Month: May 2012

The Centrality of Connection

The People Connection
As we mentioned previously the Growth Culture Shul consciously works on creating an environment where people have growth opportunities in the domains of Torah, Davening and Chesed. I’m using Chesed in the broader sense of connecting to people in meaningful ways which can take many forms.

The Happiness Connection
In models of pleasure, emotional pleasure is usually pegged higher than physical pleasure. The main source of emotional pleasure is our relationships to our spouses, children, extended family and friends. A greater goal than pleasure is happiness. I like Harvard’s happiness expert Tal Ben Shahar’s ,Torah-consistent definition : “Happiness lies at the intersection between pleasure and meaning”. Our relationships will bring us the most joy and connection when they are filled with meaning, preferably spiritually oriented.

The Shul Connection
The Growth Culture Shul is a place where deeper relationships are nurtured by sharing meaningful time with our friends. A Shul that provides a place for a serious davening ensures a shared meaningful experience among members on a weekly and daily basis. In the upcoming weeks we’ll highlight other activities that lead to meaningful connections, but while it’s fresh in our mind, let’s take a look at Shavuos.

The Shavous Connection
Shavuos provides an amazing yearly opportunity for a meaningful shared spiritual experience. We can discuss the effect of staying up all night on our davening, but when we learn Torah all night with our friends it has a fantastic effect. We are sharing our belief in the centrality of Torah in our life and that forms a deep shared connection with our fellow members. Although the OU WINGS “Best Practices Shavuot” document lists activities such as “Family Feud Game Show” and “Cheesecake bakeoff “, I think they would agree that you should try to make your Shavuos activities as spiritually meaningful as possible for your shul.

Summary
Providing opportunities for people to develop meaningful connections is foundation of a Growth Culture Shul. It goes way beyond being social and we’ll explore more ways to implement this in the coming weeks.

The Politics of the Open Shul Window

We’re taking a break from the growth culture series to explore a deep Shul mystery – How the window became such an explosive issue. Let’s take look at some of the issues involved.

It’s All in the Airflow
Perhaps the only way to prevent window fights is by making a building without windows. If you do build a Shul, make sure you have a good mechanical engineer who is concerned about ac vents, return vents, air flow and multi-zone thermostats. Unfortunately many Shuls skimp in this area. Usually different parts of the Shul experience very different actual temperatures, with those near air vents being cold, while those at a distance are warm.

Body Temperature
Beside building issues, people have different internal thermostats so their acclimation for heat or cold varies. It’s interesting to note that our sensitivity to temperature variations can be very fined tuned and people will feel comfortable at 69 degrees, but will start to feel warm at 70. An unscientific sample informs me that the acceptable range of temperature in New York is between 68 and 71 degrees.

How To Decide
Some people hold that in the summer opening the windows is given preference, while in the winter, it’s the window closers who have the upper hand. Added to the mix is the room stuffiness factor, which can be alleviated with a slight opening. Although it would make sense if thermometers played a role, I haven’t heard of a Shul that uses strategically placed thermometers to drive a decision.

Who Has The Authority
By what authority to open or close the window. Is it
1) the person who sits near the window,
2) the most aggressive window opener/closer
3) a formal decision making process.
In most Shuls it’s not a formal process and perhaps making one would solve many issues.

Some Solutions
I think the two solutions to fix the problem is set a policy based on actual temperature measurement and install thermometers. Then create a committee or a person to enforce the policy. We can never make everybody happy but we can prevent stronger disagreements with a fair policy. In the end our goal is to make sure nobody gets thrown out of the window.

Growing Your Shul With Torah Learning – Part 2

Increasing Torah Learning
Every segment of Orthodox society puts a strong emphasis on learning Torah, although the emphasis on what to learn varies. Rebbeim stress the importance of growing in both breadth and depth of Torah learning, while acknowledging the challenges involved. People are busy with work, families, communal projects and relaxation time and it takes effort to add a new shiur or learning seder to our schedules. To help people overcome their inertia it’s extremely valuable to create a Shul where people are regularly involved in learning.

Finding Teachers
Perhaps the main challenge to creating a Torah learning culture is finding people to lead the various classes. In one larger Shul, the Rabbi was so committed to growth in Torah learning, that he taught 20 classes a week. Most Rebbeim can’t accommodate nearly that amount, but you should encourage your Rabbi to keep on increasing and updating the Torah learning schedule. Shul members can help fill the gap by giving shiurim, leading Chaburas or learning with weaker Chavrusas. Many people have discovered that teaching, dramatically improves your learning and this can be used to motivate more people to come forth and teach or learn with others.

Torah Be-Rabbim
For any mitzvah, having more people collectively involved brings a greater sanctification to Hashem and because of the centrality of Torah learning, special merit comes about from collective learning. In addition, having a bigger group encourages other people to learn. Many shuls have set up times in the morning and evening when the Shul is opened for learning. When setting up these efforts keep a long term perspective because it takes time for people to change their normal procedures.

Weekday and Special Programming

Chavrusa Learning
The bread and butter of Torah learning is one on one Chavrusa learning. Many people find their Chavrusas by asking potential partners directly. It may also make sense to have a person who tries to make the matches. Chavrusas can consist of people of equal or different learning levels. Encourage some of the stronger learners to learn with those with lesser skills.

Gemora Shiur With Preparation
One of the most successful programs is a Gemora Shiur with preparation. The teacher giving the Shuir gives a brief introduction before the learning begins and assigns sources for the chavrusas to learn together. In the best of circumstances, the teacher hands out relevant source sheets. During the chavrusa learning, a good teacher will walk or look around making sure nobody is getting stuck. After the learning the teacher gives a shiur reviewing the important points of what was learned. A good ratio is at least twice as much chavrusa learning as shiur time, for example, 1 hour of learning and 30 minutes of shiur time including the intro time beforehand.

Daf Yomi
Daf Yomi has become a Torah mainstay in many Shuls. Despite the objections on the pace, the sense of accomplishment and the group learning aspect is a tremendous motivator. Daf Yomi shiurim take many formats and are very dependent on the person giving the shiur. Art Scroll has had a tremendous impact on Daf Yomi learning as the commentary helps people follow the Gemora at that faster pace.

Mishna Yomi
Mishna Yomi enables people to finish the entire Mishna in less than 5 years at a reasonable pace, 2 Mishnas a day. Some Shuls learn it out loud after Shacharis and in others a chabura learns it together. It as a 5-10 minute a day program that yields great benefits over the long term.

Mishna Berura Yomi
Like Mishna Yomi, a Mishna Berura Yomi shiur or chabura yields tremendous benefits as it enables you to go through this entire halachic work at a maintainable pace. There are different schedules for Mishna Berura Yomi, some are every day and some like the Dirshu schedule are 5 days a week with Shabbos and Sunday for review.

Other Chaburas
In addition to standard Yomi chaburas, many shuls have smaller interactive learning groups usually led by one person. Any topic, such as chumash, mussar, hashkafa, machshava that is of interest to the group can be learned. A chabura can contain as few as 3 people and they are excellent vehicles to encourage more learning.

Halacha Shiur
A halacha shiur by a qualified Rabbi or teacher is an important part of a Torah learning program. Halacha is literally a topic without end and the interests of both the Rabbi and the learners should be considered in choosing topics. Many halacha shiurim will choose a topic relevant to the time of year where possible. It’s important to properly gauge the level of learning of the participants to target the shiur level,

Scholar in Residence
A scholar in residence program is a great way to encourage Torah learning be-Rabbim. Usually scheduled on Shabbos, it brings out many people. Some shuls will only bring in Torah scholars for such programs while others will also use experts in Judaism related subjects. Some scholars are great inspirational speakers while others have tremendous content and informative knowledge. It’s helpful to know what types of speakers appeal to your general membership and to try to vary your programming from year to year to accommodate your members usually varied needs.

Summary
In these past 2 posts, I’ve tried to outline some ideas for Torah programs. It’s important to take a long term view on increasing the Torah learning culture because growth is a long term process and needs attention. Try to get your Rabbi, President, Board and membership involved and focused on continually increasing the Torah learning in your Shul.

Growing Your Shul With Torah Learning – Part 1

Learning Torah is the Foundation of Growth
As was mentioned in a previous post, a Growth Culture Shul benefits the members and their families by providing multiple avenues of growth. This includes learning Torah, davening, performance of Mitzvos, Chesed, and creating connections between members. Learning Torah is The foundation of growth because the Torah defines and maps out the growth path of Jews in all areas.

Running Successful Education Programs
When starting a program it’s important to consider:
1) The goals of the program. Are you looking to increase the breadth, depth or frequency of member’s learning?
2) What attendance figure would be considered a success. For a scholar-in-residence, 30 people might be the target, depending on the size of the shul, while a week night Machshava chabura would be a success with even 3-4 people attending.
3) Whether the goals and attendance are achievable. The overall goal is to increase member’s breadth, depth and frequency in learning, and we need to consider attendance because teaching resources are usually limited.

Programs need to be constantly re-evaluated and re-formulated to meet the needs of the members.

Shabbos Day Programming
In our times, people lead busy lives and Shabbos is the one day where there is extra time to learn. Here are some Shabbos programming ideas:

Friday Night Parsha – in the winter months when Shabbos starts early, some people want to use that time to attend a parsha shiur. It’s also a good opportunity to allow members to prepare and give a shiur. The main caveats are that people: are often tired, want to spend time with their family, or may have trouble staying awake at the shiur. Combining the shiur with an oneg can help boost attendance.

Shabbos Morning Parsha – before davening on Shabbos is a good time for a parsha Shiur. Since it entails getting up early, it’s helpful to have a strong teacher giving this Shiur.

The Rabbi’s Drasha – in the growth oriented Shul, the Shabbos drasha is a must. Although the Rabbi needs discretion in terms of the length, topics and style, I believe most Rabbis appreciate feedback from the membership.

After Davening Kiddush and Shiur – if you have the facilities for a sit-down kiddush, this is a great opportunity for a short shiur. Some shuls do this every week and even if that doesn’t work for your Shul, it might be worth trying every few months.

Before Mincha Shiur – after the afternoon nap, this is a good time to give a deeper shiur. Many shuls have an in-depth halacha or gemora shiur in this time slot.

Shalosh Seudos – after allowing time for some eating, shmoozing and singing, this is a great time for a short shiur. If your Rabbi is up for it, some shuls have had great success with an “Ask the Rabbi” session where the floor is open for any questions for the Rabbi. As long as the Rav is comfortable giving an occasional “I don’t know, let me think about”, it’s a wonderful opportunity to learn and increase the bond between the Rabbi and the membership.

Pirkei Avos Shiur – in the longer summer months, you might want to consider having an early 6:00 PM Mincha, with Shalosh Seudos at home and then returning to the shul 30 minutes before Maariv for Pirkei Avos. The topics in Pirkei Avos are interesting for a wide audience and it can provide people other than the Rav an opportunity to give a Shiur.

Parent-Child Learning – in the fall and winter months, this is a great opportunity to bring the members and the children back to shul for some more learning. The program is usually accompanied by pizza or some other food and sometimes prizes are raffled off. Some Shuls do Parent-Child learning after an early Mincha during the long Summer days.

Melava Malkas – in the fall and winter months, this is a great way to combine a social event with Torah learning. The program usually needs an organizer to deal with the logistics of hosting, providing food and getting speakers, but the fruits of such efforts are usually greatly appreciated by the members.

Summary
A Growth oriented Shul should provide a strong learning program. Above are some thoughts about Shabbos Programming, a time when many more people have the opportunity to participate. Next week we’ll look at weekday and special events learning programs.