Keeping The Faith

JUST JEWISH from page 7

Susan Victor:

"My- mother
instilled
in me that I
go to college,
while my
grandmother
instilled
Judaism
in me.

A

s part of her search for a
synagogue, Susan Victor
went to Torah on Tap, a pro-
gram created by Conservative
Rabbi Joseph Krakoff of
Congregation Shaarey Zedek
and Reform Rabbi Joshua
Bennett of Temple Israel.
They, like other rabbis around
the country, are looking for
innovative ways to bring
young adults into Torah
study.
Professor Larry Sternberg, a

1/19
2001

10

Rooted In History

Rabbi Kolton:

When the First Temple was destroyed
in 586 B.C.E., the Jewish people were
exiled for 70 years in Babylon. Though
there was no Temple in the diaspora,
they did gather around community and
certain rabbis or leaders, says Orthodox
Rabbi Avraham Jacobovitz of Machon
L'Torah, the Oak Park-based Jewish
Learning Network of Michigan.
During the periood before the Temple
was rebuilt, some Jews married non-
Jews, but eventually were convinced to
divorce their non-Jewish wives, says
Orthodox Rabbi Elimelech Silberberg of
the Sara Tugman Bais Chabad Torah Center in
West Bloomfield.
"Ever since the beginning of the diaspora,"
says Rabbi Tamara Kolton of the Birmingham
Temple, a Secular Humanist synagogue
in Farmington Hills, "there has
been a tension between the
majority culture and Judaism.
And the question of Jewish
identity within other cultures
has been with us since the
beginning of the diaspora."
This Jewish dilemma of
being a minority culture within a
majority goes to the heart of many
contemporary Jewish issues.
"We live in the most open society
that Jews ever lived in," says Larry
Sternberg, professor and associate director
of the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish
Studies at Brandeis University in Waltham,
Mass. "And we're a very individualistic socie-
ty. This combination makes boundaries
that used to isolate Jews very permeable."
Labor arbitrator Kahn, 79, doesn't
need to live among Jews to feel his own
Jewishness. He lives with his wife Elaine at
Henry Ford Village, a Dearborn retirement
community where only a handful of Jews reside
among 1,250 residents.
Though he isn't affiliated with a syna-

"Since

member of the graduate facul-
ty in Jewish communal service
at Brandeis University says
research shows that Jews may
not have equipped today's
young adults with empower-
ing Jewish experiences; many
of that generation say they are
uncomfortable in synagogues.
"One response to this," says
Sternberg, "has been to make
our institutions more user-
friendly. Rabbis want to meet
the needs of a more diverse

population.
Rabbis Krakoff and Bennett
are doing just that.
"We went by our first
names and dressed in sweaters
and slacks to create a comfort
level," says Rabbi Krakoff.
"Our intention," adds
Rabbi Bennett, was to have
an understanding of Jewish
text for people to apply to
modern life.'
About 25 people came to
each of their three spring

the
beginning of the
diaspora, there
has been a tension
between the
majority culture
and Judaism."

gogue, his ties to the Jewish community have
been strong. He has been a member of the exec-
utive boards of the Jewish Vocational Service
(1963-72), the Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit (1976-82) and the Jewish
Home for Aged (1978-93).
"I've always been a joiner," says Kahn, whose
four children range from secular to Orthodox.
"I didn't avoid things because they were Jewish,
but joined them because they were engaged in
community activities I supported."
Fishman's political activism is an expression of
his Jewish heritage, but is not limited to the
Jewish community. His early political efforts
were "part of every landmark campaign to
extend African American political representation
in Detroit." In the early '80s, he became
involved with Israel and the condition of the
Palestinians through New Jewish Agenda, which
he helped to establish locally.
Ethical and political activism is stronger
among the generation of Kahn and Fishman; 50
percent of Jews older than 65 rank such involve-
ment as integral to their Jewish identity. Now,
only one-sixth of those ages 25 to 34 agree,
according to a 1998 study on American Jewry.

Much Ado About Una filiation

The Council of Jewish Federations' 1990
National Jewish Population Survey triggered a

meetings at a local restaurant
to discuss a -variety of topics.
Many young professional
Jews, Rabbi Krakoff explains,
are very bright and successful
at work, but when they enter
a synagogue and can't under-
stand Hebrew or don't know
the prayers, the situation is
not very inviting.
He and Rabbi Bennett put
up fliers as well as had notices
published in the Jewish Nezvs,
that announced a topic and

Rabbis Bennett and Krakoff

where they would meet.
"A number of people came
out looking for a place to .
connect to the Jewish corn-

