8 | DECEMBER 23 • 2021
ages. The site also provides a daily guide to
Zoom events, livestreams and other online
resources.
Truvie enhances and complements
Jewish education for children across the
globe by enabling one to create an online
Jewish learning experience.
Jewish Music Stream is one of a num-
ber of platforms offering a broad choice of
Jewish musical selections, artists and per-
formances.
Foundation for Jewish Camping serves
as a repository and resource for the Jewish
camping field by providing interested par-
ents and kids with an array of information
about camping, the options and types of
Jewish camps.
Hazon’s website affords individuals
access to Jewish resources, texts and ways
to become involved in addressing environ-
mental issues.
Beyond these particular platforms, con-
sumers have the opportunity to virtually
tour Jewish museums, attend Jewish film
festivals and participate in cooking classes,
among hundreds of other learning oppor-
tunities.
UNDERSTANDING THE
RISE OF INDIVIDUALISM
COVID-19 accelerated a long-existing
trend toward individualized engagement.
Every demographic study on American
Jews over the past 30 years confirms the
growing diversity of our community, con-
tributing to changes associated with person-
alized consumer selections.
Already in 1987, Stephen Hart, in his
article on “Privatization in American
Religion and Society” advanced this con-
cept on privatization in connection with
American religion. Hart writes, “That is,
within a privatized religious context, people
can still have a vital inner spiritual life, can
still attend church faithfully, and can even
contribute money generously and partici-
pate in the organizational life of the church.
Societal levels of religious belief and prac-
tice can be high.
So, what we are talking about is not that
privatization undermines religion, but that
it empties religion of meanings which con-
nect us to each other or to our collective
life in non-instrumental ways and deprives
American society of the resources such
meanings provide.
”
A 2017 study on spirituality vs. religious
affiliation conducted by the Pew Research
Center offers some interesting insights. It
affirms that more informal, personalized
forms of spiritual practice increasingly
reflect the choices people are making.
The rise of “radical individualism” within
American culture and practice contributes
to these diverse and personalized expres-
sions of Judaism, especially during this
pandemic. The study highlights, “Most
new offerings are built on the strong foun-
dation of great innovations like artificial
intelligence and smartphones. So, this time
around, an innovative force with several
times the impact of the printing press is
rapidly ushering in an all-new age of the
individual.
”
Similarly, Thomas Talhelm, associate
professor of behavioral science, University
of Chicago, observed: “The enormous geo-
graphic footprint of the U.S. lends itself to
the ideals of an individualistic society.
”
Charles Lippy also posits in his book,
Being Religious, American Style, that the move-
ment to individualized religious and cultur-
al practices is American in character and
has been developing for some time, espe-
cially among women. The idea of “private
devotion and home-based ritual” represents
another derivative of this growing phenom-
enon of personalized religion.
Judaism has not been immune to these
trends. As Steven Windmueller notes, “The
new American Jew will cast a fundamen-
tally different image: highly individualized,
with distinctive loyalties and discrete sets of
interests. Individuality will be the defining
characteristic of this new species.
”
Elsewhere, Windmueller has argued, “We
are no longer one community but rather
can be described as multiple pods or com-
munities. Where once there was a shared
consensus about the Jewish story, today
each individual is constructing their own
Jewish storyline. The collective mythology
has given way to a variety of communal
narratives.
”
Choice and diversity are dominant
themes in 21st-century American Jewry.
Choice is reflected in the broader cultural
behaviors of this generation of Americans.
How one defines or describes one’s
Jewishness reflects the imprint of these var-
ious social forces and the existing consumer
mindset.
Although holding as a steady, albeit
struggling, collective, we have also seen a
growing diversity of our community. This
diversity of Jewish identity has played out
via engagement with particular slices of
identity and interest. People are drawn
to film, arts, youth groups, education,
the Holocaust and antisemitism, Israel-
Palestinian issues, the Hillel movement,
culinary, environment, history, music,
PURELY COMMENTARY
COVID had made
online learning and
gathering more
comfortable for
many Jews.
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