Big Tent Judaism

Reflecting on Judaism2030 and Preparing for the Future!

Reflecting on her experience at JOI’s conference about the Jewish future, JOI board member and ModernJewishMom Meredith Jacobs shares her thoughts in the Baltimore Jewish Times. (The following is reprinted with permission from Meredith Jacobs.)

“Last month, I had the privilege of attending Judaism2030, a conference created by the Jewish Outreach Institute. The purpose: to convene some 200 people working in various areas of Jewish life to talk about what we all need to start doing now to position our organizations for the future.

We learned from futurist Marvin Cetron that people in 2030 will live well into their 120s, that we will replace organs with those artificially grown from stem cells, that computers will be “smarter” than humans and that virtual belonging will be more important than face-to-face connection.

From there we worried about the future of the bricks-and-mortar synagogues and community centers. We worried about the research indicating fewer people identified Jewishly or felt “religion” was central to their Jewish identity. We noted that “only in America” was the focus on the individual rather than those of the community. We worried.
But the stories from those in the field, those doing the most dynamic work today, counteracted those statistics.

Roger Bennett from ReBoot, the team that created 10Q, Sabbath Manifesto, Sukkah City and Black, explained that his programs are successful not because they are “cool” (which we all assumed), but because at their core is value and meaning.
His research guided him to create programs that challenge us intellectually. Content must be core; we must not dumb it down. He believes “our holidays can stand up to Cinco de Mayo and St. Patrick’s Day,” but we need to re-brand them.
The programs that work, he said, are authentic, but slightly re-visioned. Think marketing, think branding. Baltimore Hebrew Congregation’s “Rosh Hashanah Under the Stars” is a slight twist, an update on the tradition. “The Ten” at Sixth & I Historic Synagogue brings 600 young people for Shavuot. But the text study and learning and content brings them back year after year. In other words, the fresh, new package may get someone to buy your product once, but quality will encourage new sales.

Logically, each generation wants to make its own mark, to take ownership. They want sisterhood, but not “Bubbie’s Sisterhood”; shul, but not “Zayde’s shul.”

Jewish life in 2030 will be different from today, as Jewish life today differs from 1980. That’s not necessarily bad. It’s just different; it just speaks to people as they are today.
Programs such as AVODAH, the Jewish service corps or TCI (which writes curriculum about Judaism for secular schools) or Torah yoga groups or Jewish environmental groups all work to connect us to Judaism through a variety of portals. They resonate today, but still speak to Judaism’s universality.

At the heart remains connection. As uplifted as I was by the panel of Jewish teens, what most spoke to me and what I felt was the most important message was this: “It’s worse being a worshipper without friends than to not come at all.” Bottom line — if a Jew does not feel connected with the Jewish community, he or she will not remain a Jew.
With all the discussion of virtual vs. bricks and mortar; young vs. old; religion vs. culture, most critical is community. Judaism has everything to offer in the way of value, ethics, meaning and spirituality, but if someone, anyone, does not feel a sense of belonging, he or she will search elsewhere.”

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