RENEWAL

WHAT MAKES JEWISH RENEWAL JEWISH RENEWAL?

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Jewish Renewal: An Evolving Form of Worship in Uncertain Times

by Jason Berger, PhD

In temples and synogogues throughout the nation, Jewish Renewal beliefs are providing the guiding light to achieve "Tikun Li," or "Repairing Us/Me." Jewish Renewal places greater emphasis on emotional and physical healing, in a way that compares to Christianity's more zealous forms of healing services. For Reform Jews, the renewed focus on "Tikun Li" provides a balance to Reform Judiasm's more socially-focused credo of “Tikun Olam” or “Repairing the World.”

Jewish Renewal is a colorful tapestry of matching, contrasting, clashing, and original threads representing Judaism’s diverse history and denominations. Instead of holding services in the larger traditional temples’ sanctuaries, Jewish Renewal groups recite, chant, and sing primarily Hebrew prayers in smaller, intimate worship settings. Many of these small worship groups are unaffiliated with denominations, but of the denominations, it appears that the Reform movement has been the most receptive.

On September 25, 1995, Rabbi Gerald Kane, the Rabbi/Educator announced in his Rosh Hashanah (New Year) sermon at Temple B’nai Jehudah (TBJ) of Kansas City, Missouri, “I am happy to say that today I stand before you transformed, a very different rabbi and a more spiritually attuned Reform Jew.” Rabbi Kane had recently returned from a Jewish Renewal workshop attended by hundreds of rabbis and lay leaders. Using the pulpit -- the oldest and most time-tested effective form of religious communication -- he invited the congregation to attend an alternative Yom Kippur service the following week to be held in one of the Temple's classrooms.

Although anticipating 25 worshippers in a classroom that can accommodate around 100, the room filled to capacity and latecomers had to be turned away. Six weeks later, Helen Gray, religion editor of the Kansas City Star, both witnessed and participated in a Friday evening Renewal service. She wrote, “Like Kane, many people in the Jewish community are finding more spiritual, personal and innovative ways of experiencing their faith. This comes at a time when religious observers say the country appears to be on a spiritual quest.” Gray then listed Rabbi Kane’s innovations: “Guided meditations at the beginning of adult Judaism classes; Yom Kippur morning worship service where the Torah is lovingly passed through the congregation and embraced by each participant before it is read; Sabbath service in a study lounge where worship includes lively singing and swaying to the music of guitar, bass, tambourines and drums."

Regarding Rabbi Kane's personal leadership, Gray continued: "People tell (him) that he seems different. Revitalized. Invigorated. He is aware of it too." Kane reflected: "I’ve been a rabbi for more than 25 years, and I feel like I am having a renaissance. I was becoming more and more uncomfortable at worship services...I don’t feel like I was connected in a spiritual way. I was just following a ritual and there seemed to be a lot of sadness or heaviness in the worship. I was searching.” Today Rabbi Kane meditates, plays a tambourine during renewal services, and conducts workshops on healing the soul and the body.

From these pivotal events, Kansas City's Jewish Renewal group grew. As a University of Missouri – Kansas City Communication Studies professor, I administered an informal survey to learn who is attending the services and why. I administered the survey at a special Yom Kippur Renewal service, Saturday, October 11, 1997. Given the solemnity of the Yom Kippur day, 78 potential responders, representing either individuals or households, accepted the survey and 22 responded by mail. Most of the responders were female and college-educated, and almost two thirds had been raised in the Jewish Reform households. About one half of the responders had advanced professional training in law, medicine, dentistry, or an academic discipline.

Marketing Religion

Try to suspend belief and consider Jewish Renewal as a “brand,” not that much different from Colgate, Crest or Chevy. In fact, marketing is a necessary survival tool for any communicating entity, and many religions today market heavily. In his introduction to Advertising and the Business of Brands, Bruce Bendinger (2000) defines a brand through the marketers’ eye and the consumers’ eye. For a religion marketer, such as Rabbi Kane: “Brands do more than differentiate – they add meaning .” In the consumer’s eyes, Bendinger continues: “Brands are a language -- a meaning system. To a consumer to whom the brand exists, it is a way to identify and categorize a product. Over time, consumers add to this identification and categorization. So, each 'word' in their vocabulary adds meaning. Bendinger he refers to this process as "building brand equity.”

Rabbi Kane built such equity by differentiating the Renewal service from the mainstream Reform. Rabbi Kane’s special Yom Kippur service followed the Orthodox religious structure, while adding innovations to each element of the service. The service followed these key rituals:

1. “Kavanah:” Preparation

Rabbi Kane, along with Devra Lerner, on guitar, and Andy Curry, on bass fiddle -- two of Kansas City’s accomplished Jewish musicians -- selected excerpts from the eight prayers that made up the “Kavanah.” The musicians accompanied the heartfelt praying.

Of these eight prayers, I found the “Elohai” prayer to be the most profound. “Elohai” is recited every morning by Orthodox and many Conservative Jews either at home or in the synagogues or temples. Debbie Friedman -- composer, musician, lyricist, and performer -- provided most of the prayers for the Temple's Renewal services. Friedman captured the essence of a more personal, spiritual religion before Renewal even existed. She has performed in Kansas City and her CDs and audiocassettes have been for sale in the Temple’s gift shop. Friedman composed the music to the abbreviated “Elohai” prayer which included a Kabbalistic (Jewish mysticism) deep breathing exercise used to capture the spiritual essence of a message we all too often take for granted:

E-lo-hai (2x) n’shama. She-na-ta-ta- bi t’hora hi

A-ta b’ra-ta, a-ta y’tzar-ta. A-ta n’fach-ta bi

Ata m’sham’ra (2x) b’kir-bi

English translation: “The soul that you have given me, O God, is a pure one! You have created and formed it, breathed it into me. You sustain it.” In my survey of the members who attended this service, two-thirds responded positively to the Elohai and the other Kavanah prayers in playing a role in deciding to attend Renewal services

2. Affirmation of Faith: “The Sh'ma”

At all Renewal services, the group “chanted,” (not sang) the “Sh’ma” which opens with the cry “Hear Oh Israel, the Lord is God, the Lord is One.” Rabbi Kane turned the Hebrew words into a change beginning with: Sh...Ma...Is...Ra…El, the first two words (“Hear Oh Israel”). This anti-stress, relaxation activity combined the chanting of each syllable with a breathing exercise comparable to a Buddhist or Hindu mantra. The respondents to my survey welcomed this quite bizarre departure from traditional Reform Judaism. 54.5% strongly agreed and 27.3% agreed that this new ritual played a role in their desire to attend the services.

The Renewal movement uses a variety of “chants,” such as the “Sh’ma” to help the worshipper achieve inner peace. Critics argue that such chants are Buddhist and New Age inspired. Rodger Kamenetz disagrees. The author of The Jew in the Lotus, Kamanetz chronicled the meeting a group of Rabbis had with the Dalai Lama living in exile in Dharamsala, India. The Dalai Lama requested the meeting to learn how the Jewish people survived the Diaspora so that he could help his people living in exile. Hearing the Buddhist chants did not surprise the rabbis, who described to the Dalai Lama how chanting is part of the more mystical (Kabbalistic) rituals of Judaism.

3. “Amidah:” The Standing Prayer

Consisting of seven blessings and prayers, the “Amidah,” the “Standing Prayer,” Rabbi Kane turned it into a special time for meditation, quiet prayer, and reflection. In the handout’s introduction, Rabbi Kane wrote: “Seven opportunities adopted from the lengthy Orthodox and Conservative standing prayer . . . seven opportunities for laying bare our most vulnerable private self before the one self with whom pretense is useless.” Describing the “Amidah” as “. . . one of the most powerful meditations in Jewish spiritual practice. . . when memorized and softly chanted or “davavvened” (recited) is an hypnotic mantra enabling the ‘davevener’ to use its images as aids to deep inner work,” Rabbi Kane turned its first image into a guided visualization, though asking the worshipers to close their eyes. He began in a voice slightly above a whisper:

Avot: We call upon our ancestors for support on our journey. The Image: Visualize Abraham and Sarah standing before you. They can be seen as two radiant light sources. Extend from them two rays of interwoven light. The light forms a chain that comes down through generations into you. Receive the light from your feet. Connect it to the ground. Allow the light to grow up around you, following your spine until it comes to rest on the crown of your head. Spiral it down clockwise until you are enclosed in this light. The light is your protection.

As with chanting, traditional Reform Jews would consider a guided visualization to be an anathema; however, 45.5% strongly agreed and 36.4% agreed that such innovation contributed to the decision to attend Renewal services.

4. Torah Service

On Saturday mornings in Orthodox and Conservatives synagogues and some Reform temples a portion of the Torah (the Five books of Moses) is read. The scroll is removed from the ark and a procession takes place through the aisles. Men and women in Conservative Reform temples and only men in Orthodox synagogues, kiss the Torah using their prayer shawls and prayer books as the vehicle. In contrast (an example of brand differentiation) Rabbi Kane personalized the Torah service. On that Yom Kippur morning, as in every Sabbath and holiday morning, each member of the group --male and female – simply hugged the Torah as they passed the scroll until it reached the table for the reading. The group sang a repetitive, foot stomping traditional style hassidic song or the more powerful “nigun.” A “nigun” replaces the words of the song, or in this case, a prayer, with “lai, lai, lai, or dai, dai, dai.” More than two thirds strongly agreed and another 13.6% agreed that the passing of the Torah served as a major reason to attend the services. Additionally, one half of the respondents strongly agreed and nearly one third agreed that singing the nigun played an equally important role.

5. Physical and Emotional Healing: “Misheberach” and the “Kaddish:” Prayer for the Dead

When the Torah is out of the Ark, the “Misheberach” healing prayer is recited in Orthodox and Conservative synagogues. Traditionally, sick persons’ name are given to the rabbi prior to this prayer. Rabbi Kane conducted this service differently. The group sang the first part of the “Misheberach” using a combined Hebrew and English prayer with words and music by Debbie Friedman. In a voice slightly above a whisper, Rabbi Kane asked for the names, any names (note where the pause is), regardless of faith. The prayer is:

Mi she-bei-rach a-vo-tei nu. M’kor ha-bra-cha l’I-mo-tei-nu

May the the source of strength who blessed the ones before us

Help us find the courage to make our life a blessing. And let us say, Amen.

(Pause for Names)

Mi she-bei-rach I-mo-tei-nu. M’kor ha-bra-cha L’a-vo-tei-nu

Bless those in need of healing with r’fu-a sh’lei-ma

The renewal of body. The renewal of spirit. And let us say Amen.

Following the return of the Torah to the ark, the pulpit rabbi traditionally reads a list of names of members who died the week before the service or whose anniversary of death is that week. The “Kaddish,” the prayer for the dead, is then recited.

Rabbi Kane, in contrast, simply asked members to call out names of those who died. He placed no time restrictions on honoring a loved one. This important change in concluding the service provided the needed solace and connectivity of a sustaining community, in contrast to the more formalistic pulpit-dominated rabbi reciting the Misheberach and the Kaddish.

The TBJ Jewish Renewal community was:

More willing to take risks in order to find inner peace;

Open to experimentation and willing to embrace new forms of worship that might threaten the establishment;

Not afraid to chant, experience visualization, hum a nigun, or sing a Hasidic song;

Willing to participate in communal activities;

Willing to publicly share with worshippers a person’s name who is sick or deceased;

Willing to physically embrace the Torah at High Holiday Services;

Willing to surround Rabbi Kane during the Torah service.

In late August 1998, Rabbi Kane accepted the position of rabbi at Temple Beth El, a Reform Temple in Las Cruces, New Mexico. This departure tested the strength, vitality, and solidarity of the group he formed.

Changes for TBJ

Rabbi Kane facilitated his last Jewish New Year and Yom Kippur services at TBJ the following month. TBJ’s senior Rabbi, Michael Zedek, facilitated the Renewal services after Rabbi Kane left. To accommodate Rabbi Zedek’s schedule, the Temple scaled down Renewal activities to one Friday evening service a month. Rabbi Zedek essentially followed Rabbi Kane’s original model but drew larger numbers to the services, approximately 50 to 75. In contrast to Rabbi Kane, a more personal, one-on-one rabbi and teacher, Rabbi Zedek relished leading larger groups.

Although this article opened by suggesting that Jewish Renewal emphasizes small worship groups, it would be inaccurate to suggest that somehow the spirit and fervor of Jewish Renewal would be diminished in a larger group. Rabbi Zedek did a superb job accompanied by musicians. But this was not the “brand” Rabbi Kane promoted and few of the original Renewal members attended. In fact, I participated in an attempt to continue Rabbi Kane’s core group, being lay-led as an experiment. The Temple's lay leadership would not permit the formation of such a group.

In early July 1999 Rabbi Zedek announced that he, too, would retire effective the fall of 2000. The Temple had recently completed its new education building and Hebrew school in Overland Park, KS, and began the process of leaving Kansas City. Rabbi Zedek led the Jewish Renewal New Year’s and Yom Kippur services at the Jewish Community Center, nearly a mile from the new Temple’s site. According to the temple administrator, 350 chairs were set up to accommodate an expected larger crowd than Rabbi Kane ever thought possible. Three friends and I scanned the room. There were few empty seats. In contrast to Rabbi Kane’s service, more children and males attended. Only a handful of males and females wore a skull caps and prayer shawls. Few of the original Renewal Group members attended.

On Friday evening, June 20, 2000, Rabbi Joshua Taub, the third rabbi of the rabbinical triumvirate, led his own Renewal service as the new senior rabbi of the Temple. Again, approximately one hundred attended the service. The Renewal movement continues, being seen by some as mainstream Reform Judaism with a “New Age” twist.

Yom Kippur 2001 and After

With Rabbi Kane and Rabbi Zedek’s departure, I left TBJ as a member and attended theYom Kippur “Kol Nidrei” services at the Conservative Beth Shalom synagogue and the Yom Kippur day services at Beth Torah, a small, thriving Overland Park Reform temple with a solid core membership. In comparing the two services to TBJ’s original Renewal service, a remarkable transformation emerged in “Judaism in The Heartland” and testimony that Renewal is thriving in Kansas City. The following are two examples:

At Beth Shalom, the service began with a “nigun,” the same nigun that opened Rabbi Kane’s services every Friday evening. Debbie Friedman’s prayers figured prominently in the service. Beth Shalom even distributed a handout quite similar to Rabbi Kane’s. Surprisingly, for a Conservative synagogue, the worshipers recited the Ashanu, Al Chet, and sang the Aveinu Malkenu solemn prayers for forgiveness more in English than in Hebrew. Beth Torah’s two healing services on Yom Kippur day focused on emotional and physical healing. In fact, a former member of Rabbi Kane’s Renewal group led a guided visualization. At this service, it appeared more Hebrew was used than at Beth Shalom’s, the evening before.

Soon after the 2001 High Holidays, TBJ officially moved to its Overland Park facility. In the spring of 2002, TBJ sold its third sanctuary in the city of Kansas City to the University of Missouri – Kansas City and the historic building will be demolished and replaced with a charter high school. I am told that TBJ no longer offers a Renewal service.

Up through the end of 2002, I was a regular worshiper at Beth Torah’s Friday evening services. Similar in structure and content to Rabbi Kane’s, there is one striking difference – families, including little kids, attend.

The Legacy Left by Rabbi Kane

Rabbi Kane frequently read stories from Noah benShea’s Jacob trilogy. In Jacob the Baker, benShea provides the following story:

A Man With A Lantern Goes in Search of a Light

An old man was bitter and challenged Jacob with a complaint.

“All my life I have searched for meaning,” he said.

“The meaning is in the search,” said Jacob, waving off the man’s distress.

“Then I will never find the meaning?”

“No, said Jacob. “You will never stop looking.”

Jacob held his voice for a moment, unsure if he had been too harsh.

“My friend,” Jacob began again, “know that you are a man with a lantern who goes in search of a light.” (pp. 50-51)

The search for “light” continues in the Kansas City metropolitan area. At Beth Torah, on Friday evenings, Rabbi Levin replicates the Orthodox Torah procession up and down the aisles. Although not as personally intense and profound as hugging the Torah, this wonderful procession brought back memories of my Orthodox background. In contrast to Rabbi Kane, Rabbi Levin personalized the deeply spiritual “Misheberah,” through paradoxically using a communal setting. He invited those in need of healing to come up to the Torah to sing the prayer either for him/herself or a loved one. This innovation also provided a heartfelt alternative to Rabbi Kane’s.

On Friday evening August 2, 2002, Rabbi Levin returned from his vacation to preside over the Friday evening Sabbath service. Just looking around the room, equal numbers of members, male and female, children, teens, adults and seniors wore skullcaps. And the sanctuary was filled to capacity. In a Reform congregation? In the summer?

You bet. To quote the words of Oscar Hammerstein, “Everything is Up to Date in Kansas City.” Well not quite Kansas City, Missouri, with the Jewish flight to the suburbs. It is Overland Park, Kansas. The following Friday evening, Rabbi Levin turned the service over to Cantor Finn. They designated that Friday evening, August 7, to be Shir Shabbat, the Sabbath of Song. With Rabbi Levin sitting with his son among the worshippers and relaxing, Cantor Finn explained to the congregation that new Jewish lunar month of Elul began on Wednesday evening. This is the month before the beginning of the New Year inaugurated by the Rosh Hashanah holiday. It is a month of reflection and preparation for the High Holidays, as well as a month of singing and celebrating. Cantor Finn led an entire service in song – almost all in Hebrew – accompanied by the choir and the premier of a four-piece band consisting of an electric piano, two guitars, and a drum. I, personally, had much to celebrate in the beauty of the song and the spirit. I had a cancer reoccurrence scare, but an MRI cleared me for the time being. Rabbi Levin is building his own Renewal “brand equity” which I am fully embracing and appreciating in my own spiritual journey.

Special Acknowledgments

My dear friend Nicole English helped me with the "crunching" of the survey numbers. Former Dean James Durig funded my trip to the bi-annual Jewish Renewal "Kallal" at Fort Collins, Colorado, which helped me develop the context for this study. I am further appreciative of the dozens of my former UMKC students who made insightful comments on this study, which was presented at the 1999 National Communication Association Convention.

References

Bendinger, B. (2000). Advertising: The Business of Brands. Chicago: The Copy Workshop.

BenShea, N. (1989). Jacob The Baker: Gentle Wisdom for a Complicated World. New York: Ballentine Books.

Gray, H.T. (1995, November 14). Reviving The Faith: Renewal Leaders are Re-creating Tradition to Shape a New Model of Jewish Spirituality. The Kansas City Star, pp. E1-E2.

Kamanetz, R. (1995). The Jew in The Lotus. New York: Harper Collins.

Kane, G. & Lerner, D. (Eds.) (1997) Jewish Renewal Minyon: Yom Kippur 5757. Kansas City: Temple B’nai Jehudah.

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