Afterwords, Short Takes, Reflections & Corrections (No. 3)

The former Sons of Israel Synagogue in South Bend Indiana, now a
team store for the South Bend Silver Hawks (source:  NBC News)

I write very briefly to make sure readers are aware of a new, and, frankly, very troubling “reanalysis” of the results of the Pew Research Center’s “Portrait of Jewish Americans.”  You will find the article in Mosaic Magazine at the following link.  The title of the essay conveys its essence: “The Pew Survey Reanalyzed:  More Bad News, but a Glimmer of Hope.”

The authors, Professors Steven M. Cohen and Jack Wertheimer appear to be honest brokers – by which I mean there is no ulterior motive of which I am aware that would cause them to skew their conclusions in any particular direction.  If anything, one would think they would be protective of their respective movements (Professor Cohen is a research professor at Hebrew Union College and Professor Wertheimer is affiliated with the Jewish Theological Seminary.)

I urge my readers to read this article.  In a way the most important point the authors make is the lack of visible, tangible response by the organized Jewish community in the year since the Pew Report was released.  Instead there seems to be a continued cluelessness exhibited by both the Conservative and Reform Movements, both of which should be operating in emergency mode but, at least as far as the Conservative Movement is concerned (or if not the movement, its constituent synagogues), do not seem to be acting as if there is anything urgent out there to fix (talk is cheap).  This complacency is all the more troubling in light of the analysis of the Pew Report data that appears in the Wertheimer/Cohen essay. 

The article shreds many of the sacred cow/myths that underlie common self-perceptions of the American Jewish community.  Again, read the article, but in short, less Jews are interested in marrying and having children, much less to a Jewish spouse.  There is much less interest in Jewish home rituals.  Next-generation intermarriage statistics are downright frightening – 83% of the children of intermarriages will themselves marry non Jews and those families will have next to nothing in terms of Jewish engagement.  Jewish communal giving is way down as measured by the number of donors to traditional Jewish and Israel-oriented charities.  Jews are less likely to have Jewish friends – as a result Jewish engagement suffers.  As the article states, in broad brush:  “No other major Western Jewish community displays such low levels of Jewish literacy, or sends such a small proportion of its people on trips to Israel.”  Basically the already bad numbers for he Baby Boomer generation of American Jews only get worse, much worse, when succeeding generations are analyzed.

There is an attempted refutation, of sorts, by Professor Jonathan Sarna which is also found in Mosaic at the following link.  I respect Professor Sarna but my takaway from his article that because there has been a “boom/bust” cycle in the past in terms of American focus on religion, we should expect a rebound.  I’m not persuaded.

What I am persuaded of is that those of us who left the Conservative Movement in search of greater observance, engagement and Jewish literacy were right to do so.  Historically the majority of Jews in the world have been religiously unengaged – think in terms of the old Jewish concept of a “shaarei Tzedek,” a “righteous remnant.”  It is unrealistic, in the extreme, to believe that the great majority of American (or other) Jews will ever be religiously engaged.  (The Wertheimer/Cohen piece says that 11% of American Jews are members of a Conservative synagogue and 14% of American Jews are members of Reform temples.)  So the fact that only a minority of Jews actually practice any type of authentic Judaism really isn't all that shocking when viewed historically.

Instead, it’s clearly time to focus on in-reach – creating an authentic, engaged, and knowledgeable Conservative Jewish community and to enhance the religious experience of those members who are actually interested in what a Conservative synagogue has to offer.  This may mean scaling back infrastructure – including the community-killing buildings and debt that saddles so many synagogues.  It also means recognizing that luring the unengaged to synagogue with watered down and inauthentic Judaism is, in the long run, a loser.  We have to get used to the idea that Conservative Judaism is most likely not going to be anything like a mass movement and stop pretending.

The hope expressed by the authors, somehow conveying a content-rich and engaged, “muscular” Judaism echoes a number of pieces I have written for this blog.  Take a look at my last Afterwords, Short Takes, Reflections & Corrections (No. 2) and you will see what I mean.

There is much more to be said but time is short and the day job beckons.  Read the article.