I’m in rabbinical school!
And for the first time, I really feel it. Yesterday and today have been perfect, exactly what I’ve been hoping for.
We started off the day with a lecture by a Prof. Steven Cohen, a sociologist on “Jews, Judaism, and Jewry in the North American Context.” Again, it sounds boring, but it was really a fascinating lecture and then Q&A session on trends in American Judaism what it means to be Jewishly identified.
Some of the issues we discussed include:
How much of a threat is Orthodoxy? Because of fertility rates and intermarriage, the Reform movement is shrinking while the Orthodox is growing. As rabbis, how do we reverse that trend?
The Judaism of our parents and grandparents is very different from the Jews of my generation. Our grandparents, the children of the immigrants, lived in a secular world until 5pm, but when they came home, they had only Jewish friends (mainly because they still weren’t allowed in the Christian world). It used to be unheard of to have non-Jews at a seder; it was a Jewish event, period. Nowadays it’s almost ethically wrong not to have non-Jews, because we should share our culture. Today’s Jews want to blend the Jewish and non-Jewish world; Jewish events are “cooler” and gets more attendees if they’re held at a coffeeshop, and not at the temple.
Another thing that I hadn’t realized is how localized Jews are becoming: our grandparents were members of many Jewish organizations, but today, the average age of a B’nai B’rith member is “deceased.” (I actually had to look it up on Wikipedia, because I didn’t really know what it was myself!) Jews today are affiliated with synagogues, JCCs, and religious schools, and that’s it. That means that we tend to look at ourselves in terms of individual communities and not as a “Jewish people.”
Obviously, as we continue to live in an open society, we intermingle, and intermarriage completely changes Jewish demographics. Statistics are fascinating: I had no idea that 2/3 of Jews who intermarry raise non-Jewish children. Or, in asking an intermarried couple if the kids are being raised exclusively Jewish – if you ask the Jewish partner, 43% say yes. But if you ask the non-Jewish partner, only 21% say yes.
An interesting point was brought up that maybe Jews are hypocritical. When Latinos and African-Americans intermarry, or Protestants and Catholics, we say hurray, a rainbow is great. But not so for us. Prof. Cohen explained that Jews are unique, because we’re the one religious group that requires ethnic boundaries to survive. He affirmed yesterday’s point that intermarriage is now the most critical struggle. It’s so foreign to my religious experience, but I guess that if people aren’t rooted in a religion, and only go to church on Christmas and Easter, or to temple on the High Holy Days, then what is there really to cling to?
After that session ended we had talks on “Generational Differences in Religious Perspectives,” and then “The Uniqueness of American Synagogues,” and lastly a reflection session on personal identity. The latter lecture surprised me – I hadn’t known how much suburban temples were influenced by churches! As people moved out of cities, Christians started building churches on every corner… so the Jews did too. There is a higher ratio of affiliated Jews (Jews with temple membership) to Jews living in an area, in the South than in anywhere else – because being “churched” is the thing to do.
Also, how much is synagogue life influenced by the business model? We have Boards, committees, budgets, etc. Each synagogue is an independent, self-directed entity; the Union of Reform Judaism gives recommendations, not mandates, so education and even services are different at every synagogue. Synagogues are franchises, not chains!
I’ll end with a story that indicates where Judaism is today: Prof. Cohen told of how he recently did a study on what Conservative Jews think of the movement towards ordaining and marrying gays and lesbians. After reading the results of the study, the head rabbi of the Conservative movement turned to him and said that he had three reactions: a moral reaction, a halachic reaction, and a business one. The problem is, they were all different!
We started off the day with a lecture by a Prof. Steven Cohen, a sociologist on “Jews, Judaism, and Jewry in the North American Context.” Again, it sounds boring, but it was really a fascinating lecture and then Q&A session on trends in American Judaism what it means to be Jewishly identified.
Some of the issues we discussed include:
How much of a threat is Orthodoxy? Because of fertility rates and intermarriage, the Reform movement is shrinking while the Orthodox is growing. As rabbis, how do we reverse that trend?
The Judaism of our parents and grandparents is very different from the Jews of my generation. Our grandparents, the children of the immigrants, lived in a secular world until 5pm, but when they came home, they had only Jewish friends (mainly because they still weren’t allowed in the Christian world). It used to be unheard of to have non-Jews at a seder; it was a Jewish event, period. Nowadays it’s almost ethically wrong not to have non-Jews, because we should share our culture. Today’s Jews want to blend the Jewish and non-Jewish world; Jewish events are “cooler” and gets more attendees if they’re held at a coffeeshop, and not at the temple.
Another thing that I hadn’t realized is how localized Jews are becoming: our grandparents were members of many Jewish organizations, but today, the average age of a B’nai B’rith member is “deceased.” (I actually had to look it up on Wikipedia, because I didn’t really know what it was myself!) Jews today are affiliated with synagogues, JCCs, and religious schools, and that’s it. That means that we tend to look at ourselves in terms of individual communities and not as a “Jewish people.”
Obviously, as we continue to live in an open society, we intermingle, and intermarriage completely changes Jewish demographics. Statistics are fascinating: I had no idea that 2/3 of Jews who intermarry raise non-Jewish children. Or, in asking an intermarried couple if the kids are being raised exclusively Jewish – if you ask the Jewish partner, 43% say yes. But if you ask the non-Jewish partner, only 21% say yes.
An interesting point was brought up that maybe Jews are hypocritical. When Latinos and African-Americans intermarry, or Protestants and Catholics, we say hurray, a rainbow is great. But not so for us. Prof. Cohen explained that Jews are unique, because we’re the one religious group that requires ethnic boundaries to survive. He affirmed yesterday’s point that intermarriage is now the most critical struggle. It’s so foreign to my religious experience, but I guess that if people aren’t rooted in a religion, and only go to church on Christmas and Easter, or to temple on the High Holy Days, then what is there really to cling to?
After that session ended we had talks on “Generational Differences in Religious Perspectives,” and then “The Uniqueness of American Synagogues,” and lastly a reflection session on personal identity. The latter lecture surprised me – I hadn’t known how much suburban temples were influenced by churches! As people moved out of cities, Christians started building churches on every corner… so the Jews did too. There is a higher ratio of affiliated Jews (Jews with temple membership) to Jews living in an area, in the South than in anywhere else – because being “churched” is the thing to do.
Also, how much is synagogue life influenced by the business model? We have Boards, committees, budgets, etc. Each synagogue is an independent, self-directed entity; the Union of Reform Judaism gives recommendations, not mandates, so education and even services are different at every synagogue. Synagogues are franchises, not chains!
I’ll end with a story that indicates where Judaism is today: Prof. Cohen told of how he recently did a study on what Conservative Jews think of the movement towards ordaining and marrying gays and lesbians. After reading the results of the study, the head rabbi of the Conservative movement turned to him and said that he had three reactions: a moral reaction, a halachic reaction, and a business one. The problem is, they were all different!
posted by Michal at 11:31 AM
3 Comments:
Well, you raised enough questions and problems so that I won't get any sleep at all tonight. I'll be looking forward to hearing some answers....hopefully.....
Savta
You didn't say how many kids _you_ plan on having!
Savta - no answers yet, but nothing's written in stone. It was good to hear a real-life portrayal of Judaism as it is today, and to learn about the challenges I'll be facing in the rabbinate.
And Sheryl - why 12, of course!!
(LOL actually we've talked about at least 2, max 4)
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