Synagogue without a political agenda

[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.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am in a similar place, OP. I am so turned off by our reform synagogue and how everything revolves around politics. I am torn because our DD’s Bat Mitzvah is on the horizon and I feel we really have to make a change now. No suggestions just commiserating. I am in NoVa and not a lot of reform options around us so I am starting to explore conservative synagogues. Good luck. I think Reform in general is so wrapped in politics it has become less meaningful.

+100

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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!

This seems beyond the pale. Even Israelis (for anyone paying attention before 10/7) are struggling with Israeli politics, their Supreme Court, and Bibi. Just look at how many elections they've had over the past few years and the protests over the summer after the most recent election ended with Bibi back in power. Of course, in my experience, the Jews (and others) calling for a ceasefire are allowing their American understanding of the region color their understanding of the conflict. There are plenty of ways to wrestle (we are b'nei Yisrael, after all, the people who wrestle) with complex feelings about Israel's politics and their actions in Gaza (and the West Bank, for that matter) and during this war without straight up ignoring (as always seems to be the case with the "ceasefire now" people) the terrorism of 10/7 and the hundreds of hostages still being held by Hamas. A rabbi had better call those people out on their BS or that rabbi is not taking the role of Jewish leader seriously.

[Anonymous]

Anyone looking for a temple with a total lack of politics would be happy at Olam Tikvah Synagogue in Northern Virginia. It's aggressively unpolitical.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:We only joined a temple 3 years ago so most of my experience has been in the Trump era. I think a lot of the political talk these days is just a reminder that what is going on in the world is not normal and we shouldn't just be sitting by idly. I can see how it would be off-putting to some but I think our Rabbis just want to encourage us not to be bystanders.

Just my two cents.

So, it was OK to be a bystander while Obama deported four million immigrants, or while he attacked Israel, or while he forced religious communities to pay for anticonceptives ... but now it's the end of the world?

Synagogues did speak up; BS - Obama never did; BS-Obama never did.

Obama did and did and did.

Perhaps you should find a more objective and empathetic temple.

Perhaps you should find a new doctor for your early on-set dementia meds? Obama has the same policy towards Israel as Clinton. He criticized Bibi who like your beloved Trump is under 50+ criminal investigations -which has never been attacking Israel; Obamacare did not force religious to cover anticonceptives .
sic), it provided government-funded access to contraceptives when religious organizations objected to funding family planning health care.

See, you truly need a new temple.

Obama's parting shot at Israel:

"The administration’s decision not to veto the measure reflected its accumulated frustration over Israeli settlements. The American abstention on the vote also broke a longstanding policy of shielding Israel from action at the United Nations that described the settlements as illegal."

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/23/world/middleeast/israel-settlements-un-vote.html


"When the Little Sisters of the Poor filed a complaint against the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive mandate in 2013, they joined a host of other religious charities and colleges that claimed the law placed a burden on their free exercise of their religion. But the sisters stood out: If nuns claim a law violates their conscience, who’s to tell them they’re wrong?"

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/07/obama-beats-the-nuns-on-contraception/398519/

The settlements ARE explicitly illegal, and were illegal under Israeli law when the first one was founded.

Employers don’t get to block healthcare that they disagree with. So sorry.


And funny that PP couldn’t find a cite for their deportation claims.

I wonder how they feel about the GOP’s explicit efforts to overthrow American democracy and their embrace of neo-Nazis like Nick Fuentes.