6 MONTH CD
Losing Touch
Study says teen Jewish in volvement
after b'nai mitzvah falls sharply.
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he challenges in engaging teens
in Jewish life are significant,
with reported involvement — at
least for non-Orthodox teens —
dropping steadily throughout the
high school years.
A recent study of 1,300 Jewish
teens and their parents in
Massachusetts — one of the only
studies looking at a cross-section of
teens, not just those who are active
in Jewish life — confirmed that
Jewish involvement steadily drops
after the bar or bat mitzvah.
According to the study, 86 per-
cent of Jewish seventh-graders par-
ticipate in Jewish activities corn-
pared with 56 percent of 12th-
graders.
The study, conducted by
Brandeis University, defines Jewish
participation broadly — from par-
ticipating in a youth group to
attending a Jewish summer camp to
using a Jewish community center at
least once a year.
Although focused on one state,
the study, say researchers, likely
reflects the experience of most non-
Orthodox Jewish teens in America.
Some of the key findings of the
Brandeis University study, which
has not yet been published, include:
• The drop in Jewish involvement is
simultaneous with increasing
amounts of time spent on home-
work and part-time jobs;
• Girls are more likely than boys to
group's national director.
Young Judaea has 12,000 year-round
members, but 5,000 are college students
and young adults, rather than teens. In
the late 1960s and early 1970s, it had
more than 18,000 members.
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Some youth workers at a recent confer-
ence questioned the hook approach and
its value in offering activities that teens
can also do in a non-Jewish venue.
Robin Shrater, the teen coordinator
at the Jewish Community Center of
Greater Washington, said, "The activi-
ties the kids plan are fun and flashy,
but I wonder where the Jewish part is."
express interest in going on Israel
experience programs, and they par-
ticipate at higher rates in formal
Jewish education;
• Most report they did not enjoy
Hebrew school as much as regular
school. (The majority of partici-
pants in the study, like most
Reform and Conservative Jews,
attended congregational schools
rather than day schools.)
Approximately 25 percent said they
never enjoyed being in Jewish
school, and approximately 30 per-
cent said they seldom enjoyed it,
although the majority said they
sometimes, often or always enjoyed
regular school;
• Parental opinion strongly affects
teens' attitudes on intermarriage: 73
percent of teens whose parents say
marrying Jewish is not important
also believe this is not important,
while 78 percent of teens whose
parents say marrying Jewish is very
important believe it is somewhat or
very important to marry someone
Jewish;
The Holocaust, antisemitism and
"being ethical" are the most impor-
tant aspects of being Jewish, say
teens, while volunteering for Jewish.
organizations, observing Jewish law
and contributing to Jewish organi-
zations rank the lowest in impor-
tance. Israel ranked somewhere in
the middle.
❑
— Julie Wiener/JTA
Rabbi Eve Rudin Weiner, the direc-
tor of NFTY, disagreed.
"Once we get them in the door, we
know what to do with them," she
said. "But getting them in the door is
difficult. It's better to go bowling with
Jewish kids than do nothing Jewish."
But 15-year-old Ariel PostoRe of
Berkeley, Calif., who goes to a Hebrew
high school once a week and applauds
the idea of Jewish wilderness retreats
and social activities to draw in new
kids, warns that special programs
should have "more Jewish content
than, let's say, an SAT prep class. I don't
think that kids will be drawn to that
more than a regular one just because
they are there with other Jews."
❑