Most minyanim see inclusivity as a key principle for at least two reasons:
1) It empowers people in their own Judaism
2) It minimizes the burden on any one person
At same time, many face the question of how to foster inclusivity while maintaining high and specific standards for the quality and shape of the davening experience, in terms of the liturgy, tunes used, atmosphere and tone, divrei torah and leyning. Many minyanim have very distinct standards for davening and also understand that people get turned off by one bad experience. It is important for all these reasons and more to always have high quality. Therefore minyanim face the questions of which bars to set; how best to instruct daveners and leyners; and what happens when someone wants to lead but does not have the skills to do so.
A. Building bench strength: Tips on how to increase the number of minyan participants with the skills and capabilities to lead quality davening.
1) Have a discussion about minyan standards and quality control: this makes people more self-conscious about how they themselves are preparing, and how to do so in accordance with minyan guidelines. Examples of minyanim with specific policies about quality control:
• Darchei Noam (New York) makes leyners check in with gabbai two days before Shabbat to make sure they are ready.
• Kolei HaKol (Chicago) tries to minimize what they give new or inexperienced people – e.g. short aliyot, maariv
• Kehilat Hadar provides guidelines in advance (on leyning, davening, giving Divrei Torah etc.)
2) One-on-one coaching – “davening chavruta.” It makes a big difference to develop personal one-on-one relationships when you are training others.
The DC Minyan has had most success with the one-on-one tutoring. Gabbais pair up with minyan participants interested in leading. Tutors are then able to work with the new person, checking in and making sure they are ready, and giving constructive feedback afterwards (although this does put burden on the same people who are often called on to leyn and lead).
3) “How To” classes: having a mini-minyan or a “master class” to build up skills sets. Minyanim should make the education of new daveners and leyners a stated goal.
4) Many minyanim have also put davening and leyning files on their websites. This is very helpful for practice and for establishing communal standards.
Examples:*Mechon Hadar:
http://www.mechonhadar.org/MinyanProject/resources.php*DC Minyan:
DC Minyan Davening Fileshttp://www.dcminyan.org/learning.html#Davening_Files
*Kol Zimrah:
Kol Zimrah Resourceshttp://sixthirteen.org/kolzimrah/resources/
5) Giving people constructive feedback:
• Always thank people and give them feedback—most people want this for their own growth. Some notes on giving feedback:
• Encourage all new people to check in with a more experienced person in advance to avoid pitfalls.
• Always give feedback with derekh eretz!
• Feedback (e.g. on Torah reading) should be given by the gabbais, rather than the kahal, who sometimes act as backseat gabbais.
• Gabbais should find a way to earn the respect of the kahal while not making leyners/leaders feel awful
• It helps if the gabbai sits very close to the shlichei tzibur, to be the wingman if necessary
6) Make the atmosphere encouraging for new people:
• One minyan had an adult bat mitzvah with all first-time women layning – people knew about the occasion in advance and were very supportive.
• Some minyanim announce immediately after the aliyah (rather than in announcements at the end of the service) that it was the person’s first time leyning.
• Malei Shirah has a “leadership chevruta” – leaders of the minyan tap a 3rd person and the 3 of them sit together a few weeks before their leading to work on tunes, skills, spirituality, etc. It is a bonding experience.
B. Short-term tips on handling people who want to lead but are not up to the quality standards of the minyan:
a) Encourage them to get involved in other roles
b) Plant people with strong voices throughout the room
c) Have people begin small (e.g. reading a short aliyah) and then build up confidence and skills
C. Balancing inclusivity of tunes: Does your minyan use new and innovative tunes or the old and familiar?
• Shtibl Minyan (Cambridge, MA): We try to encourage daveners to mix it up. The dilemma is how to balance giving the community challenge AND comfort.
• Migdal Or (New York): Our community likes to mix it up.
• Kol Zimrah (New York): People come to us for the innovative davening experience, so we’re always changing things up.
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