A very interesting subject and article, and I hope it will provoke a lively discussion. As I am sure many of you have experienced, many Conservative and Orthodox friends will inevitably comment that playing an organ in the synagogue is -- in their eyes -- comepletely foreign and essentially something that "belongs in church." To me (and, I assume, to our congregation generally), the organ and the overall musical part of our worship service seem both fundamental and indispensible. Yet the suggestion of a "bell tower" atop the synagogue (even if playing Jewish melodies) seems beyond radical and makes me completely uncomfortable (albeit not for any sound reason that I can articulate). I suppose that this is just a natural reaction to change. Perhaps if we could develop a clever Midrash about why synagogues have bell towers, that might ease the way for their adoption.Mark correctly observes that depending on one's background, the exact same custom can feel indisensably Jewish or uncomfortably non-Jewish.
I would add that even within Reform Judaism, the perception of certain customs has changed drastically over time. The Union Prayer Book referred to the rabbi as "minister" (until the 1922 edition). For generations, rabbis at Washington Hebrew were referred to as "reverend." (Rabbi Gerstenfeld may have been the last.) Both designations have fallen into disfavor as not very Jewish. WHC congregants are used to seeing their rabbis and cantors wear robes, but I doubt they would be as comfortable with the clerical collars and hats favored by some liberal rabbis in the 19th century.Many many factors affect whether a "borrowed" custom feels authentically Jewish to us today. But from Confirmation to Sunday school to bridesmaids and groomsmen, Reform Judaism has done some excellent borrowing these past 200 years.
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