Jennifer Bleyer writes in the Forward:
“I’ve tried Buddhism, which I like very much,” said Gorn, a 35-year-old photographer, after the service. “But I wanted something that feels more like home. And I feel Jewish, but reading from the Torah in a rigid way doesn’t work for me. This is closer to what I’m about — celebration.”
The monthly Romemu minyan had its inaugural Sabbath runs in March and April at Makor, the Manhattan cultural center aimed at twenty- and thirty-somethings, attracting standing-room-only crowds for what Ingber, its charismatic founder, called “fully embodied, ecstatic and contemplative prayer.”
…“I had to wait until I could teach a Judaism that was transformative and exciting and healing and courageous,” he said. “A Judaism that isn’t fear based. A Judaism that is unabashedly devoted to spirit.”
As Dennis Prager notes, you’re always going to fear something in life. You might as well fear God. Because if you truly fear God, you won’t fear anything else.
Fear of God is an essential attitude in Judaism. And the word "fear" doesn’t mean "awe" or "wonder." It means "fear."
I don’t have a problem with that. Whenever I feel respect, I also feel some fear. My favorite part of my Jewish Journal profile was noting how many people feared me. Yay! I’d much rather be feared than loved (except among my friends) because people (outside of your friends) treat you better when they fear you than when they love you.
