Synablog highlights a speech Rabbi Sharon Brous of IKAR given at UCLA Hillel as part of Los Angeles’s People of the Book Festival in late April of this year that makes some concise, bold statements that ring so very truly.
“It seems to me that our community has made some real miscalculations in addressing the growing demographic of young people who are completely detached from institutional organized Jewish life. One of the most unfortunate strategies has been the framing of religious messages based on a perception of what the market looks like, rather than based on where the soul is, where the soul of our community should be. So our leadership is knocking itself out to turn Judaism into something incredibly appealing to young people, something sexy and smart and glossy and attractive. At the core of that approach is a great distrust of this demographic. It is to say that we really don’t believe that there are people searching for a true, deep, authentic, spiritual, and religious connection to Judaism, so a glossy brochure is the best we can do to bring them in – this, rather than speaking about the fire, the core of what Jewish life really is about. This of course only serves to further alienate.”
“I have heard this from hundreds and hundreds of people in the twenties and thirties – and also from people outside that demographic. The simple reality is that many of our institutions are no longer presenting a compelling story for Jews. What we need is to articulate a way that our own Jewish connection, our spirituality, and our sense of religious connection are absolutely and intimately a part of the way that we engage in the world.”
“It seems to me that it is incumbent upon the Jewish community to rethink our whole agenda. So much of the way that we have been functioning for the past several decades has been about strengthening, supporting and sustaining institutions for their own sake, rather than really thinking about what is at the core of what it means to be a Jew and a human being in the world, and how we communicate that message in a way that people can hear and actually truly be transformed by it.”
Whoa, can I get an Amen?!
