The Chavurah gasps, choosing a synagogue

Faithful readers of, um, the one post I've written about the Chavurah will know that we've had a hard time getting that group off the ground. First of all, we're small - just six "childless, twenty-thirtysomethings" from Beth El. Second, we consist of two couples. Third, those members who do not belong to said couples have, so far, been MIA. To remedy what feels like chronic indifference, our fearless leaders, Dan and Jillian, arranged for a potluck at their home to discuss a book we chose as a group, The Girl On the Fridge by Etgar Keret.

Excited to finally get together and have something to discuss, Ilan and I read the book and made celery root soup and donned our finest jeans and t-shirts. . . Only to find ourselves in another double date scenario, without our single Chavurah members. SO, I invited another couple from my Intro to Judaism class to make it a triple date, at the very least. We had a lovely meal and the brief discussion of the book was interesting - it's hard not to have an opinion about a collection of short stories in which characters superglue their bare feet to the ceiling or pull murdered rabbits from magician's hats - but this leaves me wondering. . . Is Beth El, organizing body of our Chavurah, for me?

The first Friday evening service that Ilan and I attended there was "Tot Shabbat," and we were unprepared for the overflow of families with young (screaming) children and singalongs from Camp Kee Tov. (Which isn't to say I don't love children and the idea of Tot Shabbat - it was just a lot to deal with as a first impression.) Subsequent services have yielded few additional "childless, twenty-thirtysomething" attendees, save for the High Holidays when young adults presumably return to their East Bay families from other places. And at the few Saturday Torah study groups I've attended, I have been the youngest by at least ten years. I think that feeling so alone would be a lot for ANYONE to deal with at his or her synagogue, but the additional "otherness" of being a non-Jew feels like a bit too much.

My conclusion? I need to broaden my temple net. My criteria: must be (fairly easily) biked to from Elmwood in Berkeley, must be Reform (or Reconstructionist or Renewal), and must have vibrant - or, at least, existant - community of people at my age and stage in life. Is that too much to ask?