The New Jewish Leaders

Reshaping the American Jewish Landscape

Jack Wertheimer, Jack Wertheimer

• Publisher: Brandeis University Press
• Year: 2011
• ISBN:
  9781611681840
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Sociology
• Index: Social Sciences

By the end of the twentieth century, a new generation of leaders had begun to assume positions of influence within established organizations. They quickly launched a slew of new initiatives directed at their age peers. Born during the last quarter of the twentieth century, these leaders came of age in a very different America and a different Jewish world than earlier generations. Not surprisingly, their worldview and understanding of Jewish issues set them apart from their elders, as does their approach to organizing. Based upon extensive interviews and survey research, as well as an examination of the websites frequented by younger Jews and personal observation of their programs, The New Jewish Leaders presents a pioneering account of the renewal of American Jewish community. This book describes how younger Jews organize, relate to collective Jewish efforts, and think about current Jewish issues. It also offers a glimpse of how they re-envision American Jewish communal arrangements. What emerges is a fascinating exploration of Jewish community in America today—and tomorrow.

JACK WERTHEIMER

1 Mapping the Scene

How Younger Jewish Adults Engage with Jewish Community

FIFTY YEARS AGO, observers of American Jewish life were struck by the frenetic engagement of Jews in organizational activity. “What distinguishes the Jew from the non-Jew,” wrote Harold Weisberg, dean of the graduate school of Brandeis University, in 1964, “is, increasingly, not a specific ethic, religious discipline, or language, but the intensity and pervasiveness of his organizational commitments and activities. . . . At present, Jewish culture in the United States is predominantly what Jews do under the auspices of Jewish organizations.”¹ Other midcentury observers joined Weisberg in marveling at the extent to which theirs was a time of joining, especially for newly transplanted urban Jews who had settled in suburbia after World War II. American Jews in record numbers became members of synagogues, Jewish Community Centers, and national organizations; they contributed to the campaigns of local federations of Jewish philanthropy; and in other ways they enacted their Jewishness through association. Noting these patterns, a major sociological study of the time commented on the “overwhelming” variety of Jewish organizations on the local level, which, in turn, played a “critical role . . . to help mediate the crisis in Jewish identity” and maintain “Jewish group survival.”²

By the end of the twentieth century, in marked contrast, one of the most influential analyses of Jewish identity and community began with the premise that a vast swathe of “moderately affiliated” Jews, mainly of the baby boom generation, served as bellwethers of a massive shift within the American Jewish community. Writing of the privatized nature of Jewish identification, Steven M. Cohen and Arnold Eisen determined that for many of these Jews, “the public sphere [of Jewish life] bears the burden of demonstrating its importance to Jewish loyalties nurtured and focused elsewhere.” More than 40 percent of respondents to the authors’ survey concurred with the statement “I find Jewish organizations remote and irrelevant to me.” Rather than regarding Jewish organizations as a potential “locus for friendship, a place where they could socialize with other Jews in an easy and relaxed atmosphere,” many American Jews perceived Jewish organizational life as exploitative, expecting much and giving little in return.³ Hence, like the contemporaneous research on broader trends in American society conducted by Robert Putnam,⁴ the authors of The Jew Within found a baby boomer population characterized by loose connections and comparatively low rates of affiliation.

If the generation that came of age after World War II was characterized by joining formal Jewish institutions, and if the baby boomers associated with Jewish organizations far more episodically and, perhaps, suspiciously, what can be said about the participation in organized Jewish activities by the succeeding generation of American Jews—the population now in their twenties and thirties that has been shaped by cultural and social trends at the end of the twentieth century and the beginning of the current one? Unfortunately, this question is not amenable to quantitative answers in the absence of an up-to-date national Jewish population study. We simply do not know how large a percentage of the roughly million-and-a-quarter younger Jewish adults attend any programs with Jewish content;⁵ nor can we pin down how frequently attendees participate in various types of Jewish programming.

What seems beyond dispute is that the range of options created by and for this population is extraordinarily wide. Those who are inclined to engage with other Jews can choose from a broad array of new programs organized by their peers and also from more conventional types of activities held under the auspices of long-established organizations. Undoubtedly, social gatherings draw the largest turnout, as do concerts, film festivals, and other cultural events. Smaller numbers attend Shabbat and holiday celebrations, retreats, and recreational programs such as outdoor treks. Depending on their interests, young Jewish adults participate in peer-led minyanim, Orthodox outreach programs, or religious services sponsored by local synagogues of various denominational hues—all directed exclusively to younger Jews. They also elect to engage with other Jewish peers in social action projects for nonsectarian or Jewish causes. Some attend demonstrations and programs advocating for Israel or criticizing its policies, while some participate in programs offered specifically for peers of their age by national Jewish organizations. Those who identify with a specific subpopulation, such as an immigrant group, the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) community, or Jews who share a specific Jewish religious outlook, are able to join affinity groups.

The present essay maps the range of options available to young adults who are open to partaking in some form of Jewish group activity. Based upon some eighty-five interviews with young Jewish leaders in fourteen different communities around the United States, and written material available either in print or online, it surveys the spectrum of organizations that attract Jews in their twenties and thirties.⁶ As already noted, some of these organizations and programs were created at the initiative of established Jewish organizations; others arose through the efforts of young adults as so-called start-ups; and still others have come about and are supported by a mix of establishment and nonestablishment institutions. (Moreover, not all draw participants exclusively from the population of Jews in their twenties and thirties. Programs and organizations aimed primarily at this age group and/or led by younger Jewish leaders have been included in this survey.) After presenting examples of programs run by both established institutions and nonestablishment ones around the country, the analysis will explore how new agencies have sprung up to address the special interests of subgroups within the population of Jewish young adults and how local history and culture shape the options available in a particular community.

Two important qualifications: first, though it casts a wide net to include communities in different regions of the country and of varying sizes, this essay does not purport to offer a comprehensive listing of all programs and institutions available to young Jewish adults; rather, it presents illustrative examples of the various types of groupings.

Second, the roughly eighteen-year age span of participants in these programs (from twenty-two to forty) seems fairly compact but in fact masks large variations in career paths, status, and life-cycle stages. There are major differences between recent college graduates who are only beginning to set a life course as compared to men and women in their late thirties who have embarked on careers and perhaps attained professional credentials. Marital status is also a critical marker: vast distances separate those who are single from those who are married, and individuals who have become parents have their own transformed life experience.⁷ Within this population, key dividing lines also exist between those who identify strongly with Jewish life in some form and those who are quite distant, if not alienated. And finally, a constellation of subpopulations identify far more strongly with others who share their own history, experiences, or interests than they do with an amorphous mass of people roughly the same age. We will need to be attuned to these distinctions rather than lump all younger Jewish adults together.

What Establishment Institutions Offer to Young Jewish Adults

It is no secret that federations of Jewish philanthropy, Jewish Community Centers (JCCs), synagogues, and the major national organizations have been hard-pressed to recruit significant numbers of young Jewish adults. When asked to explain the lack of appeal, professionals in these organizations cite young adults’ limited financial resources; they lack the discretionary dollars to make charitable contributions and pay dues that are expected—and needed—by synagogues, federation campaigns, and large membership organizations. People preoccupied with the life-defining tasks of establishing a career also have time constraints associated with deciding where to live, finding a spouse, and starting a family. Faced with these weighty challenges, how many young adults will set aside time to participate in programs with any regularity? Young adults also may find it difficult to relate to the establishment organizations on other grounds: they may associate them with a previous generation’s Jewish self-expression, not with cutting-edge programs for today’s young adult population. “Why would my peers support all the same institutions that our parents and grandparents once funded?” asks Sharna Goldseker, an organizer of programs for peers her age and a philanthropist in her own right.⁸

Moreover, as quite a few report firsthand, the culture of many establishment institutions creates numerous barriers to involvement. One frequently heard complaint is that establishment Jewish organizations are exclusive. “What is off-putting to young people are organizations that feel restrictive and events where non-Jews and same-sex partners are not welcome,” a young funder named Jos Thalheimer complains. For those who are single, moreover, the focus of many institutions such as synagogues on family units with children leaves them feeling “demographically disenfranchised,” as one study reports.⁹ And when they join, young adults quickly learn that they are expected to bide their time before assuming positions of real leadership—this in marked contrast to the many opportunities young adults have today to advance rapidly in their professional lives and in many nonestablishment endeavors. Why deal with the frustration if other outlets for social and philanthropic action exist outside the establishment communal channels in the wider nonsectarian world?¹⁰ And then there is the question of whether establishment groups speak to young Jews’ sensibilities about the world and Jewish life—or even take them into account. Describing his demoralizing experience at a Jewish fundraiser, one young philanthropist explained why he fled the scene: “We couldn’t even relate to it; . . . no one talked about how young people can add value.”Another young observer of Jewish philanthropy contrasted the style of organizations supported by previous generations to those that appeal to her: “They’re so huge and amalgamous [sic], and they don’t hit the niche interests that a lot of people my age have.”¹¹ All these factors serve as serious deterrents to participation in programs organized by establishment groups.

Long-established synagogues and federations of Jewish philanthropy seem to be struggling most in addressing this population, albeit for different reasons. The former are largely geared to engage family units and have long relied upon Jews to join once they have children of school age. This emphasis on pediatric Judaism, however, will not do for singles or even newly married young couples, particularly at a time of deferred family formation in all sectors of the American Jewish community except the Orthodox one.¹² How then to draw them into synagogue involvement? A limited number of congregations have actively taken up this challenge. Among them is Temple Israel, the oldest Reform congregation in Boston, which under the leadership of Rabbi Jeremy Morrison organizes Kabbalat Shabbat services and dinners on Friday evenings, Havdala on Saturday evenings, and study circles all held in private homes in several Boston neighborhoods.¹³ Programs are also held at Temple Israel to integrate these people into the synagogue. Of the 1,500 attendees at programs, several hundred have joined the congregation, Morrison reports.¹⁴ Another Reform temple, Congregation Beth Elohim (CBE) in the Park Slope section of Brooklyn, has become the home of several outreach programs to the thousands of young Jews of “Brownstone Brooklyn.” The largest of these was founded by CBE’s rabbi, Andy Bachman, before he assumed the congregation’s pulpit. Called Brooklyn Jews, the program runs its own services in CBE on the High Holidays using a Conservative mahzor (High Holiday prayer book) and also runs Shabbat programs throughout the year.¹⁵ A second program called Altshul offers a traditional egalitarian service and attracts a fair number of formerly Orthodox Jews, as well as products of the Conservative movement. And a third program is directed to adult education, particularly for intermarried Jews. A portion of the participants in all three groups have become members of CBE, notwithstanding its affiliation with the Reform movement.

Among the best known and successful programs organized by Conservative synagogues is Friday Night Live, sponsored by Sinai Temple in Los Angeles, which attracts more than a thousand people once a month and has developed a range of other programs, concerts, married couples’ events, and lectures specifically for the twenty-five- to forty-year-old population.¹⁶ Whereas Friday Night Live features a band and congregational singing led by Craig Taubman, a professional musician, Adas Israel of Washington, D.C., another large Conservative congregation, runs a young professionals group, which features a once monthly “lay-led” Kabbalat Shabbat service. It also hosts various social programs throughout the year for younger adults in the Washington area.¹⁷

Rounding out this small sampling of denominational synagogues that have done well in attracting younger adults as members and participants, we cite Kol Tzedek in Philadelphia, a Reconstructionist congregation, which has the distinction of having been led throughout its brief history by a series of presidents all under age thirty. According to its rabbi, Lauren Grabelle Hermann, 70 percent of its four to five hundred participants are younger than age forty. Most who attend come from nontraditional Jewish backgrounds, and the congregation, which does not meet every week, offers ample time for public discussions designed to explore Jewish spirituality and the meaning of rituals and prayers; it also strives to build community by encouraging members to gather and pray in each other’s homes on those Sabbath days when services are not held in the synagogue.¹⁸

What accounts for the relative success of these congregations in attracting young adults? Congregations situated in neighborhoods with large numbers of young Jewish adults have a major advantage over suburban synagogues far removed from such populations. The five congregations just cited all fall into the former category. But population density alone is not sufficient: for the most part, a synagogue functionary, usually a rabbi, must be prepared to invest personally in building and guiding programs for this age demographic. Many establishment congregations cannot woo this crowd because they lack the staff resources and the commitment to invest congregational funds in programs for individuals who may never join the synagogue. Why, some congregations ask, expend limited budgetary dollars on programs for young adults, especially singles, who are not apt to pay membership dues or, if they do, will ask for steep discounts? From the perspective of the congregation, this is a risky expenditure. Only more far-sighted synagogues seem to grasp how vital it is to keep young adults connected to Jewish life—even if there is no immediate payoff for the congregation in the form of young, new members.

Federations face a different set of challenges in attracting young Jewish adults. Despite their central roles in many ...