Eight homilies for practicing presence

The promise of what Sharon Brous calls “the amen effect” is an end to social isolation, an end to hiding from heartache. It is the regeneration of caring relations and the will to be present when people are suffering.

Brous is a leader at the junction of faith and justice in the United States. She is the founding rabbi of IKAR, a spiritual community in Los Angeles whose mission “is to reanimate Jewish life and develop a spiritual and moral foundation for a just and equitable society.” In 2013, she was named by the Daily Beast as number one on a list of the 50 most influential rabbis in the country. The Amen Effect is both a window into Brous’s interpersonal philosophy and, she hopes, a tool for social transformation. Rather than bearing witness to the challenges of life, she focuses on the importance of “bearing with-ness.”

From its beginning, Brous and IKAR’s founding members wanted the community to be outward facing and justice oriented. They quickly realized that “the path to manifesting the beloved community out in the world had to begin with building a beloved community in our own home.” The book focuses on how to build that community, offering many examples of congregants and others showing up not only for friends and relatives but for strangers as well. Being with people in sad times as well as glad times is a holy practice for Brous, and it’s one that she wants others to embrace.