Harnessing the Power of Ten
The Minyan of Thinkers channels the brainpower of ten young people to grapple with our community's most pressing issues. We develop our ideas in an intellectually open and safe space that allows us to come up with new approaches to challenges facing our community.
The power of ten concept we have adopted is based in the Jewish tradition of "minyan", or quorum of ten for public prayer. In Jewish tradition, the community waits for ten people to begin a public prayer service because of how powerful it considers the combined energy of the group. Similarly, we build on the collective spiritual and intellectual energy of our members to create a powerful group of thinkers and doers. We don't need exactly ten, but we usually like to have 10-15 members in each cohort.
The power of ten concept we have adopted is based in the Jewish tradition of "minyan", or quorum of ten for public prayer. In Jewish tradition, the community waits for ten people to begin a public prayer service because of how powerful it considers the combined energy of the group. Similarly, we build on the collective spiritual and intellectual energy of our members to create a powerful group of thinkers and doers. We don't need exactly ten, but we usually like to have 10-15 members in each cohort.
What Makes Us Different
Our model of learning is unique because it is sustained, active, challenging, grounded in scholarly texts, lay-led, and has no religious or ideological framework. This isn't a passive lecture, and it's not a Bible study that has certain ideas about how to see the world. We don't have a religious leader or professor leading us- we dig into the texts ourselves and figure out how we understand it. We meet monthly to build a positive community and push through challenging issues. We aren't trying to come to a resolution- rather we want to create a space where people can flesh out their own thoughts and arguments, and come away with a stronger sense of their own voice on an issue that is typically dominated by extreme, polarizing voices.
What We Talk About
Whether it's intra-faith challenges of identity and survival, or interracial issues focused on racial justice, our community/ies face major challenges that are worth digging into. The Minyan of Thinkers doesn't want to shy away from anything, and we are constantly brainstorming contemporary issues we want to tackle.
As we have evolved from a Jewish dialogue group to a multi-racial, multi-faith entity, we have created lists of dialogue topics we want to tackle. Below are a few highlights. What do you think? Any more to add? We'd love to hear.
As we have evolved from a Jewish dialogue group to a multi-racial, multi-faith entity, we have created lists of dialogue topics we want to tackle. Below are a few highlights. What do you think? Any more to add? We'd love to hear.
Race Dialogue Topics
- "Othering," i.e. the us-versus-them mentality that divides people in innumerable ways, including race, religion, and gender. How and why does it happen? How have we felt marginalized? What works to combat it?
- Residential segregation and the history of redlining and restrictive covenants
- Tensions between law enforcement and communities of color
- School re-segregation and the Supreme Court’s backing away from legally supporting integrated schools
- Black-Jewish relations- How this relationship has evolved – as perceived by each community – since the Civil Rights Movement
- What does it mean to classify oneself as a minority? What does it mean to have others classify (or not classify) you as a minority?
Jewish Dialogue Topics
- Rationality and faith
- Inter-denominational harmony
- Intermarriage
- Converts in our community- struggle to be Jewish enough
- Zionism and liberalism
- Jewish law and feminism
- The rise in anti-Semitism in Europe
- Kashrut- inclusivity vs. exclusivity
- Israel as a Jewish state
- Holocaust guilt and its impact on Jewish engagement
- Declining observance among young Jews
- Jewish privilege, activism, and involvement in larger social justice issues
- Jewish survival and associated fear
