Saturday, February 20, 2010

A New Denomination?

After this next week, we will be in AHA's final academic trimester of the year. I've done so much, and it's only been 7 months. I co-run the Rosh Hodesh group, connected with each girl in my house (and love every day with them!), fell in love with a new group of friends- the fellows, gained new wonderful mentors that keep me inspired to keep growing and learning, led both reform and conservative services, learned enough to be a tutor for conservative style synagogue skills, created and led full lessons on liturgy, and the list goes on and on....

I'm trying really hard to make sure that I'm getting as much out of this fellowship experience as I can. During the first trimester I studied with a faculty member to learn how to lead Conservative davening. This semester I've been learned Torah trope, and, after next week, I will have had the experience of reading Megillah. While I don't need to be attending things like study sessions, I always feel like I learn something new about the

Today for a Shabbat minyan alternative we did a text study based on an article recently published in Haaretz about Haredi  and Secular Judaism. Our discussion eventually led us to talk about my favorite topic- pluralism. Specifically, what does Pluralism mean here at AHA?  Could a Haredi Jew be welcomed at AHA?A proponent of Judaism beyond denominations, the leader of the discussion suggested that eventually, he imagines, people will begin to identify as 'pluralistic,' just like one identifies as Reform, Conservative, etc. But really, what does that mean? How does on identify as pluralistic? I imagine that this could one day be the direction that AHA heads in. Students would graduate from AHA as pluralistic Jews. What would they be like?

How do you teach Pluralism? Is living and coexisting with Jews different from yourself enough? Can you have Judaism without different denominations?

Here's to hoping that the next month before pesach break brings new challenges and a chance for me to get re-energized!

Shavua Tov :)