Kol HaLev is Baltimore's new synagogue community in the making

A Non-Orthodox Tisha B’Av

Rabbi Geoff Basik’s Tisha B’Av message at Kol HaLev

July 16, 2010

Phil Jacobs
Executive Editor

Monday at sundown begins the solemn day of Tisha B’Av, the ninth day of the Hebrew month of Av. It is a day commemorating some of Judaism’s darkest days, including the destruction of Jerusalem’s holy temples.

And at least in Baltimore, it’s an observance that is teeming with participation, including fasting, reading from the Book of Lamentations, solemn bonfires, viewing of videos with heartfelt messages, and all-day lecture programs. Usually, these events are hosted by more traditional congregations or organizations.  Many non-traditional Jews aren’t observing the day through fast or prayer, simply because they know little about the day.

For Rabbi Geoff Basik, spiritual leader of Kol HaLev, Tisha B’Av is one of the most important evenings of observance on the Jewish calendar. For the third straight year, he will be leading his congregation through an entire evening Tisha B’Av service.

Kol HaLev is informed by the Reconstructionist approach to Judaism.

The service will start Monday, July 19, at 9 p.m. “It’s an experience,” he said, “sitting on the floor at candlelight.”

Rabbi Basik said the congregation will discuss the midrash on Lamentations 1:1 where God cries and says, “Woe Me for My House. My children,where are you? My priests, where are you? My lovers, where are you? What shall I do for you? I warned you, but you did not repent.” God asks for Moses and the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to be summoned from their graves since they “know how to weep.”

Rabbi Basik said that he and his congregation will be discussing the importance of knowing how to weep.  “There is a need to acknowledge pain, sorrow, trauma and failure,” he said. “We need to not only acknowledge it, but to embrace it. We’re lucky to have an appointed time to navigate that part of life.” 

Rabbi Basik sees that the entire Tisha B’Av season as part of a larger trajectory that takes the Jewish people from Tisha B’Av to Sukkot.  “It goes from the destruction of one house, the Temple, to the building of another in joy, the sukkah,” he said. “We go from tears to joy from estrangement to disconnect to reconciliation from brokenness to restored wholeness.

“It’s descent for the sake of ascent,” he added. “The rabbis created a narrative of rebuke and reconciliation around Tisha B’Av. Tisha B’Av is a punishment. So if we expect to emerge from Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur feeling uplifted and whole, there’s no returning to that feeling if you’ve never left it. Tisha B’av makes us acknowledge the disconnect we have from God and Godliness.”

At the Kol HaLev service, worshippers will be invited to sit on the floor with lighted candles. The congregation will listen to the reading of Lamentations.   This year, Rabbi Basik plans to add contemporary voices. He’ll ask the congregation to consider, “What would the voice of God be like today? What would our voices of trauma be like today?”

He’s even planning in finding messages of lamentations through the singing of the blues.

One of those songs is by folk legend Burl Ives and it’s called “Wayfaring Stranger.” Another by singer Randy Newman is called “God’s Song.”

“I want people leaving the service acknowledging that there is often a pit of life, a descent, but this is where we make our way towards holiness,” he said.

Rabbi Basik acknowledged that Tisha B’Av observance is unfamiliar to some in the liberal Jewish world. He sees his mission as introducing and harnessing the resources of Jewish tradition for “contemporary folks.”

“This is summertime,” he said. “People want to be playing on the beach,vacationing.  Most liberal Jews are more liberal than they are Jewish. Also, there’s an American bias against sadness, hurt and pain. We have a healthy optimism that can be a little excessive. We don’t want to get into death and dying and loss and pain. I really understand people who want to present Judaism as a joyful thing, but that’s only half of life. There’s a cultural bias against grief and mourning, pain, suffering and loss.

“Suffering happens, let’s acknowledge it. My approach is that Judaism is a treasure trove of resources. Tisha B’Av is one of them.”

Kol HaLev’s Tisha B’Av service will begin 9 p.m. in the parlor of the Brown Memorial Woodbrook Church, 6200 North Charles Street, on Monday, July 19.

Photo captions:
Rabbi Geoff Basik: “My approach is that Judaism is a treasure trove of resources.” (photo Justin Tsucalas)

Synagogue keeps the interfaith

Congregation wants to introduce themselves to new neighborhood

By Larry Perl
lperl@patuxent.com

4/01/09

When the relocated Kol HaLev synagogue hosts a community Seder at its new home, Brown Memorial Woodbrook Presbyterian Church, expect Presbyterians to participate in the Passover meal.

And when the church holds a Maundy Thursday service in the sanctuary immediately following the Seder on April 9, look for Jews in the pews.

Less than two years after forming as Mt. Washington's first synagogue, Kol HaLev ("voice of the heart") is on the move again, relishing its role as "Baltimore's newest synagogue in the making," and determined to bridge the gap between Judaism and Christianity. Just in time for Passover, the Reconstructionist congregation of 60 active members is bringing its brand of "accessible, flexible Judaism for an interfaith world" to the church at 6200 N. Charles St., on the north Baltimore-Towson border.

There, in a big room called the Parlor, Kol HaLev will hold a "Second Night Community Seder" from 6 to 8 p.m., to mark the second night of Passover, and to "reintroduce ourselves in a new neighborhood," said Geoff Basik, Kol HaLev's founding rabbi.

It's the start of "an interfaith relationship," Basik said,"a way for us to share with the Brown Memorial people that this is what Judaism looks like," Basik said.

A relationship"is especially meaningful during the Passover and Easter period, which traditionally symbolizes new beginnings," Basik stressed. "Passover and Easter are our respective traditions' foundational stories that refer to redemption from bondage and resurrection."

Nobody is anticipating Kol HaLev's debut more than the Rev. Jamie Dale, pastor of Brown Memorial Woodbrook. Although the business relationship will be a rental one, "It's more than that. I see this as an opportunity to form what I hope willl be a long-term and meaningful relationship, to learn more about our faiths," Dale said.

Specifically, Dale hopes to understand "the internal logic and joy of Judaism and how that informs Christian faith."

That's exactly the kind of welcoming talk that Basik said he wants to hear, and what led Kol HaLev to make the move to Brown Memorial Woodbrook. Kol HaLev never could establish much more than a rental relationship with St. John's, where the synagogue had been based since its inception as an offshoot of the Bolton Street Synagogue in Keswick in June 2007, Basik said.

"We caught St. John's between pastors," Basik said.

The Rev. Lance Gifford, former rector, brought Kol HaLev in, but he retired last year, and "the lay leadership wanted to clean the slate and not commit to the vision that a new pastor might bring."

By the time the Rev. Lori Babcock was hired at St. John's, Kol HaLev had decided to leave, spurred partly by how cold it was in the Great Hall, a basement space where services were held, and by the need to rush through Friday services before Alcoholics Anonymous meetings started, Basik said.

Babcock said she was sorry the relationship couldn't "move to the next level," because she would have liked to work with Kol HaLev on social projects. But she thinks her board saw St. John's  as "an incubator" for Kol HaLev until it outgrew the space.

"There's no hard feelings," she said. "Truthfully, Brown is a much nicer space."

At Brown Memorial Woodbrook, Basik thinks, "There is potential for being more than just a renter."

The church is actively engaged in interfaith adult education and committed to social activism, Basik said.
He also said that Dale and the church board, called "the session" in Presbyterian parlance, were all "very welcoming."

"There's a recognition that interfaith interaction is a good thing, particularly in this day and age when we are all entwined with one another. We want to create a home that is welcoming and flexible to Jews of all stripes."

Basik is also excited about the location on what he calls the "borderland" of the area that stretches from Charles Village in Baltimore to Timonium in Baltimore County.

"There is this sort of borderland between the densely populated Jewish population of Pikesville and Owings Mills and the rest of the world," he said."One of my strengths is to create an accessible Judaism, to attract contemporary Jews. It's an opportunity to create something new from scratch."

And at Brown Memorial Woodbrook, which with 200 congregants is much larger than St. John's, there are no conflicting AA meetings to worry about. "We can really comfortably linger there on Friday nights and Saturdays," Basik said.

Dale said there are religious connections between the Seder and Maundy Thursday, because Maundy Thursday recreates the Last Supper, whose setting was a Seder.

There are also historical parallels between Kol HaLev and Brown Memorial Woodbrook, which was founded in Bolton Hill in 1870, Dale said. Bolton Street Synagogue, where many of Kol HaLev's congregants came from, started in Bolton Hill, too.

Dale and Basik are discussing joint community outreach projects such as bringing meals to Baltimore Station, a drug rehab facility that doubled its population.

Rabbi Geoff Basik
Special to the Jewish Times

"God is in the transitions." Cliche? Perhaps.What does it mean, anyway? I understand this to mean that we sense something profound and special, yes, holy in the seams and at the edges of life. At the dawning of a new day or at sunset, at a birth or at a death, in various moments of significant shifts and turning points, sickness and health or other changes; these are the times when eternity interrupts the temporal, when infinity interrupts the finite.

This is equally true, or potentially true, around coming of age. And it is as significant for parents as it is for their children.

Families, parents as well as children, seem particularly receptive to Jewish learning and identity formation as the age of bar and bat mitzvah approaches for someone in the household. This is true, maybe especially true, even for the so-called "secular" and disaffected, unaffiliated and perhaps intermarried. At such a time, parents (and grandparents) are keenly aware of the ties that bind Jewish generations and the notion of transmission and connection with heritage.

We ritualize these moments to help us navigate them, through the "before, during and after" stages. We tie our own experience to that of those who have gone before us. We become part of something larger than ourselves; a historical narrative or purpose, or perhaps even a transcendent something, of which we are a part. Rites help us organize our lives and make sense of our experience. Order and meaning and perspective are created, usually within the context of relationships. And synagogues are still the institutional focal point for such needs.

For young people, no longer children but not yet adults, the process of becoming a bar or bat mitzvah is a powerful Jewish identity marker. As they mature physically and intellectually, this reflective and skill-building process can be an experience that helps them "locate" themselves in a fast-paced world full of limitless options.

Bar and bat mitzvah and Jewish identity offer a kind of "container" for the emerging self, a "bowl" with tangible sides to hold whatever "stew" they may concoct. Confronting questions such as "Who am I?" and "What am I supposed to do?" is exactly the right work of a developing adolescent. Isn't it fortunate that our tradition provides this pathway?

This is precisely the time when young people can begin to receive it and make it their own. This is the time when a family can choose to positively affirm Jewish identity rather than it having been chosen for them.

We have an opportunity to seize and build upon, to solidify a foundation for other involvements in subsequent years. Judaism must be presented and experienced as relevant, worthwhile and rich enough to accommodate the participants as they grow. This is the crucial juncture at which too many families drop off or drop out or pass up altogether as a missed opportunity. It is a time when our rite of passage too often fails to accomplish its potential function of transition, initiation and identity formation.

For many families, the preparation for a bar or bat mitzvah service can be an entry point. Congregation Kol HaLev, our new synagogue community, has designed an innovative approach to family learning that includes both pre-teens and their parents, and everyone gains the benefit of group exploration.

The participation of the parents (both Jewish and non-Jewish) demonstrates the principle that life-cycle events are meaningful for everyone involved and that everyone stands to gain from Jewish questioning and learning. Such transitions are significant doorways into self-awareness and community belonging.

In addition to the content of our learning, e.g., different maturities; the nature of "identity"; various understandings of the idea of mitzvah; values and behaviors; God and godliness; prayers and the structure of a service; family dynamics, our families form bonds and connections with each other, become part of a Jewish community, and find a place within a tradition that is generous, inclusive and flexible.

For more information, please contact me at 443-956-9462. 

Rabbi Geoff Basik is spiritual leader of Congregation Kol HaLev in Baltimore.

Passover outreach series for interfaith couples being launched.

Barbara Pash
Associate Editor

A Shul For Mt. Washington

Amy Landsman JULY 27, 2007

For the first time in recent memory, Mt. Washington, an area long noted for its sizable Jewish community, has a Jewish congregation. The Kol HaLev Congregation is holding services and social events in the social hall at Mt. Washington's Saint John's Episcopal Church, at 1700 South Road.

Kol HaLev was created "in the hope of engaging people with Jewish life," said Rabbi Geoff Basik, spiritual leader of the new congregation.

Rabbi Basik said the Kol HaLev community is committed to inclusive, democratic decision-making and having congregants work together to shape a contemporary Judaism, to explore questions about religion with "intellectual honesty."

"It's up to us to create a contemporary, meaningful Judaism," he said. "Too many people are dissatisfied with the Judaism we have inherited. So let's roll up our sleeves and create one that is honest, fun and meaningful."

Kol HaLev meets every Shabbat, either on Friday night, Saturday morning or for Havdalah services. There are also regular b'nai mitzvah and adult education programs.

The group began meeting about two years ago in an adult education format. The first services were held last spring, and Kol HaLev celebrated its official launch June 2.

Kol HaLev currently boasts approximately 25 to 30 families and individuals. The congregation's schedule includes Kabbalat Shabbat services, morning Torah services and family Shabbat pot-luck dinners. Plans are being developed for High Holiday services.

Kol HaLev, which plans to eventually establish a permanent home in the Mt. Washington area, is "a participatory, inclusive, exploratory opportunity to live contemporary Judaism," Rabbi Basik said. "The community should be a vehicle for crafting meaningful lives. We want to share this challenge called living."

Kol HaLev is open to Jews of all backgrounds, as well as to interfaith couples and families who want to experience Jewish life "without the dogma," he said.

"People are invited to this opportunity," the rabbi said. "People say, 'Well I'm not really a good Jew.' I don't like that at all. Good Jew? Bad Jew? There are a variety of ways to be authentically Jewish, and we're presenting one of those ways. While we're not compromising the emotional quality or the substantive content, we're also not compromising the integrity of Judaism."

A Baltimore native and Sudbrook Park resident, Rabbi Basik worked for about a decade at the Center for Jewish Education before earning a degree from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. He previously served the Bolton Street Synagogue.

Kol HaLev is guided by Reconstructionist principles. The congregation uses a Reconstructionist prayer book, but is currently unaffiliated.

Kol HaLev's founding families say they envision building a synagogue community from the ground up.

"I don't know when in my life I'll ever have an opportunity to do something like this again," said board president Jennifer Goldszmidt, an Ellicott City resident. "I need a synagogue that would be truly rooted in Reconstructionist values, that was also open to and willing to wrestle with the religious questions that come up, and to allow for all kinds of different avenues into Judaism."

The chance to develop a partnership with Rabbi Basik was a big part of Ms. Goldszmidt's decision to help found Kol HaLev. "I didn't want to be a faceless member of a congregation," she said.

Kol HaLev treasurer Jonathan Rivlin said he searched for years to find a synagogue that felt right to him, and with Kol HaLev he found it.

"It was a place that didn't have the pretenses, you have to dress a certain way, drive a certain car," said Mr. Rivlin, a Locust Point resident. "The other members, they're very haimish [down to earth]. They'll give you the shirt off their back. They're open to debate and discussion, there's a focus on intention, in addition to the ritual."

Rabbi Basik emphasized "there is no compromising the integrity of Judaism" at Kol HaLev.

"This is not Judaism-lite," he said. "This is not a palatable way to salve your guilt about distance from Judaism. This is entering Jewish life, but on our terms. So sermons are more like discussions. Or prayer is more like prayful experience. And all voices are heard and part of the conversation. I feel that my role as rabbi is facilitator and teacher and resource person.

"This is not your father's Buick," he said. "We are in the process of developing a new kind of synagogue organization, [with] an emotional quality of warmth, without compromising intellectual content."