Anyone and Everyone Can Worship at MVHC
How Amy E. Schwartz, a Conservative Shul Member, found a home at MVHC
As many in our community will know, our Rabbi Caryn Broitman is a lover of literature and an agile writer. She exercises her talents in her beautiful letters and in Moment Magazine’s Ask the Rabbis column as the Reconstructionist voice on various topics. What you may not know is that the editor of those columns is also a member of our Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center community!
The story of Amy E. Schwartz becoming a member of the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center is a perfect example of why fostering a progressive Jewish community on our Island is so important.
Amy and her family live in the D.C. area and have visited the Vineyard during the summers for years. She is currently the opinion editor and the book editor at Moment Magazine. In 2020, a collection of Ask the Rabbis features was published as a book called “Can Robots Be Jewish? And Other Pressing Questions of Modern Life.” Throughout her illustrious career, she has worked as an editor, editorial writer, and columnist at many other publications including The New Republic and The Washington Post.
In D.C., she is a member of a traditional egalitarian minyan at a Conservative synagogue, but she was not connected with a synagogue on the Vineyard for many years. When Amy’s father passed away, it was very important to her to say daily kaddish. When she traveled to Martha’s Vineyard that summer, she was worried that she wouldn’t be able to find a place to continue her daily prayer.
Rabbi Broitman was happy to provide a supportive home for Amy and her family. The Rabbi made sure Amy could say kaddish, not only during services but also at other gatherings where an impromptu minyan could be formed. Throughout the Summer, Amy developed a deep connection with the Hebrew Center and our Rabbi and had the space to grieve her father’s loss with prayer. The Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center was honored to offer the supportive Jewish community Amy needed that difficult summer. In an amazing coincidence, Amy and the Rabbi only discovered they had been college classmates after spending most days together that Summer.
Amy E. Schwartz has now been a member of MVHC for 20 years. She absolutely loves coming to Shabbat services and other events at the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center. She says. “Rabbi Broitman has the most wonderful services. Once you start going, you’re kind of hooked. They’re creative.”
One of the many things that makes our Hebrew Center unique is the mosaic of members from all different spiritual backgrounds. At MVHC, everyone is free to worship in the way that fits them. Our progressive Jewish community is enriched by the diversity of our members.