Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman, PhD
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.
“A must read for lay leaders,
professionals, congregants—anyone truly interested in
doing synagogue in a new way.… Synthesizes powerful ideas
from sociology, economics, history, physics and other
disciplines … gives us a distinctively Jewish take on
synagogue life. If you want to change the conversation about
synagogue transformation and have something radically
meaningful to say, this is the book for you.”
—Lee M.
Hendler, author, The Year Mom Got Religion: One Woman’s Mid-Life
Journey into Judaism; past
president, Chizuk Amuno Congregation, Baltimore
“An important study…. A
powerful and persuasive case for rethinking synagogues as
sacred communities, above all else.”
—Prof.
Jack Wertheimer, provost, The
Jewish Theological Seminary of America
“Challenges many of our assumptions
about synagogue and Jewish communal life, and offers a new lens
through which we can examine those changes that may be
necessary…. When the glorious history of American
synagogues in the twenty-first century is written, there is no
doubt that Hoffman will be acknowledged as one of the primary
architects of its transformation, revitalization and
health.”
—Rabbi
Daniel Freelander, vice
president, Union for Reform Judaism
“The first book to address the
practical issues of transformation for contemporary American
synagogues. A must read not just for synagogues but for all
congregations…. Uniquely balances the academic with the
practical. Those looking for ‘how do I do it’ best
practices will find plenty of nuts and bolts here.”
—Rabbi
Aaron Spiegel, Indianapolis
Center for Congregations, Inc.
