Two years ago, Suzi LeVine of Queen Anne was lamenting the lack of Jewish activities in her neighborhood and all of Seattle. And the services she had been to in the Puget Sound region had been the rigid, traditional services wrapped in guilt, and she was tired of its lack of inspiration and joy.
So she and Rabbi Rachel Nussbaum started Kavana, not so much a synagogue as it is a Jewish community group that boasts book clubs, coffee clatches, movie nights, kids activities, family activities, hiking expeditions, cooking nights and a whole lot more.
"We'd seen some innovative projects happening in other parts of the country and realized we could devlop the ideal community for us in Seattle from scratch," LeVine said. "We liked the communities that were appealing to people, not just on a religious prayer aspect but in giving people a lot of different ways to express Judaism that involved the entire family."
LeVine remembered as a little girl being bored to tears at synagogue, so for Kavana, which is the Hebrew word for intention, she made sure it was something that would celebrate the vibrant culture of the Jewish people.
Kavana mainly meets at the Queen Anne Christian Church in Upper Queen Anne, but most of the non-service events take place all over the city, from Noah's Bagels, to Muse coffee shop, to Magnolia and Discovery parks. This coming Sunday, Oct. 5, the group is putting on a local hike, a sort of an eco Beit Midrash, where attendees will learn about wildlife and conservation.
The Jewish tradition, LeVine pointed out, has always featured environmentalism. Tu B'Shevat is the holiday of the trees. And Jewish law has always said that during harvest time, anything that's fallen is required to go to those in need. "Those things," LeVine said, "are baked into the laws."
Most of Kavana participants live in Queen Anne, Magnolia and Ballard, there are about 300 regular participants. Last Tuesday was the first time Kavana celebrated Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, as a group and next week it will do the same with Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement.
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