One of the things I enjoy about the URJ Biennial is hearing about the challenges and innovations from around the Reform movement. Whether a congregation is large or small, surrounded by many other synagogues or distant from other communities, thriving on its own or collaborating with other Jewish denominations to provide necessary resources, every successful community is constantly looking to adapt great ideas for their culture and their demographics.
Over the years at Temple Beth El, we have made providing meaningful worship a top priority. This is always a challenge as each person engages in worship differently. We are aware that our Shabbat services are just one part of a larger goal: to provide an opportunity to gather and be strengthened as a community.
Service times are one of the biggest challenges. What people say they want and what the community shows up for are not always the same thing. We learn by asking and we learn by observing. Realizing that there is no ideal time that will serve everyone, it is clear that 6:00pm services on Friday night are the best attended. The 6:00pm time achieves a variety of goals, including making Temple Beth El the jumping off point rather than the destination for Shabbat worship. For 6:00pm worship attendees, TBE becomes the bridge between the workweek and the weekend.
Other people enjoy making Temple Beth El their destination at the end of a long week. The 8:00pm service allows time to get home from work or weekday activities, have dinner, and then gather with friends and family for worship and oneg. Although the crowd is a little smaller, congregants are no less enthusiastic and appreciative for the opportunity to worship and socialize together at the later hour.
The 8:00pm service made its autumn re-appearance last month — although in the wake of holidays, I’m not sure that everyone was aware of this, as many of the devotees of the later time have not yet taken advantage of the new schedule. We will normally have 8:00pm services on the second and fourth Fridays of the month: the second Friday is Kabbalat Shabbat and the fourth is Community Shabbat. As always, check the website and/or the weekly Shabbat-to-Shabbat e-mail for the specifics. While double Friday evening services makes a big demand on staff (I hope you will take a moment to thank all those who work hard and quickly to set and reset services and preneg/oneg spaces on those busy nights!), it is wonderful to see our congregants enjoying the variety of Friday evening opportunities.
While we aim for consistency in our worship schedule, we must also accommodate both Jewish and secular holidays. We will have the Kabbalat Shabbat service this Friday at 8:00pm (after Community Shabbat at 6:00pm). For the remainder of 2015, the second/fourth Fridays fall on Thanksgiving weekend, Chanukah, and Christmas, respectively. On the two secular holiday weekends, we will have a 6:00pm service only (many people are not working those two days, so the earlier service time is easier to manage), and on Chanukah we will have our traditional Chanukah dinner at 6:00pm and our “Night of 1000 Lights” service at 7:00pm. 8:00pm services will return on January 8th!
We will continue to listen and we will continue to observe. Our goal is to bring the warmth of community and worship to as many congregants as possible while simultaneously being responsible toward our devoted but always-busy staff. I especially hope that those who revel in the embrace of community and worship provided by the later schedule will join us when those opportunities arise.
