the door. There was a waiting list and plenty who were not able to attend because there were not enough accomodations.
This first retreat set the tone for the retreats to follow, as well as for the programming over the rest of the year and also in other locations. Participants from this retreat returned to their homes in Washington, Boston, and elsewhere to begin similar minyanim with similar programs and retreats! I’d love to include some of that background here as well…
As the calendar turned to 2003, the minyanim continued to move forward. As Ben noted in his comment, Kol Zimrah underwent an “IPO” and more firmly established its role in the community. Hadar continued to grow and stabilize not only its prayer services and locations, but also the Beit Midrash program and began its Social Justice activities. Can we get some details on this?
Darkhei Noam continued to grow as well, and used multiple facilities from Rodeph Shalom for their services. Its leadership core continued to define the minyan’s objectives as well as directions for the future.
KOE continued to meet as usual, though at some point in here (not sure when exactly) Rabbi Halivny-Weiss announced his impending move to Israel, which required the community to consider the options for its next era.
Also in this timeframe (2003-2004) KOE had discussions about the issue of women’s roles in the Torah service. As is their custom, KOE took a poll of its membership, and then presented Rabbi Halivny-Weiss with the issue for consideration. The result of these discussion was that for the most part the status quo – women did not participate in reading torah or having aliyyot – would stand. There were opportunities for all-women’s torah readings in a separate room. On certain occasions, however, there would be an option in yet another room for “mixed keriyya” – where men and women would participate equally. More details?
Entrance of Kol Zimrah September 6, 2006
Posted by uricohen in Kol Zimrah, Minyanim, Synagogues.add a comment
Courtesy of Ben Dreyfus’ “Comment”:
- Kol Zimrah (before it had a name) began with an email, announcing “A heavily musical Shabbat service. The service will include the full kabbalat shabbat and maariv liturgy, and will be accompanied by acoustic guitar. It will include melodies from Debbie Friedman to Shlomo Carlebach to ‘Traditional’ to never-before-sung, and the harmonies will be spectacular. Bring your favorite siddur, and your voice.” People forwarded this email to their friends and their lists, and their friends forwarded it to their friends, and 67 people showed up to that first service, and the rest was history. The first service was in the playroom at the aforementioned Key West. (The use of the playroom was unauthorized, and the doorman told our Key West liaison “Don’t do this again.”)
After soliciting suggestions for names, we named Kol Zimrah quickly, so that it could develop a community identity. (We were afraid that if the minyan didn’t have a name, then people would refer to it as “BZ’s minyan”, or by the names of one of the other leaders, in the same way that Kehilat Kedem in Jerusalem was known colloquially as “Philip’s minyan” for a long time before it had a name. We didn’t want Kol Zimrah to be seen as an oligarchy.)
Even though KZ is not that much younger than the other minyanim mentioned, it represents a new generation in some ways, because by the time we started, there was already an active independent minyan scene in place, and we saw Kol Zimrah as self-consciously fitting into the independent minyan ecosystem. So we started off meeting one Friday night a month (which is approximately true to this day), with the understanding that we could hop around to other ongoing minyanim (or ad hoc apartment davening) the other 3 Friday nights, or on Shabbat morning.
When we first envisioned Kol Zimrah, I anticipated that it would appeal only to a very narrow slice of the Jewish community, since some people would not go for a service with instruments on Shabbat, and others would not go for a service all in Hebrew. Instead, KZ has attracted an incredibly diverse community, with a wide range of backgrounds and practices. We have had the opportunity to explore pluralism within our community. For example, our services adhere to the macroscopic structure of the traditional liturgy, but the leader can incorporate whatever microscopic variations s/he wants, from any siddur, with the understanding that each participant is also free to relate to the service in different ways.
For the first year, Kol Zimrah was highly mobile, operating on a $0 budget and meeting wherever we could find space. After that first service in the Key West playroom, we met a few times in various spaces at JTS, a few times in a large (but not large enough) apartment still in the Key West, and in the basement of another apartment building. Eventually we largely stabilized, meeting in Riverside Park in the summer, at the SAJ (with whom we have built a positive relationship) during the year, and at the Jewish Home & Hospital on occasion.
In late 2003, Kol Zimrah incorporated as a religious corporation, and had an “IPO“, asking for voluntary contributions from people in the KZ community. This made it possible to pay for space, and we now have a potluck Shabbat dinner after services each month (using the two-table system). To this day, Kol Zimrah is run entirely by volunteers, and funded entirely by contributions from the KZ community (with no membership dues, and no membership).
Stabilization period and entry of a third… August 30, 2006
Posted by uricohen in Darkhei Noam, Kehilat Hadar, Kol Zimrah, Minyanim.3 comments
As 2002 wore on, Kehilat Hadar and Darkhei Noam stabilized their meeting schedules, always meeting on each other’s off-weeks.
Hadar tried many different meeting spaces – from the El Taller Art studio on 104th and Broadway, to the church on 115th and Riverside. Finally, Hadar settled on the Second Presbyterian Church at 96th Street as its regular home, while it searched for more permanent space. The summer location became the Kraft Center at Columbia University. Can anyone help fill other details of the space search?
Darkhei Noam continued to meet in the school on 78th street, and then moved to the gym in the Rodeph Shalom building itself on 84th street.
There was a period (how long?) when the minyanim were each meeting 2 weeks per month mostly on alternating weeks. Can we get some specifics?
In November of 2002, a new minyan came on the scene. Kol Zimrah began its series of Friday night services utilizing a traditional all-Hebrew liturgy with the additions of guitar and drums.
Please help me fill in the gaps here!
