Avodah
Our relationship to God orients and governs all of
our activity. We seek to create an environment that will nurture heartfelt
prayer(avodat halev) that will help us in our quest for God. In the prayers
of tradition, we express our yearning for an abiding connection with the
Divine (d'vekut) and for our thankfulness for what is miraculous in the world
and in our everyday lives (al nisecha shebechol yom imanu).
We seek to experience the original
power and passion of traditional prayers by connecting them to our daily
lives. Striving to integrate tradition and innovation, we seek to deepen
our understanding of the siddur and to expand the ways in which both traditional
and new prayers, blessings, and ritual express our spiritual selves. New
prayers, creative rituals, poetry, and music written or organized by our
members enrich our liturgical expression.
In our community there are many different ways of understanding God. Our
synagogue is a safe place to share our faith and our doubt, a place where
we can ask questions and learn from one another.
In our prayer we emphasize
and seek to integrate a naturalist/humanist theology that sees God as a power
within ourselves and nature and a theology of transcendence that sees God
as the mystery that is present in the universe. The first inspires us to
be aware of the God within us and to live lives that are reflective of the
divine. The second inspires us to experiences of transcendence, of connection
with the Unknowable, with the Mystery that lies beyond us.
While the traditional liturgy fails to recognize the experience of women, our community is committed to a feminist reconstruction of Judaism. Toward this end, we are committed to reclaiming feminist images from our tradition, including new prayers and rituals which reflect the experience of women in our liturgy, using female God language, and empowering women to take religious leadership.
Our prayer life must be connected to study and action. It must bring holiness into our lives and help us to transform our own lives and our society. It is our pursuit of godliness that impels us to repair the world so that the words at the end of the Alenu are fulfilled: " and on that day God will be one and His name one."
