Al Tifrosh Min HaTzibur | אַל תִּפְרוֹשׁ מִן הַצִּבּוּר
Do not separate yourself from the community.
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Coming to Community as a Diverse People
Hillel the elder, who lived in Babylonia and Jerusalem during the first century BCE, writes in Ethics of Our Fathers (2:5), “Al tifrosh min hatzibur” “Do not separate yourself from the community.” These four Hebrew words can be understood in three very different ways.
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Election Pivot: Can We Find Common Ground?
Stosh Cotler analyzes community by reflecting on three terms in classical Hebrew for community: tzibur, kehillah, and edah.
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‘Jewish Community’: Who’s In, Who’s Out?
Lex Rofes looks for a Jewish community where individuals will not feel pushed out of the community or compelled to exit it and distance themselves.
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The Myth of a Cohesive, United, American Jewish Community
The notion of a generally cohesive community is little more than a myth.
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How We Gather: Millennials Creating Caring Communities
Most people acknowledge that Millennials (people born between 1981 and 1997) are less religiously affiliated than people born longer ago in the past. Nearly one-third of American Millennials do not belong to a faith community and only 10 percent are looking for one. Though many are atheists or agnostics, the majority are less able to articulate their sense of spirituality, with many falling back on the label “spiritual but not religious.” Sociologists label this group the “Nones” — those who, when offered a choice of religious affiliation, choose “none of the above.”
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NiSh’ma: Al Tifrosh Min HaTzibur
Sh’ma Now offers three takes—Rabbi Yoshi Fenton, Rabbi Jordana Schuster Battis, and Yakir Englander—on the verse, “Al tifrosh min hatzibur” — what it means to belong fully to a community.
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Consider and Converse: Do Not Separate Yourself from the Community
A Guide to understanding this issue of Sh’ma Now
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