Rethinking Synagogues

A New Vocabulary for Congregational Life

Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman, PhD

• Publisher: Jewish Lights
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9781580232487, 9781683362678
• eBook ISBN: 9781580236409
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Jewish Theology

A critical and challenging look at reinventing the synagogue, as the centerpiece of a refashioned Jewish community.

"America is undergoing a spiritual revolution: only the fourth religious awakening in its history. I plead, therefore, for an equally spiritual synagogue, knowing that any North American Jewish community that hopes to be around in a hundred years must have religion at its center, with the synagogue, the religious institution that best fits North American culture, at its very core."
—from Chapter 1

Synagogues are under attack, and for good reasons. But they remain the religious backbone of Jewish continuity, especially in America, the sole Western industrial or post-industrial nation where religion and spirituality continue to grow in importance. To fulfill their mandate for the American future, synagogues need to replace old and tired conversation with a new way of talking about their goals, their challenges and their vision for the future.

In this provocative clarion call for synagogue transformation, Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman summarizes a decade of research with Synagogue 2000—a pioneering experiment that reconceptualized synagogue life—providing fresh ways for synagogues to think as they undertake the exciting task of global change.

Table of contents

• Cover
• title
• Contents
• 1. The Theory in Short
• 2. Thinking Spiritually
• 3. Telling the Story
• 4. Crafting the Vision
• 5. Sacred Community
• 6. Sacred Culture, Sacred System
• 7. Synagogues in Context: The Larger Picture
• Acknowledgments
• Notes
• About the Author
• Copyright
• Also Available
• About Jewish Lights