January 2010
One of my favorite stories involves Hillel, Moses and God, and, in a way, the entire Jewish people: God spoke to Moses in heaven and invited him to listen to the words of Hillel, considered one of the greatest figures in Jewish history. Born in Babylon c.110 BCE, Hillel was at that moment conducting a class for rabbinic scholars in Jerusalem. Moses, unseen, listened in confusion for some time. He then turned back to God and said, “I don’t understand a word that man is saying,” while, below, Hillel’s students could hear him say, “These are the words of Moses.”
This story has always seemed to me at once profound and instructive and hopeful. I have always been curious about the Judaism which future generations will call authentic, but I have never worried too much about what form that “authenticity” might take. I might not recognize the Judaism of future generations, just has they might not recognize mine, but, from my perspective, at least, I never worried if I couldn’t understand what I was hearing. As long as Jews are communicating together, I feel heartened that the experience will be authentic.
Recently, Rabbi Stone shared with the senior staff a provocative article, Legwork, Framework, Artwork, written about what authors Ari Y. Kelman and Eliana Schonberg called “nexgen,” the generation of Jews growing to maturity today. It found that these young adults, ranging in age from about 21 through 40, shared a number of characteristics: “strong, positive Jewish identities; powerful connections to family; high percentages of interfaith marriages; diverse social networks; a sense of alienation from and dissatisfaction with Jewish organizations; the commitment to creating their own Jewish experiences; and broad social awareness.” Personally, I am not surprised, my own three children falling into this “nexgen” category. They have matured in egalitarian settings, with broader and more inclusive values and relationships, they marry later, with little or none of the ethnic or religion considerations of previous generations, and they have children later.
According to the article, which I strongly encourage everyone to read, these younger Jews “seem reticent to take their place at the communal table.” That would include a range of Jewish communal structures, from federation to congregation, places whose mission, among others, is to nurture community and congregation. It is, as I have observed over and over, a truism that, in the main, Jews don’t sit at that “communal table” until they have children. That doesn’t mean they don’t crave something rich and meaningful in their lives. Unfortunately, most of our communal tables offer them either scraps or nothing to savor at all. Synagogues are generally unable to address their needs and interests. As welcoming as they may think themselves, congregational communal structures seemingly offer little of interest to those nexgen Jewish adults. That includes younger, older, married, unmarried, intermarried or not. That fact alone is contributing to the popularity of places like Sixth & and I, but, unfortunately, there are not yet very many places that follow their model nationwide.
This brings me to Temple Emanuel, in particular. Over the course of the year I have been working here and getting to know its community, I have begun to feel that this is a very special place, indeed. True, like synagogues everywhere, we don’t keep a watchful eye on the needs and interests of nexgens. Maybe, however, that will never be our mandate, and maybe it never should be. Maybe we should thank our stars that we have a Sixth & I, that there exists a Foundation for Jewish Studies, that we can confront and clarify our feelings about Israel through AIPAC or J Street, and that there are myriad other venues for people to express themselves Jewishly in an environment that is comfortable for them and suited to their ages and stages of live.
What we do exceedingly well at Temple Emanuel is welcome people with open arms into our community whenever they are ready and we make every effort to understand them and meet them where they are and make them happy to have made a commitment to us. Since late spring, Temple Emanuel has welcomed 48 new households into our congregation. Adults in these households were born between 1947 and 1984. Seven of the households have no children, the rest have a total of 57 children ranging in age from 1 to 14. Many of these households have children in the preschool, and there is also a strong contingent of households whose children are starting in our Religious School.
What is consistently amazing to me is that so many of our households say that they joined Temple Emanuel because of some ineffable quality they had heard about: it’s a wonderful place, it’s warm, it’s welcoming, there is a great school here, a great community. I hear a subtext: this is a place where my own Judaism has the ability to express itself because Temple Emanuel is flexible, participatory, a place where I can find my own community within the greater community, a community that will be manageable, where I can navigate, where my values and opinions are welcome, where there will be a symbiosis of giving and getting, where I will feel wanted and needed, my children will be treasured, and where I will find a safe haven if I need it. In a word, it is exactly what a nexgener might be looking for.
At the end of the article that Rabbi Stone shared were several recommendations for organizations wishing to engage nexgens. I think they are relevant for any Jewish organization which wants to remain “authentic” and intelligible, regardless of which generation is listening: Build one-by-one relationships and in the process communicate the meaning and substance of our congregation. Create a powerful network of trusting relationships from the ground up. Work toward teamwork and the achievement of a variety of goals and communal agendas. Cultivate “new frames of understanding and engagement,” allowing congregants and other participants to name and develop them themselves. Welcome and encourage a patchwork of awareness and sensibilities, always aware of the diversity within its community. And, finally, put in the time and personal investment to be successful, without preconceptions or ego or notions of what constitutes success and “authenticity.”
As the authors of the article stated, and as Temple Emanuel takes very much to heart: “The Jewish world at the beginning of the 21st century is a diverse and complex place, (and) the stakes for Jewish communal life are high.” I am convinced that Temple Emanuel is doing the work necessary to ensure a healthy and vibrant future, and therein lays its success. It isn’t afraid of the future and isn’t worried about its language or its composition or whether or not it will be authentic; instead Temple Emanuel embraces the future and holds it dear.
Susan Neiman
Executive Director
If you would like a copy of my article and/or the article which stimulated it, “Legwork, Framework, Artwork” by Ari Y. Kelman and Eliana Schonberg for Rose Community Foundation, please click HERE or contact me directly, and I will be happy to provide you a copy. I would love to hear your thoughts, as well. Please drop me a note via email at execdirector@templeemanuelmd.org, and I will try to organize our conversations together into a kind of blog format.
If someone would like to help me develop a Temple blog, so we can “talk” together about this and share our thoughts with one another about other important Jewish community issues, as well, please be in touch!
