Rabbis, cantors and lay leaders from synagogues and Jewish organizations all over the world visit BJ to try to understand what is happening there and what they might learn that could help revitalize their own communities. Whenever BJ's rabbis or lay leaders attend public Jewish events they inevitably are asked to explain the "BJ phenomenon," to describe the elements that are its essence, and, increasingly, to help other synagogues adapt the BJ approach to their own congregations.
In the spring of 1999, BJ and Synagogue 2000, a transdenominational organization dedicated to synagogue renewal, began conversations about how they could work together to go beyond the more obvious and superficial explanations of BJ's success and begin to answer some of these questions with depth and seriousness. They concluded that one way to understand BJ was to examine its philosophies and everyday practices ethnographically, using a combination of participant observation and in-depth, informal interviews. With the generous support of the Righteous Persons Foundation, BJ and Synagogue 2000 jointly engaged a cultural anthropologist, Dr. Ayala Fader, and an ethnomusicologist, Dr. Mark Kligman, to conduct such a study. This report is based on nine months of collaborative fieldwork by Fader and Kligman undertaken between September 2000 and May 2001.
BJ is driven by a vision of Judaism that sees Jewish life as a continuous search for a deeper and closer connection to the divine through prayer, observance, study, acts of lovingkindness and social responsibility. This search, referred to as "going deeper" in BJ parlance, is how Jews try to understand what is required of them as individuals, as a community, and as part of humanity. The rabbis' passion for this vision initially attracts most congregants to BJ, but a large part of the congregation has adopted this vision as its own. They see themselves as partners in a search that the community undertakes, not only with the rabbis but also with each other.
In their research, Fader and Kligman identified four core elements that are essential to BJ's being this kind of synagogue for thousands of Jews. These core elements are:
By transcending these barriers, BJ enables a wide spectrum of Jews from a variety of backgrounds to feel "at home," connected to the synagogue and each other by a search for a Judaism that is relevant to their lives. With this shared basis for community, social distinctions, while not erased, become less important, and the human infrastructure that supports community, deeply committed and hardworking members, emerges from people's desire to make BJ an increasing part of their lives.
