c. 2007 Religion News Service

SEATTLE _ Suzi LeVine and Rabbi Rachel Nussbaum wanted a Jewish community more focused on spiritual, intellectual and emotional ties than on bricks and mortar, so they founded a group called Kavana.

Jonathan Herzog wanted a Jewish community of young adults, so he and his friends connected with Moishe House.

Rabbi Dov Gartenberg wanted communities built around Shabbat dinners and study groups, so he and his friends initiated something called Panim Hadashot.

Each of these emerging Jewish groups concentrate not so much on either Reform, Conservative or Orthodox beliefs, but small, carefully organized communities.

They’ve been compared to “emerging” Christian groups that focus on community, spirituality and biblical learning rather than a specific religious denomination _ all at a time when mainline churches and synagogues see serious drop-offs in attendance, particularly among people in their 20s and 30s.

Kavana (pronounced Kah-va-NAH), which means “intention” in Hebrew, began last year, led by Nussbaum, a Conservative rabbi, and her husband, Noam Pianko, a professor of Jewish studies at the University of Washington. The group is organized as a cooperative rather than a traditional, rabbi-led synagogue. Mostly in their 20s and 30s, members meet in homes but sometimes use space at a Seattle-area church.

“We’re less into real estate than community,” said Nussbaum, 30, who gave up a rabbinical job at a well-known suburban Conservative congregation to help create Kavana.

LeVine, 37, had met Nussbaum when she was searching for a synagogue for her young family. As a college student, she had been deeply involved with Hillel, the Jewish campus organization. As an adult, she wanted rich, nourishing ground between her Conservative, kosher-keeping upbringing and her husband’s Reform background.

“I wanted Hillel for grown-ups, people with kids,” LeVine said.

Scouting synagogues, however, left her wanting _ until she and Nussbaum talked.

That led to a launch team for their new community and six intense months of meetings. LeVine, with a background in sales and marketing, spearheaded a business plan. Team members created a Web site and shared ideas online. They bought a Torah scroll on eBay. A branding expert helped with a name for the new group.

Kavana wants not only Jewish but also mixed-faith couples _ nearly half of Jews married since 1996 have married non-Jews, and two-thirds of their children aren’t being raised Jewish, according to a landmark 2001 study.

Now almost a year old, Kavana includes about 25 partners who commit both time and up to 2 percent of their income. Another 25 are considering partnership. About 450 people have attended Kavana events; ideally, Kavana will eventually include 100 to 150 families, Levine said.

This spring, Kavana began planning for the fall High Holidays. During its first season, the community decided they weren’t ready for elaborate services; instead, they came together for yoga, meditation and a writing workshop with what Nussbaum describes as “some pretty serious Jewish content.”

Jonathan Sarna, an authority on American Judaism at Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass., said groups such as Kavana reflect “the growth of serious Jewish learning in America.” Hebrew day schools and Jewish studies at the university level have produced adults wanting more than spoon-feeding, he said.

“In place of performance-oriented liturgy,” Sarna said, “young Jews who understand Hebrew and have experience with the liturgy prefer a more participatory liturgy with substantial singing and an emphasis on learning.”

But exhilaration of the new also brings challenges.

Because Kavana members come from different streams of Judaism _ or in some cases, other faiths _ services and other gatherings can be complicated. How strictly will Sabbath traditions be observed? Will food be kosher? What financial commitments will be asked of members as time goes on?

Above all, said Nussbaum, Kavana members wish to be mindful. “We can create the same intensity without theological commandedness, acting not because God commanded but because we want to be part of a community.”

Some Jewish leaders aren’t pleased with unconventional groups like Kavana. But they’re mistaken if they think such groups are poaching young Jews who otherwise would be at a traditional synagogue, said Shawn Landres, research director for Synagogue 3000, a national network of Jewish leaders interested in new and experimental Jewish communities.

“Religious and community leaders across faiths are witnessing the seeming absence of an entire age cohort from organized religious life,” according to a report Synagogue 3000 issued this spring. “The majority of individuals in their 20s and early 30s have no congregational affiliations; their affiliation rate is lower than that of any other age group.”

Emerging Jewish groups “are reinventing the synagogue, affecting expectations about how they operate, and what it means to be a member,” said Landres. “They’re challenging assumptions about what sacred community is.”

For young Jews, groups like Moishe House are filling a gap between college and family life. In too many cases, said one rabbi, students leave Hillel “and we don’t see them again until their kids are ready for Hebrew school.”

Herzog, the 29-year-old leader of Moishe House, said members of his group _ including the four who share a group house _ have met several times each month for such things as Mariners games, volunteer work, and of course, Sabbath dinners.

Created in December 2005, Moishe House includes 13 homes around the world that usually house two to six residents. The California-based Forest Foundation provides rent subsidies and program funds to groups of young Jewish adults, mostly between the ages of 18 and 28.

Being Jewish isn’t mandatory, said Herzog, but Moishe House has helped young Jews become more confident about their faith.

“It’s low-stress Judaism,” he said. “I’ve seen so many come through who know more than I do, and some who know much less. It’s made me realize how large the Jewish spectrum is.”

Panim Hadashot, the Seattle community founded by Gartenberg two years ago, has sought to fill a gap among Jews who have been away from Sabbath home traditions or weren’t reared with them but are curious. The name “Panim Hadashot” (pronounced Pa-NEEM Had-a-SHOTE) is Hebrew for “new face” or “new faces.”

Gartenberg, 53, helps small groups plan the guest list, the food and the service for Sabbath dinners.

“It puts the rabbi in homes of participants instead of at the institution,” Gartenberg said. “For a religion so home-centered as Judaism, it’s a very important point. Panim Hadashot also sustains something that’s very authentic about Judaism but has been lost by many Jews.”

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Photos of a group dinner hosted by Panim Hadashot are available via https://religionnews.com.