Shari--

I know this is a late response, but: http://www.synagogue3000.org/

IN REPLY TO:
“Or if the synagogue-center had become the predominant model, would Jewish mega-synagogues have created a more vibrant Jewish religious life, akin to the success of evangelical Christianity today?”

ANS:
“Religion is an act of the will inclining man to observe the right order, springing from his dependence on God. St. Thomas (II-II, Q. lxxxi, a. 1) defines religion as "(the virtue which prompts man to render to God the worship and reverence that is His by right). The end of religion is filial communion with God, in which we honor and revere Him as our supreme Lord, love Him as our Father, and find in that reverent service of filial love our true perfection and happiness. Bliss-giving communion with the sovereign Deity is, as has been pointed out, the end of all religions”

The vibrancy of religion is found in its doctrines and its beliefs. If they are not true, the teachings lose their vibrancy. The vibrancy comes from teachings in respect to the following question. "Do these teachings conform to reality and reason, and are they in consonance with human nature?"

“Judaism is a religion founded by God and brought to completion by the Messiah, who came to fulfill the Old Covenant. Some Jews didn’t want to come along. God made the Jews His chosen people that they might go out and evangelize the faith to all, but the Jews became xenophobic. They were waiting for a Messiah; He came and the Jewish leaders did not recognize Him. Judaism unfortunately is still waiting for a Messiah and has faded into an abstruse sectarian religion.

Moreover, the Jews have quarreled among themselves on its doctrines which resulted in division. Many of the forms of Judaism have contradicted their ancient traditions. This conflict between tradition and the modern world was the theme of the “Fiddler on the Roof.”

Judaism was loosing its covenant with God. “The kabbalah flowered during the Middle Ages, combining older trends in Jewish mysticism with Neoplatonism and other ideas. Kabbalistic signs and writings were used as amulets and in magical practices,” namely an obscured affinity with witchcraft was taking place. Witchcraft is an affiliation with demonism.

As the conditions of life deteriorated, apocalyptic beliefs grew—national catastrophe and the messianic kingdom were seen as imminent events. Some groups (see Essenes; Qumran) fled into the desert to lead righteous lives in anticipation, while others followed claimants to the mantle of Messiah (most notably Jesus). Out of these numerous ingredients came both Christianity and classical, or rabbinic, Judaism.

Ultimately, it was the halakah (the law) that divided Judaism in the 19th cent. The Orthodox is one. The Reform was another. It held both the written law (Scriptures) and the oral laws (commentaries on the legal portions of the Scriptures) as authoritative, derived from God, while the Reform do not see them as authoritative in any absolute sense, but binding only in their ethical content.

While Orthodox Jews maintain the traditional practices, Reform Jews perform only those rituals that they believe can promote and enhance a Jewish, and God-oriented life. In 1999, however, leaders of American Reform Judaism reversed century-old teachings by encouraging but not enforcing the observance of many traditional rituals.

The ‘historical school,’ or Conservative movement, attempts to formulate a middle position between Orthodox and Reform, maintaining most of the traditional rituals but recognizing the need to make changes in accordance with overriding contemporary considerations.

Conservative Jews believe that the history of Judaism proves their basic assumptions: that tradition and change have always gone hand in hand. What is central to Judaism, and has remained constant throughout the centuries, is the people of Israel (and their needs), not the fundamentalism of Orthodoxy or what they consider the abandonment of traditions by Reform.”

So Judaism has many forms many different beliefs going in many directions, and, in a sense, has become a human religion of changes made, not by God, but by man. That has impugned the integrity of Judaism not in its antiquity and roots, but in its modernistic attempts to adapt to the present times.

Because Catholicism was founded by God to complete the covenant God made with the Jews, those Jews, who refused to accept the New Covenant, became a closed esoteric society by rejecting the fulfillment of the Scriptures and lost the counsel of the Holy Spirit, That has weakened its teaching authority.

“Religion implies, first, the recognition of a Divine personality in and behind the forces of nature, the Lord and Ruler of the world, God.” However, some sects of the Jews materialized their religion. The related Reconstructionist movement of Mordechai M. Kaplan holds Judaism to be a human-centered rather than a God-centered religious civilization.”

Modern Judaism that is human centered is for the most part a staunch supporter of abortion and homosexuality that personifies the affect of modernism on Judaism’s beliefs.

Because of Judaism’s esoteric nature, its muted evangelization, its lack of leadership in doctrine, its unity in its beliefs,, and the change of its roots in some cases, Judaism has lost a lot of its vibrancy.

IN REPLY TO:
Or if the synagogue-center had become the predominant model, would Jewish mega-synagogues have created a more vibrant Jewish religious life, akin to the success of evangelical Christianity today?”

Religion is an act of the will inclining man to observe the right order, springing from his dependence on God. St. Thomas (II-II, Q. lxxxi, a. 1) defines religion as "(the virtue which prompts man to render to God the worship and reverence that is His by right). The end of religion is filial communion with God, in which we honor and revere Him as our supreme Lord, love Him as our Father, and find in that reverent service of filial love our true perfection and happiness. Bliss-giving communion with the sovereign Deity is, as has been pointed out, the end of all religions”

The vibrancy of religion is found in its doctrines and its beliefs. If they are not true, the teachings lose their vibrancy. The vibrancy comes from teachings in respect to the following question. "Do these teachings conform to reality and reason, and are they in consonance with human nature?"

Judaism is a religion founded by God and brought to completion by the Messiah, who came to fulfill the Old Covenant. Some Jews didn’t want to come along. God made the Jews His chosen people that they might go out and evangelize the faith to all, but the Jews became xenophobic. They were waiting for a Messiah; He came and the Jewish leaders did not recognize Him. Judaism unfortunately is still waiting for a Messiah and has faded into an abstruse religion of obscurity.

“Moreover, the Jews have quarreled among themselves on its doctrines which resulted in division. Many of the forms of Judaism have contradicted their ancient traditions. This conflict between tradition and the modern world was the theme of the “Fiddler on the Roof.”

Judaism was loosing its covenant with God. The kabbalah flowered during the Middle Ages, combining older trends in Jewish mysticism with Neoplatonism and other ideas. Kabbalistic signs and writings were used as amulets and in magical practices,” namely an affinity with witchcraft. Witchcraft is an affiliation with demonism.

“As the conditions of life deteriorated, apocalyptic beliefs grew—national catastrophe and the messianic kingdom were seen as imminent events. Some groups (see Essenes; Qumran) fled into the desert to lead righteous lives in anticipation, while others followed claimants to the mantle of Messiah (most notably Jesus). Out of these numerous ingredients came both Christianity and classical, or rabbinic, Judaism.

Ultimately, it was the halakah (the law) that divided Judaism in the 19th cent. The Orthodox is one; the Reform another who holds both the written law (Scriptures) and the oral laws (commentaries on the legal portions of the Scriptures) as authoritative, derived from God, while the Reform do not see them as authoritative in any absolute sense, but binding only in their ethical content.

While Orthodox Jews maintain the traditional practices, Reform Jews perform only those rituals that they believe can promote and enhance a Jewish, and God-oriented life. In 1999, however, leaders of American Reform Judaism reversed century-old teachings by encouraging but not enforcing the observance of many traditional rituals. The "historical school," or Conservative movement, attempts to formulate a middle position between Orthodox and Reform, maintaining most of the traditional rituals but recognizing the need to make changes in accordance with overriding contemporary considerations. Conservative Jews believe that the history of Judaism proves their basic assumptions: that tradition and change have always gone hand in hand. What is central to Judaism, and has remained constant throughout the centuries, is the people of Israel (and their needs), not the fundamentalism of Orthodoxy or what they consider the abandonment of traditions by Reform..

So Judaism has many forms many different beliefs going in many directions, and, in a sense, has become a human religion of changes made, not by God, but by man. That has impugned the integrity of Judaism not in its antiquity and roots, but in its modernistic attempts to adapt to the present times.

Because Catholicism was founded by God to complete the covenant God made with the Jews, those Jews, who refused to accept the New Covenant, became a closed esoteric society by rejecting the fulfillment of the Scriptures and lost the counsel of the Holy Spirit, That weakened its teaching authority.

Religion implies, first, the recognition of a Divine personality in and behind the forces of nature, the Lord and Ruler of the world, God. However, some sects of the Jews materialized their religion. The related Reconstructionist movement of Mordechai M. Kaplan holds Judaism to be a human-centered rather than a God-centered religious civilization

Modern Judaism that is human centered is for the most part a staunch supporter of abortion and homosexuality that personifies the affect of modernism on their beliefs

Because of Judaism’s esoteric nature, its muted evangelization, its lack of leadership in doctrine and unity in its beliefs,, and the change of its roots in some cases, Judaism has lost a lot of its vibrancy.

The original post is not 100% true. While Reform and Conservative synagogues may today play a role in only a small part of a person's life, Orthodox Synagogues continue to play a major role. They ( the Orthodox Synagogue) continues to function as a "community center" Maybe that explains why Orthodox Judaism, even though its' numbers are the smallest is still thrivingl.

Shari,

I think the previous model is something that would be an amazing thing to recreate, and hopefully we will do it, because it will get rid of the fact that so many shuls feel the need to compete with each other for congregants. The synagogue that my parents and i belong to is similar, its small and it constantly has to compete with larger and wealthier. If American Judaism embraced the old-school model, i think we could have a truly more vibrant American Jewish community.