Community Process

The Torah cannot be acquired except in fellowship. --Babylonian Talmud Berachot 60b

As community dedicated to Tikkun Olam, we acknowledge that repair of the world begins with ourselves, that our community should be a model of the world we wish to create. We thus seek to be a community that embraces those Jews among us whom the Torah and the Jewish community have rejected or made invisible: gay men and lesbians, the unmarried, the poor, the disabled, the elderly, Jews by choice, Jews of color, and the unlearned. We also strive to be a feminist community, one that empowers women, and that creates a process in which all people will feel welcome to contribute, to learn and to teach.

Mishkan Shalom is committed to being a safe Jewish environment where all people can examine their prejudices and act to overcome them, and where those who suffer discrimination and marginalization feel welcome and valued for who they are. We seek to create a Jewish community where our diversity is reflected in our prayer, our study, and our struggle to repair the world. Mishkan Shalom welcomes all Jews and partners of Jewish congregants who share our values and our asipirations to a full Jewish life in a just world.

We encourage our members to take responsibility for congregational life and for the ongoing process that gives shape to that life. At the same time, we recognize the special position of the rabbi as a spiritual leader who stimulates and guides us in our striving towards a fuller and more integrated Jewish life. It is the rabbi's responsibility to apply the ethical teachings of Judaism to issues of current concern in an atmosphere of open discussion and debate. The relationship between congregation and the rabbi is one of mutual respect based on shared responsibilities.