MOVEMENTS OF FAITH page 25 Jewish life in My 20s Happenings: A listing of events for singles of all ages Investment Advice for Twentysomethings HOT Vacation Spots for Young Jews All that and more is coming your way every week in "The Scene," the newest and hippest section of The Jewish News. Written by and for Detroit's Jewish young adults and singles, it's fast, fresh and right on the mark. Subscribe today and you (or your lucky gift recipient) will receive a "Make The Scene" t-shirt as our special gift, You'll get 52 issues of The Jewish News and five issues of Style magazine, Oakland County's premier lifestyle magazine. 1 UB RIPTI 01ZIgAtiC eYES! I want to "MAKE THE SCENE" every week by subscribing to The Jewish News for only $46 ($63 out-of-state). Payment Enclosed. ❑ Please Bill Me. ❑ Charge my: ❑ MasterCard ❑ VISA Name Exp. Date Card # Phone State Zip Phone My Name City Address City Signature (required) paper, the Atlanta Jewish Times. Gift Card Message: My Address L ❑ I'd like to send a subscription as a gift to: State Zip Send T-Shirt to sources, but this rabbi will re- main nameless. While he proba- bly wouldn't mind being identified, I know that he can live without a nasty note from his movement. But ask other area rabbis if they echo his thoughts. They do. Yes, there's a sense of loyalty to the organizations that trained them. But they often ignore them. That's because they oper- ate in the real world of American Jewish life. And in it, the chal- lenge is not to make Conserva- tive, Orthodox, Reform or any other type of Jews. Rather, it's to figure out why, on a good Shab- bat, only one-third of the measly 27 percent of Jews in the area who even belong to a congrega- tion show up. The rabbis also know that few of their congregants — or anyone else's — believe, let alone live, within their movement's para- meters. Rather, people belong where they feel comfortable. That has more to do with the rabbi, the service and the congregation than its label. Hence the question: Are the movements relevant? If you read their press releas- es (only eggheads like me do), the Jewish religious movements are dynamic and thriving. Before the blood boils in the handful of local movement activists, I know the laundry list of educational and programmatic material, training professionals, youth groups, Israel programs and so on. And visitors to the 1995 Reform move- ment convention in Atlanta found it hard not to be energized. But such experiences are rare and fleeting. I'm more interested in what Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, who is Orthodox, recently said in New York City. The movements should "speak more charitably of their oppo- nents and more humbly of their own accomplishments," he said. That's because "they should op- erate on the assumption that they're not the only Jews who are going to survive." Bingo. His mantra is not looked upon highly by some in the Orthodox world. Neither is that of his Orthodox colleague, Rabbi Yitz Greenberg, who speaks of a post-denominational Neil Rubin is editor of our sister ❑ Me ❑ This offer is limited. Reply today! New susbscribers only. T-Shirt mailed upon receipt of payment. Recipient scene Please send all payments with this coupon to: The Jewish News • P.O. Box 2267 • Southfield, MI 48037-2267. Allow 2-3 weeks for delivery. Or call (81 0) 354-6060 and charge it to your VISA or MasterCard between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Jewish world. But the statistics back them up. In a recent demographic sur- vey, the Atlanta Jewish Federa- tion found that about one-third of us identify as "just Jewish." That's one of the nation's high- est rates. These people are clearly not captivated by the movements. The only hope in stimulating their Jewish identity is to meet them in less centralized, small- er units, groups more interested in Judaism's history, ethics and moral messages than the politics of religion. Ironically, this non-aligned Ju- daism is finding a home in some congregations. Increasing num- bers have chavurot, or small fel- lowship groups. They often meet without hands-on rabbinic guid- ance. That's why we're hearing more talk about "Jewish tradi- tion" instead of "what Orthodox, or Conservative or Reform Jews do ..." This creates a personal brand of Judaism, which is very good. About one-third of us identify as "just Jewish." That's because there no longer is a sharp consensus on what a movement is, but there is a local sense of what's needed, from city to city, congregation to congre- gation. This will inevitably hamper the centralized role of the syna- gogue movements. Yet, they must encourage the trend if they want to cultivate more Jews in the long term. This should be done through joint activities outside of the syn- agogue. And it should be in places where Jews are, as op- posed to where the congrega- tions want them to be. That means coffeehouses, movie the- aters, bookstores, malls and, most importantly, people's homes. This in turn will bring tensions because of the resulting offshoots of unaligned congregations and programs. But in promoting this, we will create a personal sense of Jewish identity, one that cre- ates a collective movement of widely interpreted faith. We have a name for that: Judaism. ❑ Publicity Deadlines The normal deadline for local news and publicity items is noon Thursday, eight days prior to issue date. The deadline for out-of-town obituaries is 10 a.m. Tuesday, three days pri- or to issue date. All material must be typewritten, double-spaced, on 8 1/2 x 11 paper and include the name and daytime telephone num- ber of sender.