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WHA T IS
mp.1v three out of ten young Amer-
Jews go to the synagogue with
v legree of regularity. That was
■artling information given me by
] t:l ,ling rabbi who is himself be-
, v. i to have attracted youth to a
. ,;er degree than almost any other
...... an rabbi. It was during a dis-
of what is wrong with the
m. -lie that we touched upon the
•atistics of attendance. I had given
: a- my opinion that in a world in
m i, h realistic science has taken a
minant place the theology of Juda-
must be reinterpreted if not re
drafted.
Out f this conversation there arose
. niriosity to discover the various
, w that were held in regurd to that
plexing question: “What is wrong
with the synagogue?” I went to a
r iininent layman, a lawyer, who is
wn to be interested in Jewish life
, who is quite liberal in his views,
lb placed the blame squarely on the
Kobbis, declaring that a great many
• them did not believe the very
things they were preaching but as-
umed that the average Jew and Jew-
was still bound by those views.
"It is not that I think these rabbis
n hypocritical,” he hastened to as-
■ire me. “They merely underrate the
't igence of the average American
v Some of the rabbis are genuine-
tnxious to avoid upsetting the reli-
us equilibrium of their parishion-
•! -. They believe that the best way to
• hieve that object is to steer clear of
" troversial issues. The result is that
■ have a rabbinate which does not
• I. which does not dare to strike
it in new directions. Many of the
g'-*r rabbis, particularly, are
faced by a serious dilemma. They do
subscribe to the old theologies,
they do wish to impose credal an-
juities on their congregations. They
r y to find neutral ground by acting
lecturers, discussing books, plays
’• such current problems as disarm-
; ’iunt and the League of Nations. In
“•ay the rabbi preserves his mor-
'ilf-respect but he is not identi-
J’ing himself with anything that is
ifically Jewish.”
1 hat the views of this lawyer are
• it too harsh when applied gener-
• > can be attested by the writer,
happened to be present at some
sessions of the last meeting of
* entral Conference of American
La. • r>is in Detroit. A sincere effort
ma( l e > for example, to revise the
• er book in accordance with the
'V\' ^e rabbis. The fight was
' : by Rabbis James G. Heller, of
• m 'ati, one of the finest men
American pulpit to-day and
ho combines a warm humanism
w “ n a w »de culture.
facts are indisputable. The
The Southern Israelite Pa o e 3
WRONG WITH THE SYNAGOGUE?
Vn Inquiry Into American Jewry’s Most Serious Problem
liy JOSEPH SALMARK
.4 question that perturbs every element in American Jewish
life, Orthodox, Conservative and Reform, concerns the reasons for
the decreased attendance at the synagogue. Who is to blame—the
rabbi, the congregation or the times? These perplexing questions
are taken up in this article. No dogmatic answer is given to any
ot the questions, but they are discussed for the purpose of arriving
ut an intelligent view ot what is wrong with the synagogue.
synagogue is not as widely attended
today as it was a decade ago. This
does not necessarily mean a weaken
ing of Judaism, inasmuch as other
channels may have arisen to provide
that contact which was formerly the
exclusive gift of the synagogue. Some
people believe that the answer to
what is wrong with the synagogue
lies in the distance that has been es
tablished between rabbi and congre
gation. This was the view of a big
business man who has just associa
ted with New York’s latest religious
project, the American synagogue, of
which Marius Hanson is the Kabbi.
“In this age,” the merchant said,
“it is absurd to maintain false dis
tinctions between the leader of a con
gregation and the congregation itself.
For centuries the rabbi was regard
ed as a person apart, as one who had
a deeper view into mysteries of life
than the average man. But that day
has long since passed. That was the
day when education was limited to
the few and devotion to religious
study made a man sacrosanct.Whether
it is because our rabbis of today don’t
study as much as their colleagues of
—The Editor.
another day or because we do not re
gard the student of religious lore so
highly', the fact remains that in the
average liberal Jewish congregation
of today there is no great difference
between the rabbi and the pew-hold
ers. With increasing prosperity the
intelligence of the American Jew has
had greater opportunity for develop
ment; his education equipment is oft
en as large as that of his rabbi. What
respect he acquires for that rabbi
must lx* born of admiration for his
intellectual attainments, for the fine
ness of his personality and the
breadth of his knowledge.
“I think that the idea we have
started in New York is an excellent
one. The main feature of the services
which Rabbi Hanson conducts at the
American Synagogue is the open fo-
ium which comes at the end of the
regular services. Questions of relig
ious import are gone into by every
person in the audience. It develops
a keener interest in the subject being
discussed. It makes every member of
the congregation feel that he is part
of a community’ of intelligent men
and women each equal to the other
in the capacity for attaining truth.”
The above paragraphs do not con
tain the exact wording of the business
man we refer to, but they indicate his
thoughts. One could see that he was
secretly thrilled by the idea that he
had as much right to discuss the attri
butes of a supreme deity as the rabbi
at the pulpit.
A rather peculiar answer to the
question was given by a junior stu
dent at Columbia University, who
said that he tried to attend a syna
gogue whenever he could but that he
found his experience unsatisfying. He
declared it wag impossible for him to
attend the orthodox services, and that
he was left in a quandary by the con
servative ritual nnd tenets. He tried
to find satisfaction in the reform tem
ple, but in vain.
“There is a frigidity about the re
form services which stifles the mys
ticism that is at the bottom of all
rational religious devotionalism. The
costly and large temples of New York
look like huge mausoleums. The same
must be true of religious edifices in
the rest of the country. And yet it is
not largeness alone that is the dif
ficulty. For if that were so the great
cathedrals of Europe would never
have had their great hold on all who
visit them.
“The services, too, are too formal
and precise. Brief and regular, the
exercises permit of no individual re
sponse to their power.”
Whatever the truth of the charge
against the reform temple, the facts
show that orthodox youth attend re
ligious services much more frequently
than the children of liberal Jews. In
deed, the ratio quoted by the rabbi
that three out of ten attend services
secures at least two of that number
from the orthodox. There is an inti
mate contact provided at the orthodox
services which the rituul of reform
Judaism does not offer. It furnishes
an outlet for religious emotionalism
which has led some religious leaders
to believe that the antidote for less
Judaism is more orthodoxy.
It must be admitted that one of the
great competitors of the synagogue in
this country is the secularization of
Judaism. Such movements as the Hil-
lel Foundation and the Menorah So
ciety bring the American Jewish
youth closer to the content and mean
ing of Jewish life without emphasiz
ing its religious aspect. In former de
cades Jewish education was provided
only by the synagogue and its off
spring, the Talmud Torah and the
center. Today there are numerous
other channels for such education.
The Y. M. H. A.’s, the community
centers not attached to temples, even
some fraternal bodies conceive it as
their function to broaden the Jewish
knowledge of the men and women
who come in contact with them. The
result may be a Jewish people more
conscious of its traditions and his
torical antecedents; but the syna
gogue inevitably loses adherents.
What is wrong with the syna
gogue ? It is possible that the answer
may be—nothing! But the decreased
attendance still remains to be ex
plained. The solution to that problem
is undoubtedly the changing theologi
cal views of the Jews and also the
greater facilities provided for secular
Jewish education.
.IliXaitp jXOansiomi
Hrtlwr <Outterman
Vast is my Father's house and glorious are
Its many mansions, citadels of light,
Enchanted moon and redly flaming star.
Whether beheld or still beyond our sight
They gem infinitude. Well named were they
Ry dreaming bards of some wild desert clan,
Nihal, Giansar, Retelgeuse, Er Rai,
Gomeisa, Fomalhaut, Aldebaran
And Talitha the Maiden. Isles of rest,
Inns of Eternity, they house the soul
Upon its pilgrimage, that splendid quest
Wherein from world to world and goal to goal
We, too, shall tread, as myriads have trod,
These stepping-stones on the long roarl to God.
—Scribner’s Magazine.