Intro to the Der Nister FAQ
It used to be that when I tried to explain the Der Nister idea, there wouldn’t be much in the way of conversation. A synagogue that was also a cultural center was a foreign idea to people — and it indeed was foreign. I was inspired by my time with Jewish communities in Europe and the Middle East to see how culture and religion easily folded into one entity.
But nowadays, Baruch Hashem, we get a lot of questions and a lot of conversation.
Last Sunday, after fielding perhaps too many questions over the previous week, I took a few swigs of Yemeni Adeni Chai, let the caffeine flow through my veins, and typed out seven pages of questions that Rabbis Hollander, Rosenfeld and I had heard at least five or more times each over the years. Rabbi Hollander provided some key input on the books, but the Chai provided the stamina for me.
It used to be that I wanted people to come to Der Nister and not ask any questions, to just experience it for what it was, to let the flowery essays on the front page empower the intrepid to make it to 7th and Spring and figure it out the rest of the way, and enjoy the delights of their labor on the other end.
My sense is that there are more important things to do than maintain a sense of mystery. We are building a real community of real people with real fears and hopes and dreams and expectations of us and each other.
It’s funny because for the first few years, the years of our ‘unfolding mystery,’ I could not tolerate the word “community.” Why? Because I so often heard it in a context that sounded forced: that one must serve it, that one must be sucked into it, that one must enter it like a human dogpile. It seemed to me like a tool that was designed to be abusive in nature, to guilt people into participating in upholding an artificial hierarchy of community leaders.
As time went on, our regulars became friends all on their own, without any coercion. They made friends with others, and we rabbis could live up to our highest aspiration: to be here to serve wonderful people, real people who had come to be with us in Downtown.
Naturally, with real people and not just figments of our imagination dwelling in our mythical stories of magic and secrecy, they want to know, is this real? Are we real? Are we here to stay? Is what people read in the media about us true? (Not always.)
They pour onto us with practical concerns. Am I safe here? How do I get here? What classes and services do you have?
Sometimes the questions are ideological. Am I welcome here, no matter my views? Can I pray here?
Sometimes the questions come from places of need that perhaps other Jewish institutions may never have to confront. Can I get housing assistance? (God willing one day we can provide.)
People sometimes are at a loss of how we operate financially. Is this place sustainable? Is it here for the long haul?
I promise you, like everything else, we do here, our very practical FAQ is not typical. It is exhaustive and might give you an insight on the very peculiar institution we have made together over the last half decade.
