February 2006

What is "Jewish Renewal?"

Last month I participated in a convention for Ohalah, the Association of Rabbis for Jewish Renewal, which took place in Boulder, Colorado. Many of our members have heard the term "Jewish Renewal," and some have been intrigued to hear that we are scheduling a "Jewish Renewal" Shabbaton (Sabbath gathering) as part of our Innovation Grant program (see page one). What exactly is "Jewish Renewal?"

In a sense, Judaism has always been renewing itself. Judaism has responded to many historical crises and developments with new and creative forms of worship, learning, and philosophy. In our own day, after the Holocaust, with communities flourishing in North America and Israel, we are challenged to renew Judaism for a new generation.

Not a "denomination." Jewish Renewal is a movement to renew the spiritual content of Judaism. Although it has some of the elements of a denomination, such as Orthodox or Reform, it's not actually a new denomination. You can be Orthodox or Reform and still be involved in Jewish Renewal. Both tikkun halev and tikkun olam are central to the Jewish Renewal movement, according to the website of ALEPH (aleph.org), an organization dedicated to supporting Jewish renewal:

"Jewish renewal is a worldwide, transdenominational movement grounded in Judaism's prophetic and mystical traditions. Jewish renewal carries forward Judaism's perpetual process of renewal. Jewish renewal seeks to bring creativity, relevance, joy, and an all embracing awareness to spiritual practice, as a path to healing our hearts and finding balance and wholeness-tikkun halev. Jewish renewal acts to fully include all Jews and to respect all peoples. Jewish renewal helps to heal the world by promoting justice, freedom, responsibility, caring for all life and the earth that sustains all life -tikkun olam."

Some people call the renewal movement "Neo-Hassidism" because it seeks to bring the spiritual elements of Hassidism into the modern, egalitarian Jewish world. Joyful singing, dancing, chanting, and meditation are all parts of the Hassidic and mystical tradition that Jewish Renewal is rediscovering and bringing into our contemporary Jewish communities. Jewish renewal is instrumental in developing creative ritual and worship, and elements of Jewish Renewal are now felt in many areas of Jewish life.

Jewish Renewal Shabbaton at CBI. Although we already include many elements of Jewish Renewal at CBI, we are planning a more intensive "Jewish Renewal Shabbaton" as part of our "Head, Heart, and Hand" Innovation Grant from Star Peer. We will welcome Rabbi David Zaslow from Ashland, Oregon, and his wife Devorah Zaslow, to help us fully experience the joyful, musical, and deeply spiritual nature of Jewish Renewal. There are also national and international Jewish Renewal gatherings, such as the ALEPH Kallah, Elat Chayyim Retreat Center, and Ruach Ha'aretz (a west coast renewal retreat), that may interest many of our congregants.

ALEPH has a network of affiliated communities and also provides supervised professional training for rabbis, rabbinic pastors (chaplains), and cantors. I was privileged to receive my rabbinic ordination (semichah) after five years of study in the ALEPH Rabbinic Program. This program, which has about 50 students around the world currently enrolled, is an alternative "seminary without walls" that enables students in the field to study under the supervision of a committee of rabbis, complete intensive coursework (in my case that involved earning an M.A. in Hebrew Studies), and become a rabbi even if they are unable to relocate to one of the few cities in the country that has a rabbinic seminary. We can thank ALEPH and the Jewish Renewal movement for my rabbinic training and ordination.

By considering myself a "Jewish Renewal" Rabbi, I don't mean that I belong to a certain denomination, but that I have found in the Jewish Renewal movement a spiritual home that has trained and inspired me to do the work of renewing our tradition and renewing ourselves, "repairing the world and repairing the heart."