I  intend on going to Shaarey Zedek Synagogue on Shabbat morning  March 14 at 10:30 (sharp) to experience the "Out of the Box" service that will be led by Rabbi Sid Schwarz,  named “one of America’s top 50 most influential rabbis” by Time Magazine. 

The reason is simple: Over the past 15 years, Rabbi Schwarz has worked with dozens of synagogues, rabbis and lay leaders across North America, helping them make their congregations more vibrant, more engaging and more attractive to Next Generation Jews. Given that the issue of revitalizing synagogue life and making it meaningful for Next Generation Jews is definitely on our communal agenda, as is the issue of a potential merger of synagogues, it would seem to me that Rabbi Schwarz's expertise and experience is highly relevant to our community. (Note that Rabbi Schwarz has authored two ground breaking books Finding a Spiritual Home: How a New Generation of Jews can Transform the American Synagogue  and   Jewish Megatrends: Charting the Course of the American Jewish Future. )  

In my view, that there is no better way to understand  what Rabbi Schwarz has to say  than  through experiencing first hand a service he will conduct. If our community is serious about trying to re-envision synagogue life, I hope there will be communal leaders present to experience Rabbi Schwarz's service.  As Rabbi Green of Shaarey Zedek Synagogue notes "Rabbi Schwarz's service will be a 90 minute service with no Torah reading and no Haftorah, but instead will feature a lot of interactivity, sharing, song and movement." (The service will be mainly in English with some Hebrew. )

As Rabbi Green adds, "Rabbi Schwarz has designed this service specifically for those who are often bored at religious services; who have no idea why anyone would willingly attend a worship service; who are spiritual, but for whom religious services usually don’t work; and for those who are willing to go where prayerful Jews have never gone before.” 

"Rabbi Schwarz wants people to be there for 10:30 sharp to receive the introduction to the very different service he will be leading," Rabbi Green notes.  Rabbi Green also says he anticipate that people will leave the service with "a deeper appreciation for the transformative power of prayer."

Special activities are also planned for children of all ages, including childcare for infants and toddlers, beginning at 9 AM. Those who wish to participate in a more traditional service are welcome to come at that time. 

There will be an enhanced Kiddush, and a post-Kiddush discussion with Rabbi Schwarz for those who wish to enter more deeply into the topic of creative alternatives in Jewish prayer.

Rabbi Schwarz will also be featured at Congregation Etz Chayim on Friday, March 13th at a communal Shabbat dinner where he will deliver a talk on Re-Imagining the Synagogue. Rabbi Schwarz will also participate at the Limmud Winnipeg Festival of Jewish Learning at the Asper Campus on Saturday night, March 14th, and all day Sunday, March 15th.

For further information, please visit www.shaareyzedek.mb.ca, www.etzchayim.ca , www.limmudwinnipeg.org, www.rabbisid.org

P.S. Rabbi Schwarz was the founding Rabbi of Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation in Bethesda, MD which has grown into one of the most vibrant synagogues in the country with a membership of 500 households.