by Jonathan Woocher
For millennia, community has been at the heart of Jewish life. It is by seeking to be a model community guided by principles of justice and compassion – not just a collection of moral individuals – that Jews have taken on the mission of helping to repair the world. Over many centuries the forms of Jewish community have changed, but the commitment to create and sustain institutions through which Jews can celebrate and learn together, feed the hungry, tend to the elderly, and undertake the myriad of other activities that define Jewish living has never waned. In North America in the 20th century Jews built a set of vigorous voluntary institutions that has been the envy of other ethnic and religious communities.
Now, in the 21st century, the landscape of Jewish life is shifting. Loyalty to institutions in the form of membership, affiliation, and financial support appears to be declining. At the same time, new ways of forming and sustaining relationships and new modalities of social action are proliferating thanks to technology-driven platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and a host of others. We live much of our lives now “in the cloud,” a fluid space where we have access to people and ideas that transcends geographical and other boundaries. For a growing number of people, especially younger people, purposeful collaboration and forging intimate relationships no longer depend on joining or supporting institutions.
Jewish learning and learning generally have been affected as well by this new reality. We no longer need to go to schools or libraries to see and listen to great teachers, to find slews of information, or to interact with fellow learners. Here too, the cloud beckons, offering freedom and flexibility.
So, the question arises: Does “Jewish community” have a future? Does the combination of the individualism that dominates contemporary culture, the fluidity of identity in the modern world, and the new vehicles for communicating, connecting, and organizing that social media make available render Jewish community as we have known it obsolete?
Perhaps, the challenge to Jewish community today is less about substance than about form. One can argue that the impulses that have driven Jews to seek out others for the multiple purposes – from security to celebration – for which humans come together have not abated. It is how this coming together will take place and with whom that is now very much up for grabs. Yet, even if it is not “community” per se that is threatened, two things are clear: First, the Jewish community cannot expect to operate as it has in the past; and second, we do not yet have a clear image of what a new framework of community looks like.
These realities form the backdrop for the upcoming 3rd Jewish Futures Conference, to be held in New York on June 4. The conference will explore the evolving nature of community and whether and how we can achieve a synthesis of new and time-honored forms of acting and learning together as Jews. How can institutions remain vibrant and vital in an era of cyber-connections? How can we infuse what happens in the cloud with the core values that have animated Jewish collective life over the centuries? Can we forge a “blended” community where the stability of institutions, the immediacy of face-to-face relationships, and the speed and global reach of social media combine to create a powerful source of physical, spiritual, and ethical energy to sustain Jewish life and renew the world?
These are questions without easy answers. But, with an investment of thousands of years and billions of dollars at stake, they are questions we need to be asking.
You can register for the Jewish Futures Conference here. Additional information can be found on the Jewish Futures website.
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Shalom Dr. Woocher,
“Does Jewish community have a future,” begs the question, “what Jewish community in any meaningful sense of the words community and Jewish?” That there are Jews in the world or more specifically in North America, is certainly beyond debate. But “Jewish community?” Please help me understand.
Most existing Jewish institutions and organizations are all but broken, clueless and woefully out of touch with the vast majority of Jews in North America. The folks in this, the largest Jewish demographic in North America, have already voted with their feet that the all too long standing status quo of non Orthodox Judaism and its delivery systems (the synagogue, the movements, the federations etal and etc,), are largely irrelevant and meaningless to them. Incrementalism, i.e., following the lead of Kodak z”l, and expecting that technologically tweaking an old business model will produce measurably better results is a recipe for failure as well as a paraphrase/example of Einstein’s (or Ben Franklin’s in some sources) definition of insanity.
I hope Rabbi Hayim Herring will be at the “3rd Jewish Futures Conference” as his new book “Tomorrow’s Synagogue Today,” tackles most all of this head on and without pulling punches as to the inviability going forward of the status quo for the delivery systems of non Orthodox Judaism (synagogues, federations, movements and other “Jewish” organizations). I do wish that his book would have further elaborated on the equal need for radical change in how we look at and think about the actual product to be delivered, i.e., non Orthodox Judaism. Talking about how success would be defined as well as the need for measuring results would have been welcome topics as well.
But then again, very near the end of his book on page 124, the very last person whose wisdom he quotes as an example of how to move forward, Rabbi Tirza Firestone said, “If you really want numbers, make yourself more relevant.” And I’ll add a paraphrase of Hillel’s statement and challenge: “the rest is commentary;” now let’s go study with the intent of actually acting on our findings, rather than being paralyzed by despair and fear of charting a the new course that’s most certainly necessary.
Biv’racha,
Jordan