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JN Thoughts

A MONTHLY MIX OF IDEAS

doing Jewish Their Way

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28

May 31 . 2007

or many younger American
Jews, American Jewry looks
like this:
•"Synagogues are for people with chil-
dren. And they're generally uninspiring."
•"JCCs are for people with children.
And they don't have great gyms, either."
•"Federations only want my money.
Then they want me to be quiet."
•"This Jewish organization wants to
tell me how I ought to be Jewish."
•"That Jewish organization wants
to tell me I should be having children
sooner rather than later (and with
whom I should be having them)."
•"I can't even talk about Israel."
Whether or not this impression of
American Jewry is accurate is, of course,
a matter of opinion. What is not up for
debate is that young American Jews who
remain single later in life are respond-
ing to these perceptions with a wave of
cultural and organizational creativity
that American Jewry has not experi-
enced since the early part of the 20th
century. They are inventing new com-
munal outlets and projects that reflect
their individuality and commitment to
living meaningful Jewish lives.
In Los Angeles, hundreds of young
Jews belong to IKAR, a "community"
that blends spirituality with social jus-
tice. Out of New York, Reboot publishes
the quarterly literary magazine Guilt
& Pleasure, building communities of
readers who use articles as the basis for
salons. Across North America, the music
label JDub Records has built corn-
munities of fans who are drawn to the
"Jewish sensibilities" of its artists.

On The Move
These are just three notable examples of
a movement that has been quietly gain-
ing momentum for more than a decade.
Many traditionalists and Jews from
older generations view this phenom-
enon as a disintegration of American
Jewish life because they believe these
new efforts are not serious enough to
foster meaningful Jewish life.
"The music is fine they say, "but is
it enough to shoulder the burden of
identity?"
Rather than concluding that these
new endeavors are weak or competing
versions of existing institutions, we
will do better to understand them as
expressing an alternative vision of what
Jewish communities can look like and
how they can serve the needs of their

members.
organizations and experiences.
One-hundred years ago,
Today, there is much com-
young immigrants and allright-
munal anxiety over the behav-
niks built the American Jewish
iors, attitudes and activities of
infrastructure that we have
American Jews between 18 and
today — from both AJCs to the
35. Members of that age cohort
landsmanshaften to nightclubs
are not following their elders
and shuls with pools. Now we
into the halls of existing insti-
Ari Y. Kelman
are seeing smaller, more local-
tutions, which could threaten
ized but no less provocative
these institutions.
efforts to rejuvenate, engage, practice
But what we are seeing is not the loss
and live Jewish lives organized on their
of Jewish practice in North America.
own terms by people younger than 40.
We are seeing young people who want
In cities across the country, they are
to build something new that follows a
creating their own minyanim instead
different vision of what an institution
of joining synagogues; they are writ-
can be and that will cater in a different
ing and publishing their own journals
way to the needs of American Jews for
instead of just subscribing to existing
meaningful Jewish engagement.
ones; they are playing their own music,
In so doing they are not simply mim-
putting out records and producing their
icking extant communal structures.
own concerts. They are hosting salons
They are building on the margins where
and movie screenings. They are involved people may think it strange to support
in the creation of Jewish life that is
ritual theater or a salon or a record
thoughtful, popular and exists largely
label, but where the future of Jewish life
on the margins of mainstream Jewish
is being built. II
organizational life.
These new endeavors do not look
Ari Y. Kelman is assistant professor of
like their predecessors because they are
American studies at the University of
responding to the perception that the
California at Davis. He is an authority on
offerings of synagogues, federations and American Jewish culture. "The Continuity
JCCs are simply too narrow and do not
of Discontinuity," authored by Kelman
adequately address the diverse needs of and Steven M. Cohen, was commissioned
American Jews.
by the Andrea and Charles Bronfman
This translates also into practice,
Philanthropies.
as the organizations typically resist
anything hierarchical, denomina-
Answering
tional, exclusionary or judgmental.
This resistance is partially a critique
Israel's Critics
of mainstream Jewish organizations
and partially an expression of deeply
The Charge
held beliefs in pluralism, as well as an
To criticize Israel's actions in the
understanding of the fluidity of identity
2006 Lebanon war last summer, both
in general.
Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad
Siniora and Hezbollah leader Hassan
Changing The Mold
Nasrallah cited Israel's Winograd
These are some of the lessons that
inquiry.
Steven M. Cohen and I address in "The
Continuity of Discontinuity',' our newly
The Answer
published study on this phenomenon. In
Israeli democracy created the
the study, we explore the ways in which
Winograd commission to inves-
these new organizations represent a
tigate mistakes made during the
Lebanon war. Neither Lebanon's
response to institutional Jewish life by
Siniora-led fledgling democracy
offering a variety of responses to it.
The organizations we highlight
nor the autocratic Hezbollah took
— and there are many more across the
one step toward investigating their
country — are the result of creative,
own actions, which resulted in a war
bringing death, destruction and trag-
thoughtful, dissatisfied people who had
no desire to join committees, take over
edy to the Lebanese people.
— Allan Gale
sisterhoods or participate in the young
Jewish Community Relations Council of
leadership branch of local or national
Metropolitan Detroit
communal organizations. But they
understood that the landscape of Jewish
© May 31, 2007, Jewish Renaissance Media
life could sustain a greater diversity of