I like the term "independent minyan" Yes, we use ...

2006-09-27T21:47:00.000-04:00

I like the term "independent minyan" Yes, we use institutional resources, and I think it behooves us to recognize that. That said, we are independent of movement structure, policy, and concerns. Its all just less political. Some folks run the show, others show up, and if something needs to change either it changes, or folks start up something that they like better (see DC Minyan/DC Reform Havurah beginnings). There are enough young Jews in the cities were this stuff is brewing that we dont have to fight over it. So, in some sense we are independent of the dynamics of movement shuls.

Another way to think about it is that we are independent of a rabbi. We do not depend on rabbinic authority, leadership, or religious functioning (of course, it helps to have friends who are rabbis to do stuff like be mesader kidushin and the like). Maybe I like this best, like the 20-somethings we are, we have just moved out of home and off the college campus, and now we are independent of authority. We have not cut ties with the organized community (far from it as many of us work and live in it), but we are independent of it.

What word would better describe that as the nuance...

2006-09-27T17:22:00.000-04:00

What word would better describe that as the nuance around we which we define?

"Havurah" is one option, except there are too many misconceptions about what it means.

Using space that belongs to Jewish institutions do...

2006-09-27T17:19:00.000-04:00

Using space that belongs to Jewish institutions doesn't mean that the minyanim are part of those institutions. Hadar meets most frequently in a Presbyterian church, but no one would suggest that Hadar is connected to The Presbyterian Church.

Comments on Divinity is in the Details: Is "independent" the best descriptor of our minyan...

I like the term "independent minyan" Yes, we use ...

What word would better describe that as the nuance...

Using space that belongs to Jewish institutions do...