“Jewish culture is in the mainstream, it’s popular, and that’s something any brand would want to jump on,” says the founder of a startup profiled in the new issue of Bloomberg Business Week. It “seeks to sell [an] accessible version of Jewish traditions,” explains Danya Shults, whose for-profit company, Arq, offers workshops, retreats, and meals in addition to items like seder plates.
The organized Jewish community supports a number of nonprofits that take a similar approach. Aliza Kline, executive director of the social dining app One Table, observes, “Not that long ago, it would have felt dirty to talk about branding Jewish culture.” One Table supports Shabbat dinners for Jews and non-Jews with the help of grants from several prestigious Jewish foundations and federations.
Jewish funders increasingly support immersive experiences as a way to keep Jews “in the tent,” but the content of those activities typically has little Jewish substance beyond the “brand.” For all the talk of Jewish culture, there’s little Jewish literature or music in these new initiatives. There aren’t many excursions to Jewish theater, or meetups to discuss Jewish history or artists or folklore. Instead, there are meals and athletics and travel whose connection to Jewish life is tenuous at best.
What does this trend say about communal values? For one thing, it embodies the understandable hope that “enlarging the tent” will create new options for intermarried Jews. When Danya Shults thinks about what Arq might sell, her “ultimate test case” is whether her Presbyterian husband would be interested. OneTable’s community is 10-15% non-Jewish.
At the same time, it suggests that our communal organizations don’t have much confidence in the things that make Jews distinctive. Judaism as a religion, Jewish thought, and Jewish customs are treated as liabilities that will alienate millennial Jews and non-Jews alike. Communal leaders are tacitly treating those who care about Jewish ideas, culture, and practice as a low priority. They prefer to focus on the least committed in the hope of not losing them.
As it happens, that approach is the opposite of best practices in marketing. Breweries, for instance, know that 80% of the beer is consumed by 20% of the beer drinkers. That 20% – the frequent drinkers – are the core consumers, so that’s where brewers spend most of their marketing budget. That’s where they get the most cost-effective results.
The Jewish community takes the opposite tack. For the last 25 years, many funders, institutions, and startups have taken greater interest in the “fringe market,” the 80% of Jews who have the weakest connection to Jewish life. With that strategy, it’s no surprise that the indicators of involvement have continued their long decline. Yet communal leaders still act as if these new efforts are making a significant difference.
Why not invest more communal resources in those who are interested in the distinctive qualities of Jewish life? That would actively strengthen Jewish identity. It could spur newly formed groups to explore Jewish ideas, creativity, and history. Most importantly, it would treat our variegated heritage not as a marketing liability, but as a source of pride and inspiration.
This article previously appeared online in the Los Angeles Jewish Journal.
Bob Goldfarb, former marketing director at The Forward, has an MBA from Harvard Business School. He is president of Jewish Creativity International.
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Hear, hear. Judaism is a tradition and a culture, not a brand. The content is more important than the number of “consumers”.
Bob’ insight – and reference to the start-up ethos – is worth considering on two fronts:
First, many technologies are being used in Jewish outreach in ways that offer unimaginable efficacy. BBYO’s find-a-college roommate app is a good example along the same lines as Open Table.
Second, Younger Jews are less willing to define themselves -or friends – as Jewish/Not or Affiliated/not, which makes any outreach effort overly dependent on targeting a well-defined group obsolete. Bob is right in that a disproportionate amount of Jewish resources have gone toward the 80/20. We’d all be better served to empower those with the most interest and ability to build and leverage networks.
Bob- you are creating a false dichotomy. We do not need to focus on the 80% the same way we do not need to focus on the 20%. The Organized Jewish Community must engage BOTH. I would encourage all my fellow Jewish Educators and Professionals not to forego the inclusion of any member of our community as less important to target than another- our diversity is our strength, not our weakness.
Your analogy of the brewery is not in alignment with the goals of most professional Jewish Organizations. Whereas the brewery does not care who purchases the beer, only the total number of sales. Jewish Organizations actively and intentionally seek to engage a diverse demographic of “customers”. While focusing on the 20% might engage more people per event/program on average -as per the brewery analogy- it will be the same people each time. By ALSO focusing on the 80% the participant base is diversified. I would argue that ultimately, this diversification of Jewish programming and engagement is a core means of strengthening our community.
Judaism may be “cool” at the moment, but it is not a “brand.” Branding is something a business does to get people to recognize and/or differentiate their product or service with the intention of getting people to buy or use their product or service.
To “brand” something is to make it recognizable due to its uniformity and/or consistency. When people find a brand they like, they tend to stick with it because they know what they will get. Starbucks and McDonald’s, for example, are global brands that look pretty much the same and serve pretty much the same coffee and food everywhere in the world. That is definitely not what Judaism is or should be.
Judaism is not one size fits all or uniform in nature. It is diverse with many different interpretations. Judaism is, however, distinct. The way Judaism approaches food and eating, for instance, is distinct from the way most non-Jewish cultures approach food and eating. (Even so different rabbis or Jewish communities will interpret the laws of Kashrut differently.)
That said, what is the point of having Jewish activities if the content is not Jewish? If a group of Jews comes together (with or without their non-Jewish partners) to play sports or eat a meal or see the latest blockbuster how is it any different than activities put on by any non-Jewish group? The point of Jewish products/activities/groups should be to do or create something from a Jewish perspective so it is distinct from anything the non-Jewish world has to offer.
I think that Jews and non-Jews alike who join Jewish activities or groups should have an interest in deepening their knowledge about Judaism and the Jewish people and/or a desire to experience Jewish culture and life. They should be inspired to learn more about Judaism and how Judaism can be meaningful to their lives. There are so many wonderful things to discover!