New London Synagogue - Who Are We?

We are traditional, egalitarian, open-minded and open-hearted.

Traditional in that we are inheritors of an extraordinary spiritual inheritance that we love, and we accept. That means the prayer services a almost exclusively in Hebrew, we read a full yearly cycle from the Torah. When there are questions about how we, as a community, should respond, we look to our tradition for direction.

Egalitarian is about more than whether women as well as men are allowed on the Bimah. It’s an approach to Judaism that insists that everyone needs to have equal opportunities to play a part in Jewish life. It’s about taking care of children with special needs, and ensuring the building is fully accessible. That said we should be proud of our recent decision on the role of women.

Being open-minded is part of our DNA. It’s not a heresy, in this community, to understand biblical criticism, philology and archaeology and to know that the Torah was not handed down in a single moment, but instead is a document that has unfolded through human hands for millennia. But more than being open-minded is an attitude to thinking about and understanding our lives, as Jews living in a contemporary world. We are not a community for those who wear intellectual blinkers.

Being open-hearted is an attitude towards the gift of life. It’s radically amazing to be alive. Gratitude should infuse everything we do, from the way the office is staffed to the way life-cycle events are celebrated. We live in a world that can depress. Shul should be a source of joy.

That’s what we are, that’s who we want to be. If you know anyone for whom this sounds persuasive, let me know.