My vision for the New Mexico Independent Minyan is a Jewish worship gathering that serves Jews in the Santa Fe and Albuquerque areas. Here are the essential details:
The two dimensions of NMIM: NMIM would offer two Shabbat morning gatherings a month.
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One gathering is a worship minyan with Torah reading for persons who are attracted to this form of Jewish worship.
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The other gathering is a learner’s service for persons who wish to grow their understanding, skills, and ability to participate in the monthly worship minyan.
Features of the minyan: I characterize the minyan as “traditional, egalitarian, participatory, welcoming, and soulful.
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Traditional means that the services are conducted in Hebrew and that a traditional structure of prayer is followed (Shahrit, Torah Service and triennial reading of the portion of the week, and Musaf)
Egalitarian means both men and women can fully participate in all ritual leadership rolls such as Torah reading and prayer leading.
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Participatory means that the minyan encourages ritual participation of all its attendees. This encourages people to offer ritual skills such as Torah reading (baalei keriah), service leading (shelichei tzibbur), Torah reading oversight (gabbaim), and Torah interpreters (darshanim). The minyan would also rely on extensive volunteerism in other non-ritual aspects of our gatherings such as distribution of ritual books, transporting the Sefer Torah, distribution of honors, organizing a kiddush lunch, other minyan organizing.
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Welcoming means that we will take very specific steps to make the minyan a welcoming and inclusive gathering. That means everyone who comes is greeted and acknowledged. It also means that the pathways to participation are encouraged in very concrete ways.
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Soulful means a minyan that encourages song and intention (kavanah) as integral to our prayer experience. I am personally comfortable with musical instruments but feel that the community should decide the degree of musicality as the stakeholders shape the identity of the worship community.
The Vanguard of 18 NMIM Minyanaires. The once-a-month worship minyan is the centerpiece of this initiative. Once we can recruit 18 Jewish adults who are willing to commit to attending, we will calendar the first meeting. Another key element required to launch this minyan is a “va-ad" of 3 responsible persons to lead the organizing. I will be a part of that group.
The Feature of Learner’s Service. NMIM Learner’s Services is an essential dimension of this initiative. However, it does not require the same commitment as the minyan itself. Instead, it is the way we raise the level of knowledge, skill, and enthusiasm for the minyan. It is an opportunity for any individual who wants to learn more about Jewish prayer. The learners’ prayer service would provide “Iyun Tefilah”-deep and practical study of Jewish prayer traditions open to all participants and to the community. The aim of the learners’ minyan is to build Jewish prayer literacy, knowledge of liturgical music, depth of understanding, and stake-holding in this holy enterprise.
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Other Aspects of the NMIM:
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The traditional, egalitarian, participatory minyan will feature a Derasha prepared by a learned/learning participant of 10-15 minutes.
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The minyan will feature a triennial Torah reading with 7 plus 1 aliyot and the reading of the Haftarah (at least 10 verses). Of course, a Sefer Torah will be essential. Shabbat with Friends has offered its Sefer Torah for use by the NMIM.
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We will need to choose a Siddur-prayerbook and a Humash at the commencement of the minyan. This should be a group decision, but I do recommend a prayerbook with good commentary and ample transliterations. The prayerbook recommended for the minyan is the Lev Shalem Shabbat and Festival prayerbook. Participants would acquire their own copies of the prayerbook and the Humash.
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The NMIM will not have a formal affiliation. We will look to other independent minyanim around the country for guidance and ideas.
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An Important Issue: Location. I envision that the minyan will meet in homes or in venues. I favor alternating monthly between ABQ and Santa Fe and to present itself as a regional minyan. I favor vigorous home hospitality so that minyan participants have places to stay or share meals with folks coming from the other community. I think we need to tap both communities to be viable.
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This proposal is not meant to be exhaustive. It recognizes that building a praying community takes time, effort, and patience. It is expected in the natural evolution of a minyan for various issues to arise. We inherit wisdom from many previous generations of Jews who have formed intentional praying communities and will tap the resources from this collective Jewish wisdom to inspire this communal/spiritual initiative.