{"id":142,"date":"2025-02-15T13:32:09","date_gmt":"2025-02-15T13:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jachdav.ch\/?page_id=142"},"modified":"2025-06-25T20:04:14","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T20:04:14","slug":"history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.jachdav.ch\/?page_id=142&lang=en","title":{"rendered":"History"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The egalitarian service in the ICZ is born<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around 1995, an 11-year-old girl’s wish before her bat mitzvah was: \u201cI want to read from the Torah too, just like the boys!\u201d. However, this was impossible within ICZ, even if normal in many communities around the world. A small group of ICZ members wanted to make this possible here and in general include women in the service. With perseverance and several discussions with the rabbinate, this wish was realised, also thanks to the then community rabbi Zalman Kossowsky and the then president of the synagogue commission. However, the rabbinate also clearly distanced itself and had (and still has) nothing to do with the activities. After a first successful trial – Tfilat Mincha on Yom Kippur in 1999, the \u2018Chug Shabbat Acheret\u2019 was officially born in 2000. From the very beginning, the newly designed egalitarian and participatory service centred on the active involvement of those present and the freedom of everyone, regardless of gender, to participate in the service on an equal footing – from the prayers to the Torah reading to the Dvar Torah, and of course for the Bnot and Bnei Mitzvah (girls and boys alike)!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now Shabbat Acheret took clear steps from idealised to actualised equality. Women became much more visible. A key experience was when the prominent Orthodox rabbi Eveline Goodman-Thau from Berlin visited us. The mechitza – separate seating with physical divisions – was dispensed with. Over time, sitting in three groups has become the norm: women on the left, men on the right and everyone in the center (a \u2018tri-chitza\u2019, so to speak). After a few years, we were also allocated a budget item in the ICZ budget. There were already some egalitarian minyanim in various communities around the world that adhere to the traditional Orthodox structure. The chug Shabbat Acheret saw itself as part of this movement and also made connections. For example, a group once travelled to London to the New North London Synagogue to hold talks with various rabbis, such as Rav Chaim Weiner. It was very inspiring to see how organically egalitarianism was lived there. This trip helped us to further develop our activities and ideas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Shabbat Acheret\u2019 becomes \u2019Shabbat Jachdav\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The shared spiritual experience was and continues to be at the center of our activities. This was one of the reasons why we gave ourselves a new name in 2012 that better expresses this: \u2018Shabbat Jachdav\u2019. We lead our service and develop it further together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have been organising regular services within the ICZ for almost 30 years now and have enabled many girls and boys to celebrate their Bat & Bar Mitzvah in an egalitarian service. Our group can no longer be overlooked in the larger ICZ community; our members are always actively involved in various committees of the ICZ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In recent years, the founding generation, which organised the activities over a period of more than 20 years, has been able to hand over responsibility to younger hands. Among them are also some young families with little children who bring the kids\u2019 charm to our service. At the end of 2024, the oldest participant was over 90, the youngest just three weeks old. The former always impresses with her profound Divrei Torah, but the younger ones also bring delightful moments to the service, for example when a small child wants to join their dad or mom while they lein, or when a group of girls and boys recite the Anim Zemirot. As children don’t always want to sit with the adults, there are also plenty of opportunities to play games and enjoy snacks. After the service, however, the adults also want to nosh. That’s why there is now both a small children’s table and a larger one for the adults at the subsequent Kiddush. This development gives everyone great pleasure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s to many more years together!
Samuel Rom\/November 2024 – edited<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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