Havurat+Tel+Aviv

** Havurat Tel Aviv is an energetic Jewish community affiliated with the Masorti (Conservative) movement. Since it was founded twenty years ago, the Havura has shown that there are alternatives to the secular-religious bifurcation of Israeli society, even in Tel Aviv, the heartland of Israel’s anti-religious sentiment. Our community is traditionally observant and uses the traditional liturgy; we are at the same time fully egalitarian. This combination is uncommon in Israel (and unique in Tel Aviv) and, along with the warmth and openness-of-spirit of our core members, it attracts people of such diverse beliefs and sensibilities that nowhere else would they consider praying and studying together. Our active members include those who elsewhere would be considered Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist and secular; for us, they are all simply part of our community. Our core activities center on Shabbat services and biweekly, communal Shabbat dinners. These Friday evenings, infused with rich Jewish content and a warm family-like atmosphere, are fertile ground for cultivating family engagement. They offer a setting where tefilla and structured learning activities for all ages combine as a seamless whole with play and friendship. In such a setting, it is natural for a member to present a davar torah, for the children to put on a parsha play, and for families to swap anecdotes from summer vacations. Intensified activities on the holidays, two annual retreats (on Succot and Shavuot) and the celebration of life-cycle events strengthen and enrich the Judaic and family experience. **

This year, with the help of the Legacy Heritage Grant, we are working to expand our membership base and deepen our programming for Shabbat and holidays. We held a beginning of the year retreat at Ein Gedi wherein we refined our goals and made plans for the upcoming year. And of course, we hiked in the beautiful Ein Gedi oasis, swam in the dead sea, sent our children on a crazy scavenger hunt, danced and decorated the Succah, and celebrated Succot together with tfilot and singing.

    **

Our Sukkot Retreat:
Our Retreat to Ein Gedi was the formal beginning of our Legacy Heritage Grant activity within the Havura. We planned sessions for our members in an environment where they could be temporarily free of work obligations and other distractions, and used the time to evaluate our accomplishments, discuss our goals and dreams, and make clear plans and commitments for the immediate future. Retreat Schedule (Word file)

The Retreat was preceded by a voluntary survey of our members, conducted through the Internet service Iseker, (www.iseker.com). In this survey, we assessed member involvement over a number of axes, did some basic demographics, asked questions that defined and probed some of the current dilemmas of the group, and looked to the future, both in terms of general trends and individual commitment.

The results of the survey can be seen in Hebrew [|here]. We also did some comparisons with a survey the Havura had taken 16 years ago, and produced a PowerPoint that highlighted the similarities and differences between the two surveys. This presentation is available here:



After a discussion of the survey results, the bulk of the retreat seminar was devoted to working groups that developed and defined goals and specific activities for the Havura in a number of areas. These groups worked off of a template to produce presentations that outlined their ideas. The results of these working groups are available as PowerPoint presentations below:

Working Group - Children's Activities and Education

Working Group - Special Projects and Tzedakah

Working Group - Prayer

Working Group - Membership Drive

Working Group - Holiday Celebrations

Working Group - Education

When the larger group reconvened, each working group presented its material. In addition to brainstorming and raising areas that need improvement, each group was tasked with identifying one particularly successful and achievable idea. In addition, the groups were asked to identify which ideas would contribute most to attracting new members to the Havura.

By identifying a successful and do-able project, even if on a small scale, the seminar was able to move forward from "talk" to "do". On this high note, we ended that day's session, shot our group photograph, and started our personal preparations for Chag.



The programming during the First Day of Sukkot related more to the holiday itself, with one session devoted to Havura memories and stories.

At the close of the holiday, we gathered once again to complete the work of the seminar. At this point the goals and projects identified by the working groups were distilled and presented. Members were asked to sign up to participate in these projects, indicating their committment in one of two ways: applying a green sticker to a project indicates a committment to lead that project, while applying a red sticker commits one to participating in the project. Our teenagers were given purple stickers to indicate their interest in participation.

Interest and committment ran high, as can be seen in the pages for the various projects here: Our members signed up for holiday committees (page 1 of file), synagogue responsibilities (page 2), organizing Community Shabbatot (page 3), teaching and learning new synagogue skills (page 4), preparing "prayer minute" exegeses (page 5), identifying non-profits for cooperation during the year (page 6), discussing and implementing our membership growth initiative (7 and 8), developing a Havura website (page 9), and producing a Memorial Book (page 10).

These goals and projects, enacted in concert, are the immediate blueprint for action as decided by our members. Each project will be developed with the intent to both strengthen our group and to attract new committed members.