The Jewish Emergent Network is a network of seven independent

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

congregations in the United States. Founded in January 2016, the network shares a "devotion to revitalizing the field of Jewish engagement, a commitment to approaches both traditionally rooted and creative, and a demonstrated success in attracting unaffiliated and disengaged Jews to a rich and meaningful Jewish practice." The various members of the Network have a wide range of religious perspectives, but share a commitment to reaching populations that are not addressed by traditional American synagogues and fighting "demographic free fall." The Network currently includes IKAR in Los Angeles, Kavana in Seattle, The Kitchen in San Francisco,

Mishkan According to the Hebrew Bible, the tabernacle (), also known as the Tent of the Congregation (, also Tent of Meeting), was the portable earthly dwelling of God used by the Israelites from the Exodus until the conquest of Canaan. Moses was instru ...

in Chicago, Sixth & I in Washington, D.C., and Lab/Shul and Romemu in New York.

Background and critical response

The organization takes its name, "Jewish emergent," from a series of articles by

Shawn Landres J. Shawn Landres (born 1972 in Los Angeles, California) is a social entrepreneur and independent scholar, and local civic leader, known for applied research related to charitable giving and faith-based social innovation and community development, as ...

, who developed the term by studying three types of non-traditional Jewish communities: lay-led independent minyanim, "start-up" congregations that were still led by clergy, and "para

shul A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as Jewi ...

s" (a Jewish spiritual community where religious worship activity is not the primary religious activity). Most of its member congregations describe themselves as re-inventing traditional aspects of

Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...

to be relevant to the needs of their participants in the 21st century. Some commentators, however, have noted that, despite this, the Network and similar independent Jewish communities have begun to re-institute many of the features more commonly found in traditional

American Jewish American Jews (; ) or Jewish Americans are American citizens who are Jewish, whether by culture, ethnicity, or religion. According to a 2020 poll conducted by Pew Research, approximately two thirds of American Jews identify as Ashkenazi, 3% ide ...

communities, such as membership and acquiring permanent spaces for worship and community services. Others, such as historian of American Judaism

Jonathan Sarna Jonathan D. Sarna (born 10 January 1955) is the Joseph H. and Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History in the department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies and director othe Schusterman Center for Israel Studies at Brandeis Universit ...

, argue that the Network's approach is in line with American traditions of reinventing Judaism, such as American

Reform Reform refers to the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The modern usage of the word emerged in the late 18th century and is believed to have originated from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement, which ...

congregations or the independent

havurah A ''chavurah'' or ''havurah'' ( : ''(c)havurahs'' or ''(c)havurot'' or ''(c)havuroth'') is a small group of like-minded Jews who assemble to facilitate Shabbat and holiday prayer services and share communal experiences such as life-cycle events ...

movement in the 1970s.

Current Activities

The organization holds an annual conference entitled "(Re)VISION Conference." From 2016-2020, it funded a fellowship for a total of 14 junior rabbis to be placed in multi-year fellowships at each of its member institutions. During the early phase of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the Network engaged in several approaches to online Jewish holiday observance, including an all-night Torah study program for

Shavuot (, from ), or (, in some Ashkenazi Jews, Ashkenazi usage), is a Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday, one of the biblically ordained Three Pilgrimage Festivals. It occurs on the sixth day of the Hebrew month of Sivan; in the 21st century, it may ...

and an online program for repentance and reflection during the month of

Elul Elul (Hebrew language, Hebrew: , Hebrew language#Modern Hebrew, Standard , Tiberian vocalization, Tiberian ) is the twelfth month of the civil year and the sixth month of the Jewish religious year, religious year in the Hebrew calendar. It is a m ...

References

External links

* {{official website, http://www.jewishemergentnetwork.org/ * Jewish organizations established in 2016 2016 establishments in the United States Non-denominational Judaism