Rebooting Judaism

Do the Innovative Communities of the Jewish Emergent Network Hold a Key to the Jewish Future?

On a summer Shabbat in 2009, Rabbi David Ingber stood under a chuppah (canopy) with his son at a synagogue on New York City’s Upper West Side. The celebration was not a wedding, however; it was a naming ceremony for the rabbi’s newborn. The baby was placed on a stack of prayer shawls inside the open Torah, and blessings were recited in a ceremony described by Rabbi Ingber as affirming that “each child—every human life—is as holy as one of the letters of the Torah.” This rite, blending traditional Jewish practice with creative elements, has become a staple of Rabbi Ingber’s community. His congregation, Romemu (meaning “elevated” in Hebrew), began in 2008 with 75 people. Today, it boasts 600 member families.

Read the entire story in the spring 2017 issue of Beacon, the magazine of the National Museum of American Jewish History,