Temple Beth Sholom, NY - Cantor's Notes

Cantor’s Corner.................... from the desk of Cantor Sergei Schwartz

REFLECTING ON RECENT URJ BIENNIAL

In December I was privileged to attend the URJ Biennial in San Diego. It obviously was nice to be in a warm place in the midst of New York's winter weather, However, the warm inspiration and spiritual level of the event brought even more pleasure.

The URJ Biennial is always a very special event which brings together thousands of Reform Jews, clergy, and lay leaders. This event recharges your batteries and sets the direction for the entire movement. There are several days filled with numberless workshops, concerts and unforgettable meetings. The workshops were for everyone: those interested in recently written Jewish music and concerned with problems of membership and issues of intermarriage; various Judaica classes and discussions on Jewish ethics and Israel; the problems of bringing up Jewish youth and issues of Jewish parenting; workshops dealing with raising funds and teaching about usage of the latest technology in our Temples. Overall I counted more then 150 different workshops!

But the most amazing times were Friday night and Saturday morning services. You can agree or disagree with different styles of leading services, you can like or dislike certain musical selections, but you cannot help but be astonished by the mutual worship of 6 (six) thousand Jews together, singing the same songs, praying the same prayers and the service screened on 5 enormous flat screens. It was unbelievable!!! Like always one of the highlights was Rabbi Eric Yoffie's sermon which sets the mood and goals for the Reform movement for the next two years. This time Rabbi Yoffie spoke about the significance of Shabbat worship, both Friday night and Shabbat morning, pointing out that Shabbat morning service should not be Bar/Bat Mitzvah orientated only. Rabbi Yoffie also spoke about the importance of changing the American Health Care system and having open dialog with the Muslim community. It is my hope that we will have a stronger presentation at next Biennial which will take place in November 2009 in Toronto, Canada.

Cantor Sergei Schwartz cantor@ templebethsholom.info