Overview: Contemporary Jewish Renewal and Spirituality

 

Many contemporary Jewish-American worshippers imagine their choice of spiritual communities to be limited to three basic options: Orthodox, Conservative or Reform. Some may have ventured out to experience a service at a less-familiar Reconstructionist congregation or havurah (fellowship). Most Jews have associations—accurate or not—connected to what a prayer experience is like in each of these settings.

 

But beyond these denominational options there lies a wealth of Jewish spiritual opportunities. These opportunities include an interactive approach to prayer—featuring meditation, chanting, and ritualized dance—that may defy one’s standard expectations of a Jewish service. Indeed, the Jewish renewal movement is growing: over the last thirty years, this non-denominational shift towards a personal, spiritual approach to Jewish practice has been flourishing.

 

The Jewish renewal movement has roots in the social activism of the 1960s, when political awareness, feminism, and the civil rights movement shook up some basic societal foundations. With the questioning of gender roles in all aspects of life, for example, came Jewish women’s demands for a more inclusive place in Jewish life. Combining these social issues with the spiritual searching of the 1970s, which brought new interest in Eastern spiritual practices like meditation and yoga, lead many young American Jews to seek out a very different kind of religious/cultural experience than that of their parents and grandparents. Their interest was less in maintaining a synagogue building, and more in creating intentional communities of like-minded people seeking a Judaism that spoke both to their desire for tikkun olam (healing the world) and tikkun halev (healing the heart).

 

Jewish renewal groups use creative ritual, meditation, and music (including chanting), along with Torah study to create services that illuminate Judaism’s mystical and prophetic teachings. The “formal” Jewish Renewal movement (recently connected under the umbrella of the non-profit organization ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal) has produced several rabbinic leaders who have spoken and taught their beliefs to their followers. The best-known Renewal teachers include Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, Rabbi Arthur Waskow, and Rabbi Marcia Prager. In addition, in the past few years the Jewish Renewal message has been spread through Elat Chayyim, a retreat center located in Woodstock, New York, that draws Jewish scholars, artists, and rabbis to lead sessions in all aspects of Jewish spirituality, including meditation, drumming, Torah study, chant, dance, and “Jewish” yoga.

 

“Formal” Renewal communities are not the only ones to be influenced by the legacy of the 1960s and 1970s. Many mainstream Jewish communities have changed and grown as a result of various aspects of Jewish renewal. The havurah movement, for example, emerged in the late 1960s and early 1970s as an alternative to impersonal worship that characterized many large synagogues at the time. A havurah is a community of Jews who meet regularly for group study, prayer, and/or celebration. The group is generally smaller than most synagogues and highly participatory in nature. Ironically, in the 1980s, havurot (the plural of havurah) became tools to promote intimacy and community in many of the very large congregations to which they were meant to be an alternative.

 

Another example of renewal at work can be seen in the influence of feminism. No longer are women’s leadership roles in synagogues limited to the Sisterhood; virtually all liberal congregations allow Jewish women to take leadership roles in prayer, study, and all aspects of communal life.  Expanded roles for women extends to many Orthodox communities as well, where public ritual roles may be more limited but teaching and leadership roles continue to expand.

 

The proliferation of Rosh Hodesh groups, in which women come together monthly to celebrate the New Moon, has affected Jewish women’s ownership of their spirituality. Traditionally thought of as a woman’s holiday, Rosh Hodesh has little formal structure connected to its observance.  The holiday provides a forum for Jewish women to create their own prayers and rituals. Many Rosh Hodesh groups come together for candlelighting, singing, study, meditation, and/or discussion in a women-only setting.

 

Interest in kabbalah, the ancient body of Jewish mysticism, has also been part of a resurgence of interest in Jewish practice. From celebrities like Roseanne and Madonna to ordinary students taking free courses sponsored by the Lubavitch movement , Kabbalah is now making an imprint on the consciousness of many American Jews—and some non-Jews. While few people take on Kabbalah as a serious academic or spiritual pursuit, many Jews who may have previously felt alienated by a synagogue experience are interested in learning how meditative practices are authentically Jewish forms of expression. Kabbalah, once a veiled subject, intended only to be shared among an elite few, is now available to anyone--though many would criticize some of these neo-kabbalistic approaches as “lite” versions of, or even distortions of, a serious tradition of kabbalah.