Just Jewish

How to Engage Millennials and Build a Vibrant Jewish Future

Horwitz Rabbi Dan

• Publisher: Ben Yehuda Press
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN: 9781953829498
• eBook ISBN: 9781963475012
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Jewish Theology

For a religion that is hyper-focused on transmitting the Jewish tradition "from generation to generation, " " l'dor v'dor " — the notion that Millennials just aren't interested in carrying on Jewish practices or embracing the Jewish commitments of those who came before them poses quite a challenge, both on interpersonal and organizational sustainability levels. As a result, it seems much of the Jewish organizational world is concerned with how to engage Millennials in their offerings. But, if the data collected from reliable sources such as The Pew Research Center are any indication, there is much more work to do.

Just Jewish: How to Engage Millenials and Build a Vibrant Jewish Future shares proven techniques and models ready to be adopted by the Jewish world's myriad organizations, touching on everything from branding, to fundraising, to programmatic approaches, to relationship development, and more, extrapolating lessons from The Well so they can be applied to the Jewish community writ large. As more seasoned generations start to take steps back from Jewish communal leadership, the time to meaningfully engage Millennials to ensure future leadership pipelines (both professional and volunteer) and Jewish vibrancy is now, and this book exists to help make it happen! "Terrific and inspiring! I highly recommend you make this important book a must-read together with your professional and lay leadership team."
— Dr. Ron Wolfson, Fingerhut Professor of Education, Author, Relational Judaism "A must-read for Jewish professionals and for anyone who cares about the future of the American Jewish community."
— Sarah Hurwitz, Author, Here All Along "A worthy addition to the new Jewish bookshelf that is catalyzing new thinking and practices for the Jewish future we're just beginning to build."
—Rabbi Rick Jacobs, President, Union for Reform Judaism

Table of contents

• Foreword by Rabbi Paul Yedwab
• Introduction: Liberal Judaism’s Tefillin Cart
• 1: A Quick Primer on Millennials
• 2: Your Teeth Are Stained
• 3: The 5 Best Friends Anyone Could Have
• 4: “Just Jewish”
• 5: How Field of Dreams Got It Wrong
• 6: The High Cost of “Free”
• 7: How to Raise $100k from Millennials in Three Days
• 8: The Remixed Beit Midrash
• 9: Getting Rid of (the word) God
• Conclusion
• Afterword by Zack Bodner
• Acknowledgments
• Books Referenced
• Organizations Referenced
• About The Author