SHABBAT,
SHABBOS

AND

SATURDAY:

OPENING DOORS AT THE JCC

by RABBI JOY LEVITT

A t The JCC in Manhattan, the values that animate and define us can be seen in the way we think about Shabbat. From the beginning, we knew that what we did (and did not do) on Shabbat would enable us to articulate the mission of the JCC regarding both its Jewish quality and its understanding of community, and to link Judaism and community in important ways.

For most of the last 50 years or so, the question of Shabbat and JCCs has largely been about opening or closing, and has often engendered a battle between synagogues and JCCs. Put simply, synagogues in the main wanted JCCs to close and JCCs, frequently in competition with for-profit health clubs, wanted to remain open. For The JCC in Manhattan, this binary way of approaching a potentially powerful decision was unhelpful — so we reframed the question. How can the JCC be a positive force in our community for rest and renewal on Shabbat within the context of a diverse community that defines these ideas in multiple ways? How can we honor the variety of practices in our community while also advancing the notion that, as a central idea in Jewish life, Shabbat is a gift to all of us? We started from an assumption that the old understanding of JCCs as “secular” and synagogues as “religious” was an inaccurate description of both institutions as well as of the people who attend them. While there are certainly people who are active synagogue members who only come to the JCC to exercise, and likewise JCC members who wouldn’t step foot in a synagogue, we believe that everyone who walks through our doors is looking for meaning in their lives, hoping to find connections and searching for ways to strengthen their families with values. In other words, we don’t see ourselves as either a secular or religious institution but rather a place of Jewish engagement laying down multiple pathways into Jewish life.

While our vision for Shabbat has not changed in the 12 years since the building opened, our programs and policies have evolved as we’ve come to better understand our community’s needs. For years, we didn’t open the building until 1pm, and then only for fitness-center members or for an occasional Shabbat lunch or discussion. Today, we welcome thousands of people into programs and activities that, while diverse in nature, adhere to two basic principles: there is no commercial culture at the JCC on Shabbat (that is, no business is transacted) and the look and feel of the building is very different than it is during the week.

Most helpful in growing these programs has been an articulation of the outcome we hoped to achieve and a measurement of every decision against that goal. We hoped to bring the richness of Shabbat to our community. We wanted to reach the widest possible group of people and honor the variety of ways people observe Shabbat. In other words, we wanted to reach people who call it Shabbat, Shabbos, Saturday or the weekend. We wanted to make sure our building extended beyond our community as a force for good. Judging from the response, we’re on the right track — and we can only imagine what might come next. ■

Rabbi Joy Levitt is Executive Director of The Jewish Community Center in Manhattan. Prior to coming to the JCC she served for twenty years as a congregational rabbi on Long Island and in New Jersey. Most recently, she founded the Jewish Journey Project, an initiative designed to revolutionize Jewish education for children.

Photograph by Anna Rozenblat

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