The Missing Covenant

The Missing Covenant


 In between reviewing this week’s parasha (Kedoshim) and reading several blog posts about the challenges faced by synagogues (as well as more Pew-generated “cures”) I kept thinking about covenants. 

While parashat kedoshim reminds us of the “vertical” covenant between God and the Jewish People, it’s pretty clear that many in the non-Orthodox world have drifted away from the original Biblical covenants of obligation. While belief in God may be relatively strong, if not consistent, the sense of hiyyuv (obligation) for halakhic observance has not taken hold in this group. Whether through lack of emphasis from the pulpit or in educational venues, or simply through the theological calculus of the congregants, the vertical connection has been weakened. 

 

As the Vertical Covenant has lost its hold, I think a new one has been created; let’s call it the Diagonal Covenant. This refers to the relationship that congregants have with their Rabbi and the congregation. With the demand that synagogues compete in the marketplace of ideas, the success of the Rabbi and congregation are always in a contingent status. “Rabbi, I look up to you, I respect you, but if you don’t do X or Y, or if the services don’t inspire me, I’m out of here.” This “what-have-you-done-for-me-lately?” attitude derives from the weakness of the vertical covenant, the consumerism that has overtaken America, and the expectation that religious “success” should be facilitated by others. 

 

Program and engagement tactics are being created and shared that will, one hopes, lessen the “impress me” attitude. But without something to balance the weakened vertical, and the hopeless diagonal covenants, we will continue to struggle. The missing element is the Horizontal Covenant. The commitment that people make to each other is the glue that holds it all together, the connectivity that allows the vertical and diagonal to evolve in more productive ways. No matter how much organized Jewish life needs an update, if people aren’t willing to commit to a vision, and the programs that serve it, nothing will succeed for long. 

 

The sense of connection, of family, that makes synagogue life so rich needs to be created and nurtured through the congregants, the community; success is in their hands. 

 

When I was a day school head, our leadership team created a “Brit” we called the “Parent/School Covenant” that outlined the responsibilities to which all stakeholders would commit. The document clearly stated that success for all depended on everyone understanding what we were all trying to accomplish and what we all needed to do to make it happen. The three key words in the document were:partner, commitment and responsibility. That was our Horizontal Covenant. 

 

Our synagogues, along with increased efforts at being more welcoming and supportive, might consider how to introduce the concept of commitment in ways that have nothing to do with financial donations.  In addition, as I’ve written before, community building skills (as ways to encourage and strengthen spiritual journeys) should be a large part of the educational programming, for all ages. 

 

Bolts of inspiration, like the flow of electrons in real lightning, are often connected in two directions: from the ground up, and from the sky downward. Ultimately, it can be about God and the individual.  But first, it’s about the person sitting next to me. It’s about being brave enough to commit to one another our hearts, our souls, and the best we have to give.  Then we will surely have a kehilla kedosha (a holy community) as envisioned in the parasha. 

 

Shabbat Shalom, 

 

Rabbi Jim Rogozen 

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