We’ve noticed an interesting media trend regarding the Jewish community as of late. There has been a lot of talk about what the future of the Jewish community will look like. While this isn’t exactly a new topic, it seems to have piqued the interest of journalists and Jewish communal professionals. There was an article about preserving the rituals of Jewish life in small towns in The New York Times, which spurred conversations about the future of the Jewish community in general. Yoram Samets, the founder of JVillage Network, responded to the Times article by arguing that in order to grow, we must be much more intentional” about our future. “The thriving Jewish communities are those that embrace, celebrate, honor and include our differences,” he writes, suggesting that we need to “remove the (denominational) labels” and simply be Jews.

Adding even more ideas to the debate were Aharon Horwitz, co-founder and director of the PresenTense Group, who wrote a blog exploring what we can do to engage young Jewish adults who will become our future leaders. And last month, the first-ever Jewish Futures Conference in New Orleans brought together communal leaders, educators, and educational entrepreneurs and forecasters to talk about the potential of creative and thoughtful Jewish education.

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