At Lab/Shul, the experimental, artist-driven community in Lower Manhattan that attracts 20- and 30-somethings, services begin with a convincing “pitch” and networking, said Ezra Bookman, program associate. Happy hour at a bar last week served as the first introduction for potential service-goers, he said. The pre-holiday mixer attracted about 35 people.
“It is infinitely more likely they’ll attend services if they have a friend to go with,” said Bookman, 25. “There’s nothing more intimidating than walking into a service and not knowing anyone.”
At the services themselves, which will be held for the first time this year at the New York Academy of Medicine on the Upper East Side, several changes to the liturgy and a focus on embracing those of different faiths keeps millennials coming, said Bookman. All traces of patriarchal, hierarchical and hetero-normative language, including the classing art/thou, He, and even the word God, have been removed. […]
