We may live in one of the most secular countries in the most secular of times, but still around three-quarters of us will be visiting a synagogue over the High Holy Days (according to the most recent survey of British Jews). While the vocal acrobatics of a chazan, or an organ-backed choir, may stir religious feelings in some of us, others find the set-piece service stiff and forbidding and look for spiritual satisfaction elsewhere.
For a number of years the Orthodox outreach organisation Aish has run alternatives for various congregations in London and Manchester as well as on university campuses. One model is a shorter “highlights” service that compresses the long and sombre liturgy into one or two hours.
Another offers a full service punctuated by commentary that helps people find their way through the antique prayers: some of the piyyutim (religious poems) are omitted, while there are also options of discussions or classes during the repetition of the Amidah.
Young United Synagogue has a suite of programmes targeted at the 20-35 age group: explanatory services on both Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur at St John’s Wood Synagogue, an evening service and dinner on the second night of Rosh Hashanah at South Hampstead Synagogue and — new this year — Kol Nidre at Kinloss, with an explanatory service and a chazan which promises to be “mellow, modern and participatory”, according to Young US manager Ben Voss. “We are confident we have got something for everyone,” he says.
But beyond the established synagogue structure, Grassroots Jews, which started as a religious DIY venture in 2009, will be celebrating its 10th year of services. Now based at the Jewish Vegetarian Society in Golders Green, North-West London, it was founded by a group of people mostly in their twenties and early thirties who frequented some of the independent Shabbat minyans around town.
Grassroots introduced London to a new word, the “trichitzah”, partitioning its space into three areas — for men, for women and for mixed seating. Its traditional egalitarian “roots” service follows the style of an Orthodox partnership minyan, with women able to lein from the Torah, lead some of the prayers and blow the shofar.
Georgina Bye, who first attended Grassroots five years ago, says she can’t imagine being anywhere else for the High Holy Days.
“I was originally unsure if it would be for me and I have gone from being a sceptical attendee who just wanted to check it out, to managing volunteer co-ordination and being part of the team and community,” she says.
“The services are beautiful, thoughtful, creative and open to all to participate, whether you’re a seasoned leiner or service leader or it’s your first time.”
In parallel to the prayers, there are break-out sessions of yoga, meditation, text study or discussion. And in addition to the “roots service”, a couple of years ago the alternative “shoots” service was added — an open-seating, “multi-gendered” format that blends elements from different liturgies. When the prayers are over, many of the participants will sit down on Rosh Hashanah to a pot-luck vegetarian lunch made up of the dishes they have brought.
Gabi Markham, originally from Brighton, first tried Grassroots as a student three years ago. A participant in one of the newer wave of pop-up minyans, Kehillat Kentish, she says: “Although I grew up Orthodox, that doesn’t quite fit me any more. I don’t think there’s necessarily a particular denomination that does all the things I want.
“A lot of my friends end up in this floating space of liking something a little bit traditional and equally wanting it to be egalitarian — and also outward and future-looking. There are lots of older people who come to Grassroots for the same reasons.”
On her first visit, she was pleased to recognise some familiar faces but each year she has made new friends — “which is the sign of a good community. Because it is not split by denomination, you get such a wonderful mix of people and meshing of lots of different practices.”
Grassroots has grown to some 300 people on its books, driven by the same volunteer spirit that has made the Limmud the force it is.
“Everyone has a role to play,” says Bye. “And that might range from getting the space spruced up beforehand or helping others to find their page, to being on the welcome desk or leading services and sharing insights or running a parallel session.”
Over this year’s High Holy Days, around 40 people will be taking turns to lein, some as a debut reader. “They train people to lein, which is really cool,” says Markham. “I love the way they have encouraged anyone who can to lead.”
Her enthusiasm for Grassroots is such that she persuaded her parents to come last year.Ronit Wineman, 23, a Cambridge University English graduate, who goes to another independent minyan, Ohel Moed, on Friday nights, was a Grassroots newcomer last year. She decided to give it a go when her own United Synagogue didn’t run the 18-30 minyan it had previously done.
Grassroots, she said, “ticks all the boxes — a warm, welcoming environment, good ruach.”
She wasn’t sure how the breakout sessions would work “before I got there but I was very impressed. There are natural lulls in the service and when you are not concentrating, it’s quite nice to have something running in parallel and then you come back to shul feeling a bit more refreshed.”
It was also convenient for some shul-hopping over Yom Kippur, enabling her to visit her grandparents at a nearby US shul and then return to her home community for the concluding Neilah service.
Grassroots has also supported activities in the run-up to the festivals and during the Ten Days of Repentance. Gabi Markham hoped to use funding from a Grassroots “disruption grant” to put on an event in partnership with Laviot, an organisation she has launched for, she says, queer Jewish women.
“Whether you are LGBT+ or not, it will be a learning session around the themes of Yom Kippur and what that means to us as women,” she explains.
The originators of Grassroots may have been happy with a one-off experiment. But Markham says: “It’s flourishing so much, I can’t imagine it will disappear any time soon.”
