Ruach Minyan
| Type | Independent minyan |
|---|---|
| Focus | Shabbat evening services and dinner |
| Location |
|
Area served | Washington, DC, metro area |
| Website | Ruach Minyan Community Page |
Ruach Minyan is an independent minyan or chavurah in Washington, DC, organized entirely by volunteer leadership and affiliated with Adas Israel Congregation. Its primary activity is Friday night services and dinner.
About
Ruach Minyan is a traditional, spirited, lay-led, egalitarian Kabbalat Shabbat and Ma’ariv service that combines traditional, songful davening with Shabbat dinner.[1] Since its founding days it has sought to serve the community by attracting young, unaffiliated Jews to join with it and celebrate the Shabbat in a warm and friendly environment that welcomes and enriches Jews from all backgrounds providing all with a place for prayer, study, and growth. The Minyan derives its strength and warmth from each of its participants, continuously committing to create an inviting communal space to share our ideas, aspirations, prayers and meals. Ruach Minyan alternates between catered dinners and potluck meals at peoples homes that are within walking distance of the synagogue. It strives to be accessible to all and to be a place where anyone can feel comfortable no matter their religious or economic situation.
Ruach Minyan attracts connected and unaffiliated Jews of all denominations all ages and from all backgrounds and levels of familiarity with Jewish texts and ritual. The minyan attracts people who are new to DC; summer interns; and people who are otherwise unaffiliated yet interested in a place of worship and/or a Shabbat meal. It welcomes people to come to whatever parts of our programs that interest them.
History
The group was originally founded as Van Ness Minyan in 1998, as that is the location of the building where the original founding members lived. Founding members included Ruben Lamdany, Leon & Lara Fleischer, & Nancy & Eric Nelkin. They were looking for a place to gather and pray together on Friday night and then celebrate Shabbat with a joint dinner and so decided to create their own minyan. The founding members of the Van Ness Minyan were also members of Adas Israel and attended the Traditional Egalitarian Minyan at Adas Israel on Shabbat mornings. After a period of dormancy, the Van Ness minyan was revived by Eric Gurevitz with a vision of providing a restful, songful, and spiritual community where people could learn from each other's thoughts and experiences and share a Shabbat meal. In 2006 Rabbi Alana Suskin, Associate Rabbi at Adas Israel, discussed the idea of creating a partnership between the Van Ness Minyan and Adas Israel and helped us come up with the name Ruach Minyan.
Innovations
Van Ness Minyan's, the predecessor to Ruach Minyan, most notable innovation is the creation of the Two-Table System for Potlucks. (Blog entry describing the Two Table System) The two-table system, which Eric Gurevitz and Jonathan Levine of the Van Ness Minyan, created captures the two "extremes" those that only eat food made in a Hechshered only kitchen and those eat any food served. The two table system was created so that everyone in the community could have something to eat and for everyone to cook, without anyone compromising and that everyone would feel they are full member of the community. These rules assume a cultural milieu in which it's acceptable to make every potluck meal dairy or vegetarian and no one is making distinctions about which hechsher they trust
Of equal importance to the two-table policy itself is the language and framing. It is very intentional that one table is called "vegetarian" and the other is called "vegetarian with a hechsher". Neither table is called "kosher" (implying that the other table isn't kosher).
The system was created to solve the problem that Ben Dreyfus states in his Mah Rabu Blog, “If the whole world were table 1, then people who had specific requirements regarding hechshers or utensils wouldn't be able to eat. And if the whole world were table 2, then people whose kitchens did not meet this standard wouldn't be able to cook, and would feel like less-than-full members of the community. And if the community were to work out some compromise between tables 1 and 2 (everything must have a hechsher except cheese, etc.), then (a) lots of time would be spent hammering this out, and (b) at the end of the day, some people still wouldn't be able to eat, and some people still wouldn't be able to cook.”(Blog entry)
The two-table system has been called by Ben Dreyfus in his Hilchot Pluralism [2] as an approach to kashrut for independent Jewish communities. It has since been popularized by many different independent minyanim such as Kol Zimrah and Tikkun Leil Shabbat as well as others.
Recent awards
Ruach Minyan was chosen in 2008-2009 and in 2009-2010 as one of the six Innovative Young Adult Davening Communities by the Conservative Movement's Kesharim Committee and was awarded grants for each of these years.[3]
References
1. ^ The Washington Post, April 29, 2009,"Synthesis Outside the Synagogue: Young Washington Jews Form Lay-Led Worship Communities"
2. ^ Discussion of the Hilchot Pluralism at JewSchool.com.
3. ^ United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism News Idem about Kesharim Awards.
4. The Washington Jewish Week, March 19, 2008, "Selling Judaism 101UJC explores ways to reach the unaffiliated"
- ↑ Washington Post article
- ↑ Discussion at JewSchool.com
- ↑ USCJ news item