Too long in coming

According to this recent JTA article:

When Rabbi Stas Wojciechowicz blows the shofar this Rosh Hashanah, its distinctive sound won’t just be ringing in a new year, it will be ushering in a new era for the Progressive movement in the former Soviet Union.

By the end of the secular year, he hopes to be holding services in St. Petersburg’s Sha'arei Shalom Synagogue, the movement's first community-owned synagogue among some 21 Progressive congregations in Russia.

This is good news, but too long in coming. In my humble opinion, Reform needs to take more of an “evangelising” role in the Jewish world. In particular, we need to understand what an organisation such as Chabad is doing right, and take stock of what we’re doing wrong in trying to gain “spirit-share” and bring Jews (including the so-called non-Halachic Jews) to Progressive Judaism.

This should include a world-wide volunteering and fund-raising campaign to establish and support Reform communities and provide spiritual and lay leadership in regions such as the former Soviet bloc and Israel.

In a rational Jewish world, Reform would be attracting the lion’s share of the attention and numbers, but this doesn’t always seem to be the case. We need to be out there!

JTA Forum: Article Comments: Reform shul marks a first in Russia

http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/news/article/20070823StPetersburgProgressive.html