Posted By James Besser
A Rabbi's World: The Challenge of Change / Rabbi Gerald C. Skolnik
I have been following the recent ups and downs of the early presidential primaries with a kind of wary interest. The rational side of me realizes how very early it is in this process. With the relentless news coverage that has become a numbing voice-over for the political landscape, it has become difficult to discern any statement on the part of almost anyone that actually goes beyond the cliché.
On the other hand, there are those few moments when one begins to hear broader themes emerge, and that is when my rabbinic ears perk up.
I am particularly fascinated by the preoccupation with change- this campaign's emerging mantra- and its perceived antithesis, "experience."
What I am writing is in no way to be construed as an endorsement of any particular candidate or as a negative statement about another, but it's hard to miss the not so subtle message of much of the recent polling.
It seems that Americans, whether Democrat or Republican, regard the stated desire to change the status quo as a greater claim to leadership than experience in governing. I guess it's a statement on how very unhappy people are with the current administration. The real-time obstacles that lie before the person who claims readiness to "change the way business is done" are simply not a crucial consideration. Experience is nice, but it implies "old school."
In my line of work, I hear a constant clamoring for change. Mostly, it comes from the younger members of my movement. They tend to regard the more formal style of worship so characteristic of synagogues of the past generation as an insurmountable obstacle to spirituality.
But it's a funny thing about change as it manifests in a religious context. So much of the experience of religious practice is rooted in the charm of the familiar, and the majesty of the traditional.
Ask any Cantor what happens if he/she tries a new or different melody for a section of the Shabbat morning service, even Adon Olam. People consider it an affront to their prayer experience. "I come to synagogue to her that melody!"
The more I witness this complicated dynamic, the more I sense that people want change, as long as they're the ones doing the changing, and the change reflects their particular tastes. Change is problematic when it comes from the top down. It has to trickle up to be valid and compelling.
And what trickles up to me tends to be conflicting messages. I have people who would do anything to change the way things have always been done, and others who would do anything to preserve that way.
Change is not a simple process, in politics or in synagogues (not that synagogues have politics, of course…).