Newspaper Page Text
Come To CROPS & B .....
For An Adventure In Eating
We can't he all things to all ^?‘f,jHfjjPj
people. No eating place ran V;
he so ubiquitous. And we ■jl f "• v
don’t have everything to eat,
to snack or eat with fulfill-
merit. ~. •'• . jgF--
But you choose, from -±
our large variety of suhstan- _ *■’ ' J-
tial delectibles for your spec- I
and even mood
that’s your drink. Beer
draft if you want this. Cool
and thirst-quenching all.
Small steaks and seafoods to
suit your fancy. Danish and 4*
cheese cakes if you’re in a ^
mood to wind-up your snack ^ v rtW^*mJi
or luncheon
some even more lush if you ' ' *
desire.
sandwiches.
How non-, wajis era there ■*, vV^
to make a sandwich?
won’t count the ways just in
this one ad. But the possibilities are Hardly. You’ve no idea how subtle
infinite, depending on the variety of some of our customers can direct
meats, salads and cheeses to be chosen their discriminating preferences. Take
as contents. Multiply this of course with or without mayonnaise, with or
by “X.” “X” in this case is a sub- without mustard, with or without
stantial number of different kinds of other condiments. And now with or
rolls and breads—hearty ryes, sub- without like cold or hot sauerkraut,
stantial pumpemickels, white bread, At this point make a decision as to
French bread. whether, for instance, you want the
Now that you’ve decided upon pastrami or corned beef as is or do
content and' bread have you arrived you want it heated on the steam
at a definitive number of sandwiches? grill.
Well, you probably could come up
with a different sandwich every day
in every week in every month. for
the next ten years if you persevered
Chances are you won’t visit us this
often. But as often as you do, we
invite you to go adventuring at the
sandwich bar and later take your
pick in the salads buffet and other
varieties available.
Eating at Crops & B is a pleasure!
mmm0k
FiWty, fcufl. %i 1970
AMERICAN NEWS REPORT .... by Ben Gallob
Religious ‘Havurah’ Seen As Challenge
To Organized Jewish Community, Seminaries
The existence and achieve
ments of the first Jewish re
ligious communities in the his-
1 tory of the American Jewish
community pose a major chal
lenge not only to that commun
ity but even more so to the Jew
ish rabbinical seminaries, in
view of a Conservative rabbi
In the first critique and eval
uation in an “establishment”
publication, Rabbi Stephen C.
Lemer of New York has exam
ined the brief histories and op
erations of the Havurat Shalom
in SoSmmerville, Mass, and the
Havurah in New York City. His
report appeared in the Spring,
1970 issue of. “Conservative Ju
daism,” the quarterly publica
tion of the Rabbinical Assembly,
the association of Conservative
rabbis, and the Jewish Theo
logical Seminary, the Conserva
tive school.
“The havurah as an institu
tion will not solve the malaise
in the American Jewish com
munity,” Rabbi Lerner asserted.
“It presents problems of Ms own
and it may not even endure. But
it has indicated that a way can
be found to make serious study
of Jewish sources more relevant
and religions services and the
religions life more meaningful,”
particularly for young Jews alie
nated by the typical synagogue.
For the seminaries, he declared,
the message of the two self-con
tained religious communities is
that “more and more students
want to study in a setting in
which relevance is at least as
important as depth, where in
formality and openness are
valued alongside scholarly at
tainment.” He warned that ‘“if
the establishment fails to res
pond '16 flie request for hew
styles of leamin& more and
more students will find supple
mental sources of enlightenment
or bypass the seminaries alto
gether.” In fact, he reported, he
had found that students of both
the JTS and the Reform Hebrew
Union College-Jewish Institute
of Religion had dropped out of
the seminaries after joining the
havurah.
Under the leadership of Rabbi
Arthur Green, a JTS graduate,
the havurah opened in the fall
of 1968 with a group of mem
bers possessing “impressive aca
demic credentials.” After 20
months of operation, it has its
own building, some 38 members,
and “an elan that few institu
tions possess.” He called It “as
vibrant a center of Jewish life
as may be found in these United
States.” With a state charter as
an educational non-profit corp
oration, the havurah projects a
four-year curriculum leading to
the title of “haver," roughly
translatable as “fellow.” The
question of rabbinic ordination
has been discussed but remains
open, according to Rabbi Lerner.
One reason may be that few,
if any, of the male members,
have any interest in being prac
ticing rabbis.
The 388 members include 18
full-time students, six part-time
students, seven teachers and
seven who are wives “who be
long to the havurah but neither
study nor teach. There are also
wives Who are student-mem
bers.” All members are expect
ed to participate in the religious
and' communal life of the hav
urah,; in addition to its study
progeny Each member is ex-
pect^f^to contribute $800 an
nually to the Upkeep of the hay>-
°$jj! house. ./;■ ■
The spirit of the havurah, as
dfttterf'ijy Rabbi dreco, ^ii, U*.
olvratigtoNo j
human being through the
sources of Judaism rather than
through the ordinary concepts
of Jewish commitment.” Accord
ingly, there is “great stress on
developing meaningful prayer
styles, and on openness to fel
low members and to the tradi
tion." Saturday morning serv
ices, informal Kabbalat Shabbat
gatherings, communal weekly
meals and a general willingness
“to work together and share
chores all contribute to the
growth of a total religious and
interpersonal relationship.” The
spirit of the writing of Martin
Buber “reigns supreme.” •
One activity open to the pub
lic is the worship service on
Saturday mornings. Many out
siders come regularly to pray
with the group and “onlookers
and observers come from near
and far.” Many worshippers sit
on cushions on the floor. The
traditional liturgy is followed in
the Sacharit services and when
English is used, it is chanted
to the traditional Sabbath songs.
The weekly Torah portion is not
read in its entirety but it is
rather studied intensively by
various approaches. “Sometimes
the atmosphere is that of a
Quaker meeting. People read
silently until someone wishes to
comment.’ Services conclude
with singing and dancing.
Study is at the center of the
havurah program. Last year,
courses included a study of
Buber’s ‘“I and Thou,” a survey
of the biblical legal and agadic
(commentary) sources in rela
tion to Succot, a laboratory in
prayer methods, an introduction
to Talmud and Jewish mysticism,
and the prayerbook and Chum-
ash. In addition, students ar
range individual readings with
members of the faculty.
Rabbi Lerner reported that
while it was difficult to judge
the academic standards of the
havurah- faculty and students
“on the basis of a few cursory
visits,” it was his impression
that they constituted “an usually
able group.” Most of the rabbi-
teachers have been JTS grad
uates, “generally among the
Seminary’s outstanding students
of recent years.”
Rabbi Lemer reported that,
for him, “the moat remarkable
revelation is that the students
are clearly contented. Whereas
students all over the country
express widespread dissatisfac
tion with institutions of higher
learning, bath Jewish and se
cular, the members of the hav
urah actually like their courses.”
He quoted a Brandeis student,
who chose the havurah in his
search for religious meaning, as
declaring “I’m engaging in the
most serious study I've ever
done in my educational life, in
the most positively creative at
mosphere I’ve ever been in.” Re
marked Rabbi Lerner: “This is
not the sort of comment we ex
pect to hear from a student in
an American Jewish academy.”
One negative view about the
havurah has been expressed by
a local rabbi Herbert Rosen-
fclum of Temple Emanuel in
Lexington, where the School
principal and teaching staff
members come from the hav
urah. Praising the enrichment
of Jewish education in the Bos
ton area stimulated by the hav
urah, he t has nevertheless la
mented its “isolationist stance’'
and warned that its members
“are postponing the acceptance
of mature responsibility.”
Rabbi Lerner indicated a feel
ing that the “basically anti-
institutional nature of the hav
urah may endanger its long-term
survival.” He criticized “the
facile way In' which the hav-
erim scornfully - condemn the
institutions of the Jewish com
munity." He said most
bers “seem to share a certain
Puritan sense of the corruption
of the existing order and the
concomitant requirement tor a
New Zion” and few have “any
real hope for the synagogue.”
Questioning the charge of seH-
chosen isolationism, Rabbi Ler
ner noted that most of the hav
ering seek to teach and lead
Jewish youth in the community
but, he added, “they share with
the Lubavitcher Hassidim an
exaggerated sense of the cor
rectness of their ways, an ex
plicit condecension toward the
institutions which engage them.”
They have no interest “in
strengthening the content and
quality of the synagogue pro
gram, in acting as the leaven
within die largest congregation.
Ultimately, they are acting out,
in the Jewish sphere, the .broad
generational rebellion.”
He concluded that “it is pre
cisely the failure to value the
religious component of the sur
vival of die Jewish people that
weakens the power of Havurot
Shalom and may destine it to
become no more than an inter- i
esting footnote in the history of
our time.”
Copyright 1970, JTA