In November 1993 - during the
Jewish Culture Days which focused on Jewish life in California -
Rabbi Laura Geller was invited to talk about her experiences with
egalitarian groups and liturgies. At that function, a paper with the
following question was passed around: Who is interested in an
egalitarian minjan?
Some
weeks later a group started with egalitarian shabbat services every
three weeks. A "minjan" is the quorum of 10 adult males in traditional
Judaism who are necessary for a service. In non-orthodox branches of
Judaism women are also counted. They have the same possibilities and
responsibilities as men such as wearing a kippa and a tallit (prayer
shawl), preparing the liturgy or the Torah portion of the week, leading
the service... (In liberal Judaism women are ordained as rabbis. The
first woman rabbi in the world was
Regina Jonas, 1902-1944, who lived in Berlin and was
murdered in Auschwitz)
The egalitarian minjan in Berlin and the
Rosh Chodesh Group are the only groups in Germany, even in
the liberal spectrum, where children of
Jewish fathers are accepted as Jews.
We are in search of how Judaism can be meaningful for our lives
at the beginning of the 21st century as women or men, living
as singles or married, in heterosexual or gay / lesbian partnerships,
with or without children... The siddur (prayerbook) /
liturgy, on which maintains most parts of the traditional
service is based, is in Hebrew (with transcription), English and German.
But there are also many prayers and blessings, which are not in
traditional prayerbooks such as the
Coming Out Prayer about longing for the truth.
"Many prayers are taken from reconstructionist siddurim or from
liturgies of American feminists, but our liturgy remains open and
flexible and there is always the possibility to add, to deepen and to
develop new ways of expression... Traditional services are held in
Hebrew whereas in our service everybody prays in the language s/he
prefers. For some prayers we wrote new German adaptations, e.g. the
traditional morning blessings".
The parasha, the weekly portion of Torah, is not only read, but also
discussed. Different commentaries from ancient and modern times are used
and new approaches such as feminist or psychoanalytic are included.
After the service there is always a kiddush as an expression to
blessing of shabbat and enjoy a common meal. The egalitarian minjan is
democratic and respects different attitudes concerning religious and
political issues. It opposes anti-Jewish, anti-Arab, sexist, homophobic
and racist attitudes.
Sometimes the egalitarian minyan organizes workshops
(Heschel-Yahrzeit, holiday preparations) and one vision for the future
is to contribute to a net-work of egalitarian groups in Eastern Europe
(Prague, Warsaw, Budapest ...)
