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Empowered Judaism: What Independent Minyanim Can Teach Us about Building Vibrant Jewish Communities

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I Just finished reading this book and I can honestly say that I feel refreshed. Rabbi Kaunfer has shown how we can make Judaism relevant, and above all, meaningful in our contemporary lives. He shows us how to take control of this gift and revitalize it for the average Jew! It also is a great guide for anyone considering starting up their own independent minyan (prayer group). I would recommend this book anyone already in a Jewish community but especially those evaluating their place in the Jewish world and open to a radical new Jewish future!

Probably when the first synagogue was established, which may have occurred sometime between 200 BCE and 70 CE, a sizable percentage of Jews who attended the services objected to something they saw or heard. This is human nature. Whenever a large group is involved in something, many will dislike what they see and hear. Thus, for example, the president of the United States is considered to be well liked if 60 percent of Americans favor him.
This disapproval of the synagogue services frequently happened for good reasons. Many people recognized that the way that the services were conducted failed to satisfy a large percentage of the attendees. As a result, the alienation from the synagogue and from Judaism is large, and the intermarriage rate among Jews is over fifty percent. Thus, Rabbi Elie Kaunfer's book about creating minyanim, prayer groups, that are relevant and that interest congregants is important.
Rabbi Kaunfer readily admits everyone will not agree with his concerns or his solutions; in fact different minyanim have different solutions. This is fine. What is significant is that the rabbi is trying to do something about this Jewish problem. Even if readers may disagree with some of his answers, they will still be stimulated by the concerns he raises and encouraged to act when they read his ideas.
Rabbi Kaunfer notes that "more than sixty independent minyanim have been started in the past ten years" and more than 20,000 Jews in their twenties and early thirties are involved. He describes how the groups differ from each other in their approaches to the community, to prayer, and to Jewish life. Each seeks its own way to find meaning, how to answer critical life questions, and how to increase the engagement of Jews in the services.
Should a synagogue have a cantor? Are peer-led services better than having a rabbi? Should congregants rush through prayers? How much English makes the services relevant? Does too much English make the prayers non-Jewish? How do people add spiritual meaning to a service? How do we define "spiritual"? How do we create a sense of community? How can a congregation increase the number and percentage of satisfied attendees? How are boundaries set while, at the same time, being open?
Rabbi Kaunfer describes how the minyanim used volunteers, including people who read from the Torah scroll. He tells how they balanced tradition and creativity in their egalitarian services, including adding prayers about women, and how the group taught melodies to people who did not know them so that they would participate in the services, and how the sermon is limited to five minutes.
One chapter of the book describes seven minyanim in the US and in Israel, their concerns and how they resolved them. Another addresses Rabbi Kaunfer's key interest, the creation of "a meaningful, spiritual prayer experience, and offers a couple of dozen ways that minyan attendees can reach this goal. Still another describes Yeshivat Hadar, an egalitarian school that he and others established to teach Judaism in 2006.

Elie Kaunfer knows what's ailing American Jewry and he has the cure. Kaunfer, a dynamic young rabbi, named in 2009 to Newsweek's list of 50 most influential rabbis in the US, is co-founder of several successful ventures in Jewish living, beginning with Minyan Hadar in 2000. What he calls "Empowered Judaism," could also be termed engaged or serious Judaism, a Judaism whose practitioners are fluent in Hebrew and conversant in the Tanakh, the Talmud and the other sources of the Jewish tradition and are able to study them and draw upon them on a daily basis for their own personal growth and the benefit of their communities. The lack of such individuals has been a serious weakness of the non-Orthodox movements for generations and Kaunfer and his visionary cohort of teachers and rabbinic leaders have undertaken to address this deficiency in American Jewish life. The book under review begins with Kaunfer's personal spiritual quest, but centers mainly on his involvement with Minyan Hadar and Yeshivat Hadar. Minyan Hadar is an extraordinarily successful independent minyan that meets weekly on the Upper West Side in Manhattan. Totally egalitarian and featuring a full traditional davening, it has succeeded and runs services marked by spirited singing and a consistently high level of quality in prayer leading and Torah reading. Kaunfer offers an account of how this was achieved and his group's experiences are instructive and worthy of study and emulation. There have been many spinoffs in the last decade and his latest venture is Yeshivat Hadar, the first fully egalitarian Yeshiva in North America. The yeshiva and its talented staff model Judaism at its best--dedicated to serious worship, study, and social action, in an open, non-judgmental, environment dedicated to free enquiry and embracing the findings of academic scholarship in a fully egalitarian setting. Kaunfer's book belongs in every Jewish synagogue, school and JCC library and should be read by every rabbi and Federation leader. Its message is timely and deserves to be widely disseminated. Barry Dov Walfish

Rabbi Elie Kaunfer offers valuable insight into a new generation of American Jews, and practical knowledge about engagement, community building, education and what's really valuable in today's synagogue-minyan-community landscape. I particularly appreciated the short case studies from minyan leaders around the country, and the juicy nugget of study at the end which really "walked the walk". This is an eye opening and thought provoking book for all, and particularly useful to gain insight into the minds, lives and priorities of those who will soon be the leaders of our Jewish communal organizations.

Rabbi Kaunfer explains the origins of Kehilat Hadar and Yeshivat Hadar which he helped found and the Independent Minyanim movement which has grown in recent years. His discussion of the decisions made as to why and how to start and run Hadar and his explanation of the ethos of Hadar (the minyan and the yeshiva) are interesting and/or instructive to others.

I would recommned this book for anyone interested in founding a similar group, to anyone looking for new ideas for an existing group as well as to anyone who is interested in one of the more recent phenonemon of modern Judaism.

I am not sure that I agree 100% with how he differentiates Hadar (and its offshoots) with the Havurah movement and some of his comments about mainstream congregations. Personally, I think he is too generalized with a couple of his comments in these areas but this is a minor quibble and should not dissuade you from buying this book. I do fully agree with Rabbi Kaunfer that it benefits the Jewish community to have the best educated (and "empowered") Jews it can.

FWIW, my guess is that many Hadar (and other similar urban 20-something populated independent minyan) alumni will probably over time migrate to mainstream shuls and their experience at Hadar will be an asset to these shuls.

Disclaimer: I know the author and have attended Kehilat Hadar services and their shavuot retreat.

Empowered Judaism: What Independent Minyanim Can Teach Us About Building Vibrant Jewish Communities discusses why thousands of young Jews have started over sixty new prayer communities across the country, growing an independent minyan movement as a solution to Jewish problems and concerns. These approaches to enlightened spirituality embrace Jewish learning and technology as well as more effective leadership examples, making this a pick not only for Jewish collections, but for any serious spirituality collection.

Rabbi Kaunfer masterfully interweaves his personal narrative, his vision for creating an engaged Jewish community, and practical steps to bring that vision into fruition. He also carefully articulates how Hadar and communities like it fit into the the broader context of the Jewish landscape. This is both an interesting study of the sociology of the independent minyan movement, and an incredibly useful guide to help people create empowered Jewish communities.

Very thought provoking. Chapters 7 and 8 (?) are pure gold. Earlier chapters are very anecdotal but interesting. Fits in well as post-havurah writing