80

Friday, April 12, 1985

ixE DE1FOli JEWISHNEW S

MINYAN
WITH A
DIFFERENCE

BY DIANE WINOCUR

Special to The Jewish News

Diane Winocur is a graduate student in
journalism at the University of Michigan.

Diane Wi nocq r

U-M's Reform inyan.

Friday-night me ting of

during the

Bamel makes a point

intently as Susan

Phyl is Zar en listens

I

he Sabbath is a "special, sepa-
rate time of the week," says
Jim Fendelman, a University
of Michigan junior cloaked in
a prayer shawl and yarmulke.
This week is so hard and physical. I
want to give us the feeling of physi-
cally leaving the work-day world, and
physically entering the Shabbat."
With that introduction,- Fendel-
man invites the prayer group into the
Shabbat he built specifically for the
occasion — a five-sided enclosure of
white tablecloths taped to poles. An
open sixth side forms the entryway to
the structure, which almost fills the
tiny library of the B'nai B'rith Hillel
Foundation at the University of
Michigan in Ann Arbor.
Fifteen young congregants ritu-
ally cleanse their hands in warm
water, remove their shoes, and file into
the hexagon. Sitting cross-legged on
the carpeted floor, they take turns
reading by the light of the Sabbath
candles from a Friday-night service
Fendelman has compiled himself. It
follows the traditional liturgical
structure, but has been embellished
with poetry and essays from the 20-
year-old's book collection. He says he
chose them because they "lifted me out
of myself."
The "congregants" freely inter-
rupt the service to request or offer in-
terpretations, to add.a period of silent
meditation, or to sing with guitar ac-
companiment. Hours after the service
ends, they are still lounging on the
library floor, sharing theories on an
aspect of Jewish life posed by the
liturgy.
Fendelman's service may be an
odd breach of tradition for another
congregation. But for the Reform mi-
_nyan of the U-M Hillel, only the tab-
lecloths are out of the ordinary. The
"mystic" atmosphere and casual ap-
proach are precisely the qualities its
student members find inspirational.

Novel, free-wheeling
approach to Judaism clicks
for student group at U-M.

While most religious groups
strictly assign the roles of leader and
follower, minyan participants act as
both. The group's adviser, Hillel Pro-
gram Director Joseph Kohane, care-
fully avoids taking charge, leaving the
students to lead, suggest interpreta-
tions, and read from the service.
Each week a volunteer prepares
and conducts the liturgy, which varies
from straight out of a prayerbook to a
personalized compilation such as Fen-
delman's. One of the more learned
members presents the "sermon" — a
story or group of readings based on the
week's Torah portion. And once the
service is over, the sermon topic re-
turns to the floor for analysis, where it
and the congregants often remain long
into the evening.

According to Kohane, the group's
experiments fall well within accept-
able limits because they emphasize
strict observance of traditional
guidelines.
"From a Reform point of view,
we're not bound Halachicly — by
Jewish Law — so we can take greater
liberties. We are making Shabbat
more beautiful for ourselves, so what
we're doing is acceptable. It's done for
the kavod, for the greater majesty of
Shabbat:"
The minyan was formed last Sep-
tember when Kohane, newly ap-
pointed to his directorship, sought to
establish a Reform presence at the
U-M Hillel. He announced an organ-
izational meeting at the Reform High
Holiday services, and two of the stu-
dents who responded volunteered to
lead a regular Friday-night service.
Phyllis Zarren, a senior and polit-
ical science major from Belmont,
Mass., had led prayer meetings as a
temple youth group president, a sum-
mer camp counselor and on a cruise,
before conducting the Reform minyan.
She calls herself the "bedrock" of the
group because she takes charge

whenever no one else has prepared a
service.
Guitarist Susan Bamel, who has
entertained at coffeehouses and wed-
dings, says she leads songs for minyan
just for her own pleasure. A senior
studying special education, Bamel,
who grew up in Newton, Mass., says
she learned more than 200 Jewish
melodies as a camper and counselor at
Pembroke, the Massachusetts sum-
mer camp she and Zarren attended for
12 years.

The women say they did not plan
for the minyan to have free-form serv-
ices. The style evolved from partici-
pant input. When the group first
began meeting, for instance, Kohane
frequently assisted the service leaders
by interrupting to explain the liturgy _
and keep creative re-arrangement in
check.
As the students became more con-
fident leaders, he receded to the posi-
tion of "resource person." By demon-
strating his own use of the traditions,
Kohane says he teaches through
example that the laws have much to
offer modern lives.
One such demonstration involves
leading the group in Jewish mystic
meditation. Kohane directs partici-
pants to clear their minds of weekday
concerns using images from the Kab-
balistic and Chasidic traditions. The
process is "an attempt of linking with
God, uniting with what is really im-
portant," he says.
Although he is not a rabbi,
Kohane, 31, seems well-prepared to
head up the minyan. Born in Tarnow,
Poland, his family moved to New York
when Kohane was six. He still bears
the warm lilt and gestures of Slavic
expression. He attended Chasidic and
Orthodox yeshivas through high
school, received a master's degree in
history of Jewish interpretation of the
Bible from McGill University in
Montreal and attended Hebrew Union
College-Jewish Institute of Religion
for one year.
Through their discussions, the Re-
form group is learning to dissect their
Jewishness, according to Kohane.
Many Jews reach college age thinking
of their heritage as "kid's stuff," hav-
ing given it no thought since they were
children, he says. "They don't do the
hard work of relating it to current
adult needs."
The casual approach of the serv-

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