CONTEXT & BACKGROUND 

• Does this synagogue matter to her Jews? 
• Does this synagogue matter to her city? 

In the fall of 2010, Rabbi Lederman began to ask these questions of the people at Temple Micah.

She began to hear answers.  Yes, and no.  She began to hear stories.  Stories of how Micah ‘used’ to be when we lived in southwest and shared a church.  Of how connected people felt to each other.  Of how people felt more connected to the city.  She heard stories of people wanting to engage further in the life of their community but not knowing how.  She heard stories of how Micah used to be the synagogue champion for social justice in the city but now seemed too internally focused.  She heard stories of commitment and responsibility and dedication to the temple.  Stories of hopes, and stories of frustration.  She began to ask if there were people who wanted to do anything about any of this. She put out a call and people responded. 

We began over the fall with Community Conversations.  Micah folks talked to other Micah folks. We asked questioned, listened, told stories.  We talked to 120 people.

First Community Story Sharing  

On March 10th, over 60 people gathered to listen to stories, stories from these conversations.  Four central themes emerged:  aging, engagement with Micah community, interfaith families, and engagement in our city. The House Meeting Page has a full description of these themes. We listened and were moved to act together. More than half the people present committed to leading a house meeting.   Everyone committed to attending one and many volunteered to bring people to a house meeting.  See photos from the March 10 event.

What's Next?

The next phase of our work is a series of house meetings in people’s homes and at the temple.  What is a house meeting? It is a small group of people (10-15) meeting together and talking to each other about what they care about in the form of a story.  It is a time when people get to know each other in a deeper and more meaningful way and momentum is built around a particular issue shared in common by those gathered.  We uncovered four issues in our community conversations. These house meetings are an opportunity to delve deeper into those four issues and begin to put a team together of Micah folks who want to work together on responding and acting on these challenges.  Please sign up to register for an upcoming house meeting.