By Ted Cohen and Scott Kaufman
On May 20th, 1948, over twenty thousand Jews spontaneously gathered on the field at Central High School in Detroit to celebrate the establishment of the State of Israel. The event was organized without formal invitations or advertising. There were no emails sent, no tweets or Facebook posts, no Whatsapp message chains.
How did nearly a quarter of the city’s entire Jewish population learn about this historic community event without these essential information channels? The answer is simple: We had great wiring.
Communities are maintained by the strength of their human connections – their wiring – whether it is physical, psychosocial or technological. That may manifest as a close knit suburban neighborhood, an active online user group or simply two pen pals connecting through the mail. Strong wiring allows communities to flourish and grow. As the wiring atrophies or breaks over time, the communities themselves fall apart.
It is unlikely that any event, even one as galvanizing as the formation of Israel, would lead to a spontaneous gathering like the one we had in 1948 – not without considerable organization and promotion. We’re simply not wired for it anymore.
This breakdown in wiring is one of the central causes of the changes and deterioration of Jewish communal life in our time.
Jewish Detroit: Old Wiring in a New Age
In 1948, the majority of the Jewish population lived close to Twelfth Street and Dexter Avenue, an area representing just a few square miles. Jewish homes, businesses, congregations and organizations were clustered together within walking distance. Beyond this, Jews were largely excluded from non-Jewish communal organizations and activities. You went to the JCC not only because it was close, but also because there were no other options; you participated in Jewish social, professional and charitable organizations because that’s where you were welcome. With this powerful physical and cultural connection, information flowed quickly and effortlessly through the entire community.
Three quarters of a century later, Jewish Detroit is spread out across hundreds of square miles, from the city center – where many young people are now living – to the far reaches of suburbia. There is no physical center to the community, only a diverse and shifting collection of neighborhoods that have attracted Jewish individuals and families, often based on criteria such as affluence, cultural interests and religious observance. Jews are also widely integrated into the mainstream culture, and have a place in whatever social, professional or cultural niche that interests them. Why exercise at the JCC when there are dozens of specialized health and fitness alternatives? And why support Jewish charities when there are hundreds of others who will welcome your leadership and funding?
Perhaps the most damaging blow to the traditional connections that once held Jewish community in place is the rise of the consumer-driven ‘Attention Economy.’ The computer, the internet and – most recently – the adoption of mobile technology have dramatically altered the focus of our attention. The people we listen to, the stories we follow and the goods and services we purchase are increasingly limited to those that have been curated and served up on the apps and content aggregators we access through our smart phones and tablets. The businesses and organizations that control those channels have an enormous advantage over those that are off the ‘grid.’ Goodbye Blockbuster and Borders, newspapers and neighborhood travel agents; hello Netflix, Amazon, Yelp, Expedia, Open Table, MindBody, Uber, Fandango…
The Detroit Jewish community, like so many others around the world, continues to generate exceptional content and experiences. Our organizations offer innovative and enthralling programs and events, opportunities to learn, grow, find meaning and have fun. We also provide a range of excellent services and programs for those in need, whether it be an isolated senior with declining mobility, a single mother with mounting bills or a teenager struggling with crippling anxiety. Today’s Jewish community is remarkably generous and dynamic. And yet… We have a problem.
Our organizations are finding it increasingly difficult to reach their audiences and stay present in their lives. As individual consumers, we have little more than our fading print publications, overflowing email inboxes and crowded social media feeds to stay connected to Jewish life. If we want to find a spin class on Sunday at noon in our neighborhood, or a vegan restaurant downtown, we can do so with three swipes of an app. But if we want to find activities for Jewish families this month or social events for young singles, we may need to summon the time and energy to undergo a major research project.
Attacking the Problem
In Detroit, we see this as an existential problem. Unless we reconnect our community members to Jewish life – rewiring the community to allow a flow of content and connection – we will continue to see an erosion in the engagement of our people and a corresponding decline in the health of our organizations. It’s a daunting challenge that requires an inventive and urgent response.
We have begun to attack this problem using two core design principals: The first is an obsessive focus on the individual user experience; the goal of every solution must primarily be to make this experience easier, better and faster. It’s what they’re used to, and what they expect. Secondly, we must operate within a truly collaborative model that serves and includes the full range of organizations in our community. This can’t be just lip service. We must seek real participation from everyone in the tent.
Out of these basic principals, we’ve developed a parallel set of solutions to rewire our community, providing a new conduit between individuals and the Jewish organizations that can serve their needs and interests.
JHELP is an online portal that focuses on social services and individuals in need, connecting users to the full breadth of services our community has to offer. This platform removes the burden on the individual to understand the distinction between a JFS, a JSL, a JVS or any of the other alphabet soup of agencies, all of whom stand ready to offer coordinated and integrated services to their customers. If you need assistance, just visit JHELP, where you can chat, schedule a call or immediately connect with our resource center. JHELP was launched in Detroit at the start of the year.
JLIFE – a product that is still in development – is a digital platform and mobile app that connects users to virtually all aspects of Jewish life and learning in our community. More than just a broadcast and discovery tool, JLIFE is envisioned to be the registration and data platform behind the vast majority of our community’s organizations, and will make it orders-of-magnitude easier for individuals to learn about and register for the Jewish content that fits their interests. We are developing JLIFE in close collaboration with Jewish organizations, schools and congregations throughout our city, all of which struggle to reach and stay connected with their audience.
These initiatives represent new approaches to our longstanding mission of taking care of the needs of the Jewish people (JHELP) and building a vibrant Jewish future in metro Detroit and beyond (JLIFE). While we are at the beginning of these efforts, the reaction in our community had been extraordinary. Two particular constituencies have emerged to champion them. One is the leadership of our organizations, who recognize that their competition is not each other, but the myriad other brands and activities available to their customers. The other champions come from our cadre of young adults, especially those working or invested in technology. The overwhelming response of these young people is simple and bracing: If we’re going to continue to have a Jewish community, we have to do this.
We invite organizations everywhere to connect with us to learn more, offer feedback or share their experiences. We know the wiring of Jewish community runs far beyond our own city, to other communities and nations around the world. Our hope is to help strengthen these connections everywhere.
To connect and learn more about these initiatives, contact us at jlife@jfmd.org
Ted Cohen is the the Chief Marketing Officer of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit.
Scott Kaufman is the Chief Executive Officer of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit.
Mr. Cohen says
February 18, 2018 at 9:44 pmScott Kaufman said:
“It is unlikely that any event, even one as galvanizing as the formation of Israel, would lead to a spontaneous gathering like the one we had in 1948 – not without considerable organization and promotion. We’re simply not wired for it anymore.”
my personal response:
Even in our times, there are Jewish communities that have ways of spreading messages quickly, ways that do not depend on high-technology.
Because Orthodox Jews attend minyan three times a day, every day, verbal announcements and hand-written signs can quickly reach entire communities of Orthodox Jews, even without high-technology.
In Israel, it is not unusual for the funeral processions of prominent Orthodox Rabbis to be attended by more than 100,000 people, even with less than 24 hours prior notice.
In the USA, the most recent Daf Yomi event rented a stadium with a capacity of 50,000+ spectators, and that stadium was filled-to-capacity with Orthodox Jews.
Einat says
February 19, 2018 at 5:20 pmWell, that’s nice Mr. Cohen, but somewhat irrelevant to what the authors are writing here. Most American and Israeli Jews aren’t Orthodox, and they live in the wired world that the authors describe.
Yaela says
February 19, 2018 at 5:49 pmI love how an Orthodox man assumes that all Orthodox Jews are men.
“Orthodox Jews attend minyan three times a day, every day, verbal announcements and hand-written signs can quickly reach entire communities of Orthodox Jews, even without high-technology.”
Someone needs to explain to him how half the population doesn’t mean all the population. Guess that news doesn’t quickly reach him.
Gal says
February 19, 2018 at 9:54 pmMr. Cohen is wrong about funeral sizes. It’s actually EXTREMELY unusual for the funeral processions of prominent Orthodox Rabbis to be attended by more than 100,000 people, even with less than 24 hours prior notice. The only ones in the last few years that even went over the 100,000 mark were those of Rabbi Shteinman and Rabbi Ovadia Yosef. Even with Rabbi Shach (z”l)’s funeral you have to go back 17 years to get a number that large. So, no.
Oh, and by the way, the Daf Yomi is publicized and promoted on Facebook, CD-ROM, and all over the internet. So it’s not an example of non-high-tech message spreading.
Jordan Goodman says
February 19, 2018 at 11:26 pmShalom Ted and Scott,
Why is Judaism “missing in action” from a post supposedly about the “Jewish” future (whatever that might mean) of metro Detroit Jewry. More on that later.
You wrote: “This breakdown in wiring is one of the central causes of the changes and deterioration of Jewish communal life in our time.”
No. The “changes and deterioration of Jewish communal life” are directly related to the undeniable success of the North American melting pot. “The breakdown in wiring” is a manifestation of that success. The further away generationally one gets from one’s family’s immigration experience, the more diluted, trivial and meaningless ethnic and cultural ties become. This is true of all immigrant groups that have arrived at our shores (those of the US and Canada). By all that is measurable, the peoplehood stuff of North American non Orthodox (NANO) Jewishness has lost its battle with assimilation. Thus peoplehood solutions will continue to fail as a path forward toward “Jewish” continuity (whatever that might mean) for most NANO Jews. For the record, I surround the adjective “Jewish” with quotes as there is no NANO definition of this word that is widely accepted among NANO Jews. As we can see from the recently published results of surveys from San Fransisco and Washington DC, as well as those from the over for 4 year old Pew study, most NANO Jews are at best Jewish like a Reuben sandwich is Jewish. They are Jews without Judaism, JINOs (Jews in name only) and/or Jewish by descent.
You continued later: “The Detroit Jewish community, like so many others around the world, continues to generate exceptional content and experiences.”
How is/was “exceptional” measured?
You continued: “Our organizations are finding it increasingly difficult to reach their audiences and stay present in their lives.”
That’s because as you wrote later, “…their (Jewish organizations’) competition is not each other, but the myriad other brands and activities available to their customers.” To which I’ll add no one has as of yet made the compelling case that the “Jewish” iterations/versions of said brands, services and activities have unique value worthy of attention.
You finished your post with: “We know the wiring of Jewish community runs far beyond our own city, to other communities and nations around the world. Our hope is to help strengthen these connections.”
Maybe it used to run far beyond metro Detroit, but It doesn’t do so any longer, in the land of NANO Jewry (in contradistinction, as Mr. Cohen noted, it remains quite effective amongst the religiously observant). As you wrote in your post “rewiring the community to allow a flow of content and connection” is desperately needed. A huge problem remains. The “current” you have or are suggesting to pulse through this newly proposed “Jewish” wiring is a retread of the peoplehood stuff of Jewishness that has already been shown to be no match for the North American melting pot. What’s both missing and needed is Judaism. Specifically and before anything else what’s needed is a meaningful, contemporary NANO Judaism. It would have the power to reach the minds and enter the hearts of the majority demographic of NANO Jews who have with a vote of their feet elected to let all who are listening know that the status quo is irrelevant and meaningless except perhaps for life cycle events and/or an occasional worship service. Without the foundation of a rediscovered NANO Judaism, the result would be like pouring old wine into new wine skins (my reverse reading of the well known 2000 year old parable of Rabbi Y’hoshu’a ben Yosef).
Biv’racha,
Jordan
Eviatar says
February 20, 2018 at 12:06 amThanks Jordan. Another apologist for a failed Orthodoxy that takes no hold in American Jewish life.
Saying things like “most NANO Jews are at best Jewish like a Reuben sandwich is Jewish. They are Jews without Judaism, JINOs (Jews in name only) and/or Jewish by descent” pretty much means you don’t care for Jews, Judaism or Jewish life.
Mr. Cohen says
February 20, 2018 at 12:33 amEinat: Sorry about that.
Yaela: I never assumed that all Orthodox Jews are men.
Gal: Thank you, I stand corrected.
Jordan: I always like your comments.
Eviatar: Try to prove your point, if you can.
Jordan Goodman says
February 20, 2018 at 1:13 amShalom Eviatar,
I’m not an apologist for Orthodox Judaism. That perhaps 90% of North American Jews do not find it meaningful, is not synonymous with failure, as it is meaningful to 10%. Thus far it’s withstood the test of time and in fact the numbers of its followers are growing in North America. For the record I’m a Jew with no modifiers. As such Orthodox Judaism is not my cup of tea. For that matter I don’t find any of the other forms of NANO Judaism meaningful. And if anything is failing by all that’s been measured in scientific surveys, it’s NANO Judaism as the numbers affiliated in NANO organizations are declining.
Re my labels of NANO Jews I stand by them as they are in fact validated and verified by scientifically conducted studies like the ones I noted in my comment just above.
You infered incorrectly when you said that my labels “pretty much mean (I) don’t care for Jews, Judaism or Jewish life.” If your inferences were correct, there’d be absolutely no reason for me to expend neurons in fora like eJp. Yet I continue to expend.
My position in here and in other fora like this has always been that the status quo of NANO Judaisms and their purveyors NANO synagogues, organizations and institutions, is one that’s measurably failing or indeed has already failed as far as most NANO Jews (myself among them) are concerned. In place of the status quo, a meaningful, contemporary, relevant, practical, application oriented
NANO Judaism is needed. I’ll be more than happy to continue this conversation offline should you want to do so. My email is eashtov@aol.com.
Biv’racha,
Jordan