Conviviality at Temple Solel

September 2024

By Steve Yaffe, President, Temple Solel

Conviviality, the enjoyment of each other’s company and food, is a cornerstone of life at Temple Solel. We cherish the moments we spend together. We talk during Onegs after services. We enjoy celebrating holidays like Purim and sedarim with our friends from Grace Presbyterian. Sharing lunch after our joint Widowed Folks Group discussions is important. Our commitment to conviviality also extends to serving others. Our social action includes serving meals to older low-income people at the Community Café. We also provide meals to the homeless at the Bethel Men’s Shelter in Rock Hill.

Sharing food is more than just a meal; it is a means to build community and fight loneliness. The remedy for feeling alone is to engage with others — perhaps while sharing food or while serving food to those in need. We are in especially difficult times. Of course, we won’t be eating during the Viddui confession of sins during the High Holidays. Positive images like the Break Fast meal at the end of Yom Kippur can be sustaining. Sharing food or serving food to those in need helps remedy loneliness and fosters a sense of belonging. Eating together keeps our brains and social skills active. Eating together encourages meaningful conversations that lead to new understandings.

Engaging with each other, and with people we don’t know well, serves many important purposes. Conversation helps combat loneliness, which can be debilitating. Conversation and service, especially with food, allow us to take part in social action. More importantly, these interactions help prevent hate. Many people don’t know us as Jews. By engaging with others, we can demystify our culture and prevent the spread of false narratives by hate groups. By forming connections with our neighbors, we find allies and reduce the potential for hate.

Building relationships through convivial engagement allows us to share our stories. Through engagement, we can find common ground. We start with easy-to-discuss topics and gradually build deeper relationships. Sharing our hopes, histories, and pride in our accomplishments reveals similarities with others. When discussing the Holocaust, we can learn that others have also faced victimization and genocide.

Do you know any unaffiliated Jews in Fort Mill, South Charlotte, York, or Indian Land? We invite them to check us out! Whether we are talking, eating, learning, or walking together, we embody conviviality. We listen and engage. We encourage participation in social action, prayer, education, or community gatherings.

Temple Solel is a Reform Jewish congregation. We have eliminated annual membership dues, though financial contributions are welcome. We pray at 7 p.m. on the 2nd and 4th Fridays of every month at Grace Presbyterian Church, 2955 W. Highway 160 in Fort Mill. Our High Holiday schedule is advertised in this issue and on our website, templesolelsc.org.

We’d love to meet you. For more information about our services and events, please visit our website at templesolelsc.org, email us at email info@templesolelsc.org, or call (803) 610-1707.