Spiritual Community: The Power to Restore Hope, Commitment and Joy

Reimagine the Possibilities for Your Own Congregation

We all share a deep human need for meaning in our lives, a need to feel that we are part of something larger than ourselves. Yet many of us have discovered that successful careers, material affluence―even loving families―are not enough to satisfy this longing. And, too often, the congregations and organizations in which we seek greater meaning are uninspiring, or worse.

The answer lies in belonging to a strong spiritual community―not just a collection of individuals but a dynamic, integrated congregation linked by commitment and vision, sustained by friendship and shared experience. But how to build it?

Informative and encouraging, wise and practical, Spiritual Community looks at congregations and organizations―what they are and what they might become―and reveals the unique role they have the potential to play in refreshing our minds, transforming our hearts and giving our lives meaning. From establishing “radiant centers” to welcome people into the heart of the community, to reclaiming the power of ritual, to suggesting strategies for dealing with conflict―Rabbi Teutsch offers practical solutions to challenges congregations commonly face making themselves into spiritual communities.

This is essential reading for every spiritual and lay leader―for anyone who wants to transform their congregation or organization into a strong spiritual community.

Rabbi David A. Teutsch, PhD, is the Wiener Professor of Contemporary Jewish Civilization and director of the Center for Jewish Ethics at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, where he served as president for nearly a decade. He was editor in chief of the seven-volume Kol Haneshamah prayer book series. His book A Guide to Jewish Practice: Everyday Living (RRC Press) won the National Jewish Book Award for Contemporary Jewish Life and Practice. He is also author of Spiritual Community: The Power to Restore Hope, Commitment and Joy (Jewish Lights) and several other books. He contributed to May God Remember: Memory and Memorializing in Judaism―Yizkor, Who by Fire, Who by Water―Un'taneh Tokef, All These Vows―Kol Nidre, and We Have Sinned: Sin and Confession in Judaism―Ashamnu and Al Chet (all Jewish Lights).