Empowered Judaism: What Independent Minyanim Can Teach Us about Building Vibrant Jewish Communities

Judaism encompasses the communal act of transforming Torah, the Five Books of Moses, from literature into lives well-lived.

These are where the kehilla lives most powerfully: on Shabbat when we lay aside our private devices and desires and come together as a community; and the synagogue, where community has its home.

Judaism refuses to fit into neat boxes or to allow unchecked dominance to any single set of values. Side by side with glorification of work and productivity, halacha insists on the sacred dignity of being.

Rather than a system of distilled ideas or a code of behavioral ideals, Jewish observance is living Jews living Judaism and interested non-Jews enriching their own path with nuggets of Torah.