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Minyans from page 61

Community Context
These minyans have much in com-
mon with the havurah movement, a
nondenominational countercultural
initiative that also focuses on Jewish
learning, spiritual prayer and lay lead-
ership."Our goals are similar," says Ben
Dreyfus, a high-school physics teacher
and co-founder of Kol Zimrah. "In both
cases it's people interested in forming
a deep connection to Judaism within
the context of a community rather than
through established synagogues."
But the idea is playing out differently.
"The very fact.that they use different
words is significant," Sarna says. "The
minyanim don't put the same emphasis
on fellowship. Davening and study are
higher on their list of priorities."
They vary widely in practice, with
halachic decisions made by self-
appointed leadership committees. Some
hold services every Saturday morning,
others just one Friday evening a month.
Some offer only kosher food, while oth-
ers maintain a "two-table" system, with
one table reserved for vegetarian food
and the other for vegetarian food with a
hechsher, or kosher symbol.
Some have separate seating for men
and women, others are fully egalitarian.
A few have created their own norms.
Tikkun Leil Shabbat was created in
June by a merger of two pre-existing
minyans. One was more traditional
than the other, so they created alternate
services: One week they face east and
pray without musical instruments; the
next week they sit in a circle and play
instruments.
The Mission Minyan has mixed seat-
ing on Friday night, but on Saturday
uses a "trichitza" arrangement, with
separate sections for men and women
and mixed seating in the middle. It's

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62

September 21 • 2006

believed to be the a only congregation
doing this on a regular basis.
Men and women read from the
Torah at the Mission Minyan and a
prayer quorum requires 10 women
and 10 men, instead of just the 10 men
required by Orthodox Judaism or the
10 adults of either gender required by
non-Orthodox congregations. Several
of the more traditional minyans use
similar practices, aiming for a plural-
ism where different observance levels
coexist.
"We're not trying to create an ideol-
ogy, but a situation where we can all
daven together," says Mission Minyan
co-founder David Henkin, a history
professor at the University of California
at Berkeley "These are practical corn-
promises that work for our community,
not an attempt to create a model we
think the world should adopt."
Many of the leaders grew up in the
Conservative movement, attending
its schools, camps and seminaries, a
challenge that is not lost on movement
officials.
"Right now they don't need religious
schools or life-cycle events, but at a
particular point they will turn to a
religious institution to provide these
things:' predicts Rabbi Jerome Epstein,
executive vice president of the United
Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.
"If we face the challenge appropri-
ately and retool some of what we do,
I believe many of these people may
join Conservative synagogues, or these
minyanim may become Conservative
institutions."
Minyan leaders, however, don't see it
the same way. "We don't want to be con-
nected to a large synagogue movement
that will limit us in any way," Kurtzer
says. ❑

11632 , 10

that an Orthodox minyan that
met at Congregation Adas Israel,
a large Conservative shill there,
used triple-section seating in the
1980s when she was a member. It
abandoned the practice by 1990,
when it became egalitarian and
joined the larger congregation.
None of this would happen in an
Orthodox synagogue today, says
Rabbi Basil Herring, executive
vice president of the Rabbinical
Association of America. "Many
things were done 'back when'
because the leadership of a par-
ticular organization felt it was bet-
ter than nothing at all," he says.

"That doesn't mean it's a viable
precedent."
The new, independent minyans
use the system consciously, as
part of a search for a pluralism
that works for them, says Ben
Dreyfus, a co-founder of the
Kol Zimrah minyan in New York.
"What's interesting is that the
issue of who is sitting where can
be considered separately from
who reads from Torah," notes
Dreyfus, who started a trichitza
dialogue on his blog, www.mah-
rabu.blogspot.com .
"You can mix and match these
things." Li

