The worst singles events I’ve ever attended were at Mogen David more than a decade ago.
I can’t complain. Some good people were trying to do good things.
It was our failure as lonely pathetic single Jews.
Daniel Langburn, a Mogen David member, writes the Jewish Journal:
David Suissa has artfully told the story of Congregation Mogen David’s "Saturday Night Live" learning experience for fathers and sons ("Detail of the Week," Feb. 8).
Yet there is even another powerful story behind this remarkable gathering. This synagogue founded by Rabbi Abram I. Maron has been a traditional Ashkenazic congregation since its beginnings more than 100 years ago. When Rabbi Gabriel Elias, its associate rabbi and executive director for 19 years, became the principal rabbi six years ago, he realized that this institution needed an infusion of new families if it was to grow and regain its former vibrant self after a number of years of declining membership. He had a significant vision that Sephardic and Askenazic Jews could coexist at this spacious though underused building. He brought Sephardic Jews to the shul.
This harmonious mixture indicates that what divides us, as Jews from different parts of the world with divergent customs, is insignificant to the fact that we are all one people. The great experiment that Rabbi Elias started, and that many said would not work, has become a wonderful reality.
