The Shul of New York: a free spirited Rosh Hashana

Remember in Center Stage (No, the one about ballet, you're thinking of the movie with Julia Styles and hip hop) when the blond girl goes from her formal ballet academy to a dance class in the city and everyone is making out and grinding and crazy? My experience with the Shul of NY on the Lower East Side was sort of like that; going from relatively sedate and structured Reform synagogue in suburbia to an extremely liberal, ballroom dancing during the Torah reading, kind of a service.

The Shul of New York calls itself a synagogue for "spiritual Judaism" meaning that everyone and anyone is welcome. Really it was extremely diverse with old white Jews we're all accustomed to seeing, a fair share of single parents with adopted Asian and Black kids, a few gay couples, and a random edgy looking group of thirty-somethings. The Judaism consists of songs and the beginnings and sometimes endings of prayers. The music is provided by a band which contained some Jews but the main musicians are three Catholic Mexican brothers. The songs are old favorites sung very beautifully, though extremely slowly or rearranged with klezmer stylings. While continuously pushing it's openness and diversity, the shul didn't push Judaism much at all. While proud of Jewish education, there wasn't much discussion beyond the surface of the Torah parsha. In fact, for the extremely short sermon the rabbi chose to ignore the Torah in its entirety and instead focused on a story about two brothers fighting, which ends with the building of a bridge over a stream which separated them. Then the rabbi asked that we all focus on building bridges in our own lives, but not to exclude anyone, he said we didn't have to if we didn't want to, and perhaps we should do something else instead.

Add to this the fact that when the Torah was taken down the rabbi handed it off to a woman who did a kick step with it and then spinned like a whirling dervish before passing it off to a girl, picked from the audience not unlike Courtney Cox in Bruce Springsteen's music video "Dancing in the Dark," and like Courtney began to snap-shuffle with the Torah. The sudden joy that people exhibited when the Torah was taken out was incongruous with the little importance it seemed to have in the service and I think it was more an excuse for exhibitionism (especially of the aforementioned dervish who later waltzed with her husband as the Torah was put away).

The really great part of the Shul is the building it rents for its services. The Angel Orensanz Foundation is what used to be one of the oldest synagogues in New York, built in 1849. After being in continuous use until 1974 the building fell into disrepair until it was transformed into a work of art and community center by Angel Orensanz in 1986. I'm not exactly sure what Angel did to repair the building other than stick up some metal totem poles, but I really like it. The paint is peeling, the wood is cracked, the brick walls are exposed. Somehow it tells a really beautiful story about a Jewish community that was once there and the new one which has taken it up.

Now perhaps I've been too harsh. It looks like I'll be going back for Yom Kippur, and perhaps a full day and dancing to Mexican tunes in spiritual genuflection will change my mind. Perhaps I also need more sleep. I didn't star out this year well; this morning I was awoken by my neighbor blasting Sarah McLachlan at 6 am. I pounded on her wall, but I thought I heard her pounding back. Then I went to her door but she refused to answer. It was at this point I realized it was probably her alarm and she wasn't home, and had to call security to have him get in her room and turn it off. Of course, he didn't come for 20 minutes, enough time for me and her neighbor on the other side (who turned out to be knocking on her other wall) to bond.

Happy 5767!