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  1. Jordan says

    Shalom All,

    The author(s) of the post wrote: “A new national project will explore the learning and growth outcomes of teen experiences offered by the largest organizations that engage Jewish teens in North America. The study, led by The Jewish Education Project and Rosov Consulting, will seek to gather data from as many as 50,000 7th-12th graders across North America.”

    50K Jewish teens? Will this sample include Jewish teens from Orthodox homes/backgrounds? If yes how will you adjust for the educational/homelife differences between them and their North American non Orthodox (NANO) brethren and sistren? If no, then how would the study be representative?

    The author(s) of the post continued later: “The study also utilizes the Teen Jewish Learning and Engagement Scales (TJLES), which focus on understanding the whole Jewish teen and ask the key question, ‘How can being Jewish make Jewish teenagers more likely to flourish in today’s world?'”

    The words “being Jewish” in your question above are too vague. What does “being Jewish” mean from a NANO perspective? “Doing Jewish” would be far better, for Judaism is about specific doing and not doing. “Being Jewish” (in the NANO sense of the term) is meaningless (except to our enemies) without the dimension of “doing.” Of course you’d have to define “doing Jewish” beyond a tikkun ‘olam project, and an occasional Shabbat/holiday celebration. “Doing Jewish” would suggest specific actions rather than some nebulous at best notion of “being Jewish.”

    With the caveat that a definition of “doing Jewish” (as described just above) is needed, the question “how can doing Jewish make Jewish teenagers more likely to flourish in today’s world?” would be a far more meaningful question to ask.

    Actually it’s a great question to ask of all NANO Jews across all ages and demographics. Indeed, “How can doing Jewish make NANO Jews more likely to flourish in today’s world?” My unscientific guess would be that most NANO Jews would not have an answer. Quite simply, 21 rst century NANO Judaism has failed dismally to make the case that it has the power to enable NANO Jews (and anyone else as well) to “flourish in today’s world.”

    Biv’racha,
    Jordan