EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK
Why Inclusion Matters
1 ewish parents who are part of interfaith or secular fami-
it tells a story that the communal and synagogue world may
lies might welcome a Jewish education for their kids if
not want to hear but must for the good of our sustenance as a
less rigid parameters were in place. But that's a big "if"
people of one heritage with many lenses.
These parents believe that formal learning isn't appropriate
This makes the study,. published in March, a clarion call for
for their non-religious family — or else the mother, father or
American Jewry in general and the Jewish communities of
both feel disconnected. Scaling these hurdles demands think-
Metro Detroit and Ann Arbor in particular.
ing outside the pale — beyond the sightlines of most federa-
The researcher, Dr. Egon Mayer, died last year at age 59. He
tions and synagogues.
was an expert on intermarriage and'other contentious Jewish
What the marketplace of educational options offers typically population trends. He also was head of Jewish studies at the
doesn't excite parents who keep kids from formal Jewish learn-
City University of New York Graduate Center and an adviser
ing. Parents in interfaith and secular homes are more apt to be to the National Jewish Population Survey 2000-01 commis-
uncertain or undecided about a Jewish education for their kids sioned by United Jewish Communities, the New York
than unequivocally against it. So that leaves the window of
umbrella for North America's federations. Dr. Mayer went
opportunity open a crack.
into his 2003 study with a bias toward more inclusion spurred
Logically, Jewish parents with Hebrew
by unwavering love of what he termed "Jewish peoplehood."
school exposure as children and who consid-
ers Judaism a religion are more likely to seek
Reaching The Edges
some formal Jewish training for their child
Why should we care about, or even acknowledge, Jews on the
than a secular Jewish parent raised in an
periphery of the organized Jewish community? Let's focus on
unaffiliated Jewish household where Judaism
those who give to federation, belong to a
took root as a culture.
synagogue,
read a Jewish newspaper and
Kids in single-parent
are active communally.
ROBERT A. homes also are less likely
The danger of rejecting
That is certainly a prevailing attitude. It's
SKLAR
to experience the joy of
also shortsighted, despite the importance
Editor
Jewish learning.
inclusion lies in the wild of Jewish marriage and Torah observance
Reading the founda-
to Jewish survival.
tion-shaking, newly released study of
drifts of the sands of
The danger of rejecting inclusion lies in
"Parental Perspectives of Jewish
the
wild drifts of the sands of Jewish
Education in the United States" inspired
Jewish America. One day, America.
One day, those of us tied to the
me to re-consider the unintentional neg-
organized
core might wake up to see the
lect often felt by families with one Jewish
those of us tied to the
Jewish
community's
fringes drifting farther
parent or with Jewish parents not part of
away.
-
organized core might
a Jewish religious stream. This parental
More and more, I wince at the echoes of
pool views Judaism through a cultural
wake up to see the Jewish Jewish demographers warning that we
instead of a religious lens. A Jewish day
won't have non-Orthodox Jews in America
school isn't in the viewfinder, but a
50 years from now if we cast off Jews in
community's
fringes
Jewish supplemental school like our
nontraditional
families where parents
Jewish Community Center-based Jewish
driftingfarther
away.
would
possibly
raise their kids Jewish if
Parents Institute may be.
only the traditional Jewish universe would
have them.
Strategic Focus
Let's be candid: Dr. Mayer was saying
The study concludes that the work of making a Jewish educa-
that our institutions of formal Jewish education must explain
tion more attractive to such families is four-fold. First, kids
and show how they have changed subject matter and teaching
must receive a Jewish and a general education in the same
venues in hopes of serving the cultural, if not the religious,
school setting. Next, the Jewish component must stress cultur-
needs of intermarried and secular families — two of the faster
al aspects such as values, history, music and art, not religious
growing pockets of Jewish America.
themes. Third, the cost of Jewish learning must be affordable.
The notion of kids getting a Jewish and a general education
Lastly, synagogue membership must not be required.
in the same school is radical if that setting is not a religiously
Significantly, parents who favor a religious track or a secular
based Jewish day school. Dr. Mayer contended that parents in
track of Jewish education aren't likely to boycott a curriculum
interfaith or secular homes would consider a nonsectarian pri-
that brings in a cultural track, too, making this track a barrier
vate school that integrated secular and Jewish content (secular,
buster at both ends, according to the study.
cultural or a blend) into its nonreligious curriculum.
For those of us who fear the long-term effects of over-accul-
"The widespread preference for some form of Jewish educa-
turation, apathy and ignorance on the part of U.S. Jewry,
tion that is integrated into the general schooling of their chil-
already shaken by steep assimilation in our heavily Christian
dren may well be the most significant finding of this study,"
nation, these findings are alarming. To dismiss them, however,
Dr. Mayer concluded.
is to distance the 60 percent of U.S. Jews who aren't members
I draw from his pioneer study the belief that we must rein-
of a synagogue or the 47 percent married to a non-Jew. This
vent Jewish education so its new, more fundamentally diverse
collective is the very group that the Reform and Conservative
form speaks through distinctive layers to interfaith, secular
movements are trying to woo through inclusive bimah rules
and religious homes where Jews reside. The thread of parental
and synagogue programs. The segment of Jewish life that
influence binds these homes despite their vast differences. In
caters largely to involved Jews — including Jewish federations,
each case, it is the parents who ultimately aim the sensitivity
Jewish newspapers and social justice agencies — also vigorous-
meter at what is portrayed as Jewish knowledge worthy of the
ly eyes under-involved or uninvolved Jews.
attention of their kids, who together hold the keys to
The 48-page parental study had an ulterior motive given its
America's Jewish future. I=1
publisher: the Center for Cultural Judaism in New York. Still,
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