Synagogue without a political agenda

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is one thing for a religion to focus on being a good person and worshipping God, completely another for them to dictate your political views and enforce the 'us vs them' mentality, add group pressure and start with excessive demands on your time, money

How are you getting any of this from the conversation? Neither OP nor any of the responses have mentioned “excessive demands on your time, money” (and my Reform temple doesn’t make either of those demands). Nor are the majority of congregations dictating anyone’s political views or enforcing “us vs them” mentality. At all Three Reform temples where I’ve been a member, social action is discussed and performed, but congregants are of many political parties and backgrounds. As an example, my friend works for the Democratic government of my state, and her (non-Jewish) Republican husband has found a very comfortable home with our community.

The fact that this thread is about finding a place with less politics

“Less politics” does not directly translate to “my synagogue is dictating my political views, enforcing an ‘us vs them’ mentality, adding group pressure, and starting with excessive demands on my time and money.” That’s a lot of assumptions.

Also, the first few words of your post refer to “a religion,” while OP is asking about a synagogue. Let’s not extrapolate this to all of Judaism, or even to all of Reform Judaism.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is one thing for a religion to focus on being a good person and worshipping God, completely another for them to dictate your political views and enforce the 'us vs them' mentality, add group pressure and start with excessive demands on your time, money

How are you getting any of this from the conversation? Neither OP nor any of the responses have mentioned “excessive demands on your time, money” (and my Reform temple doesn’t make either of those demands). Nor are the majority of congregations dictating anyone’s political views or enforcing “us vs them” mentality. At all Three Reform temples where I’ve been a member, social action is discussed and performed, but congregants are of many political parties and backgrounds. As an example, my friend works for the Democratic government of my state, and her (non-Jewish) Republican husband has found a very comfortable home with our community.

I’m guess her non-Jewish Republican husband is not too concerned about the fullness of Jewish spirituality so whatever.

[Anonymous]

^^^ I’m guessing

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is one thing for a religion to focus on being a good person and worshipping God, completely another for them to dictate your political views and enforce the 'us vs them' mentality, add group pressure and start with excessive demands on your time, money

How are you getting any of this from the conversation? Neither OP nor any of the responses have mentioned “excessive demands on your time, money” (and my Reform temple doesn’t make either of those demands). Nor are the majority of congregations dictating anyone’s political views or enforcing “us vs them” mentality. At all Three Reform temples where I’ve been a member, social action is discussed and performed, but congregants are of many political parties and backgrounds. As an example, my friend works for the Democratic government of my state, and her (non-Jewish) Republican husband has found a very comfortable home with our community.

I’m guess her non-Jewish Republican husband is not too concerned about the fullness of Jewish spirituality so whatever.

No, but his wife is and he’s both respectful of her needs and a contributing member of our community (both financially and in practice). The conversation here is about whether different points of political views are represented. In my community, they are.

[Anonymous]

When I was taught of Temple Sinai during the Bush (II) years, Paul Wolfowitz, Rod Rosenstein, and Jamin Raskin were all members. It is not a synagogue where I would want to be a member, but politically, it was diverse - keeping in mind that most Jews skew left/center-left.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is one thing for a religion to focus on being a good person and worshipping God, completely another for them to dictate your political views and enforce the 'us vs them' mentality, add group pressure and start with excessive demands on your time, money

How are you getting any of this from the conversation? Neither OP nor any of the responses have mentioned “excessive demands on your time, money” (and my Reform temple doesn’t make either of those demands). Nor are the majority of congregations dictating anyone’s political views or enforcing “us vs them” mentality. At all Three Reform temples where I’ve been a member, social action is discussed and performed, but congregants are of many political parties and backgrounds. As an example, my friend works for the Democratic government of my state, and her (non-Jewish) Republican husband has found a very comfortable home with our community.

I’m guess her non-Jewish Republican husband is not too concerned about the fullness of Jewish spirituality so whatever.

No, but his wife is and he’s both respectful of her needs and a contributing member of our community (both financially and in practice). The conversation here is about whether different points of political views are represented. In my community, they are.

No, the question is whether the political stuff crowds out the spiritual side for OP. Random republican non-Jewish husband doesn’t have a spiritual horse in the race.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is one thing for a religion to focus on being a good person and worshipping God, completely another for them to dictate your political views and enforce the 'us vs them' mentality, add group pressure and start with excessive demands on your time, money

How are you getting any of this from the conversation? Neither OP nor any of the responses have mentioned “excessive demands on your time, money” (and my Reform temple doesn’t make either of those demands). Nor are the majority of congregations dictating anyone’s political views or enforcing “us vs them” mentality. At all Three Reform temples where I’ve been a member, social action is discussed and performed, but congregants are of many political parties and backgrounds. As an example, my friend works for the Democratic government of my state, and her (non-Jewish) Republican husband has found a very comfortable home with our community.

I’m guess her non-Jewish Republican husband is not too concerned about the fullness of Jewish spirituality so whatever.

No, but his wife is and he’s both respectful of her needs and a contributing member of our community (both financially and in practice). The conversation here is about whether different points of political views are represented. In my community, they are.

No, the question is whether the political stuff crowds out the spiritual side for OP. Random republican non-Jewish husband doesn’t have a spiritual horse in the race.

My response was arguing with the phrase PP used, that the religion is “dictating your political views” and “creating an us vs them mentality.” I’m pointing out that neither the Jewish religion as a whole, nor the umbrella of Reform Judaism, necessarily do that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is one thing for a religion to focus on being a good person and worshipping God, completely another for them to dictate your political views and enforce the 'us vs them' mentality, add group pressure and start with excessive demands on your time, money

This

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s not that my rabbi is not supposed to talk about that. It’s that I don’t want my rabbi to talk about ONLY that. It’s not that I don’t want Tikkun Olam; it’s that I don’t want ONLY Tikkun Olam. There is so much to be learned from the Torah from a historical, metaphorical, and spiritual perspective. There is so much richness in our traditions and culture. That is the part that I’m missing. The part which is what my son gets at sleep over camp - spirituality, community, song, Jewish learning - is what I’m looking for. Maybe it’s a tall order.

you can find a lot of conservative and orthodox rabbis who want to talk about all the other stuff, yet are still very much activists. R Shmuel Herzfeld at National Synagogue comes to mind - very, very woke guy and congregation, but they are O, so lots of other stuff that they must focus on.

[Anonymous]

I’ve had a couple people recommend Shirat Hanefesh. Anyone have any experience with that synagogue?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rodef Shalom is a wonderful synagogue and community.

and also very politically left of center.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve had a couple people recommend Shirat Hanefesh. Anyone have any experience with that synagogue?

It meets in a church year-round which for me is a deal-breaker.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rodef Shalom is a wonderful synagogue and community.

and also very politically left of center.

But are the sermons & events political?

[Anonymous]

Don’t go to B’nai Tzedek in Potomac MD. It’s all about the politics and political agenda. It’s awful. Years ago the rabbi was railing on Bernie Sanders. At a more recent bat mitzvah service he suggested we should disassociate with other Jews that don’t agree with the right wing agenda, the ones calling for a ceasefire. And not to question what the Supreme Court of Israel does. It’s exhausting and too much. Too much politics!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:anti- Catholic much?

Not that two wrongs make a right, but PP came into a thread with a question about Jewish observance with a loaded anti-Semitic phrase (“money-grubbing”). So...

+1 Also ridiculous because knowing both religions and their structure, she must be aware of why synagogues ask for membership dues.