Live with Purpose
LIVE with purpose.
LIVE with meaning.
LIVE with kindness.
Our privilege and our responsibility as human beings is to LIVE on this earth. Tapping into the sacred text of 
Torah, we learn from the first story that God has established a unique partnership with human beings – one of trust. God entrusts human being with the task of caring for all other creations. This partnership, this unique bond, along with this charge is bestowed upon us for all eternity. And since that time, human beings have been trying to figure out HOW.
Throughout history there have been many iterations and variations to the process of how we care for the “other”. Some strategies have yielded great success and others, tremendous failure. The religious lens has always maintained a powerful role in shaping the world in which we live. However, over the past two decades, we have witnessed a decline in the role and the power of religion as it relates to shaping personal and communal identity. Religion is on the decline in America, in many ways, due to the tremendous success experienced by people between the ages of 18 and 35. As my father proclaims repeatedly “religion does best when times are worst”.
If we are going to strengthen the role religion plays in shaping identity, we must be willing to put it in the hands of the user to claim it in ways that are relevant. This will create a greater opportunity for living with purpose, meaning and kindness. Judaism is draped in beautiful and strong rituals and soaked in rich content that can be a foundation for creating such a life. Wisdom, social justice, community and living with sacred purpose are components to crafting a pathway for living this kind of life.
Beineinu offers the unique feature of full and open choice. Users choose their entry point and there is no minimum or maximum expectation or requirement. Beineinu puts decision making in the hands of the users. It is part and parcel of our name and that is the goal. The hope is, that if you have a positive and meaningful experience, you will be more likely to continue to engage than if you don’t.
Beineinu provides a “what size fits you best” approach. We look for the unique qualities of each person to craft a pathway that is rich, meaningful and manageable.
Beineinu is committed to creating individual and communal opportunities for everyone who wants to participate.
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Rabbi Laurie Phillips is the founder and director of Beineinu. Using Judaism to hold people in love, Beineinu is an independent initiative offering personalized pathways to Jewish life and learning with hubs currently functioning in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Harlem.
