Like the Conservative movement, the RRC has not succeeded in retaining the loyalty and participation of its membership. The average member of a reconstructionist synagogue does not attend Shabbat worship regularly, intermarries at roughly the same rate as the reform and unaffiliated, and most significantly, does not educate their children in a Jewish school.
I’m not orthodox, but when it comes to recognizing a successful model for retaining the loyalty and commitment of its own constituents, let’s be honest…the orthodox have won this debate hands down, while the RRC continues to grope for new ways to fail.
howardsays
Rob,
Its not statistically true that the Orthodox have cornered the market for retaining the loyalty and commitment of its own constituents. According to a recent study the Orthodox population has actually DECLINED in the past decade. I know from observation that in the city where I grew up the Orthodox population looks bigger now than when I was kid (35 years ago)but according to population studies it is actually considerably smaller. More affluent, yes. More bold and integrated into the wider community, yes. Numerically greater, no. The reality is that most religions are losing participants. The dominant “ism” of the 21st century is scientism.
What Reconstructionism has lost is much of what made it different from Reform, Conservative or Renewal Judaism.
Like the Conservative movement, the RRC has not succeeded in retaining the loyalty and participation of its membership. The average member of a reconstructionist synagogue does not attend Shabbat worship regularly, intermarries at roughly the same rate as the reform and unaffiliated, and most significantly, does not educate their children in a Jewish school.
I’m not orthodox, but when it comes to recognizing a successful model for retaining the loyalty and commitment of its own constituents, let’s be honest…the orthodox have won this debate hands down, while the RRC continues to grope for new ways to fail.
Rob,
Its not statistically true that the Orthodox have cornered the market for retaining the loyalty and commitment of its own constituents. According to a recent study the Orthodox population has actually DECLINED in the past decade. I know from observation that in the city where I grew up the Orthodox population looks bigger now than when I was kid (35 years ago)but according to population studies it is actually considerably smaller. More affluent, yes. More bold and integrated into the wider community, yes. Numerically greater, no. The reality is that most religions are losing participants. The dominant “ism” of the 21st century is scientism.
What Reconstructionism has lost is much of what made it different from Reform, Conservative or Renewal Judaism.
Howard