philadelphia | As many younger Jews opt out of traditional forms of affiliation, each month during the year seemed to bring with it a new study of 18-25 year-old Jews.
Brandeis University’s study of Jewish college students, found that, while proud of their heritage, these young Jews were basically unaffiliated, had relatively weak ties to Israel and Jewish federations and were attracted more to Jewish culture than religion.
Then there were studies by Reboot, a nonprofit that promotes creative Jewish initiatives, and by Hillel, The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life, that found pretty much the same.
That many younger Jews in America are engaging differently from their forebears, and expressing their Jewish identities in different ways, should come as no surprise.
With intermarriage rampant, synagogue membership among young Jews on the decline and a general sense that younger Jews are less connected to Judaism, Jewish communal leaders are on the lookout for ways to get the younger generation to connect and to engage in a conversation about Jewish identity, community and meaning.
They say that the way to their hearts and minds and pocketbooks is through artistic and cultural exchange: Jewish music, books, movies and art.
To be sure, recent developments have given young Jews plenty of outlets for the Jewish cultural impulse, and seem to demonstrate that there’s a large market for these cultural efforts. Matisyahu, a Chasidic reggae singer, has sold more than 500,000 albums. Heeb, a Jewish magazine aimed at hip young Jews, has been the subject of much chatter and numerous articles in the mainstream media. And Guilt & Pleasure — “A magazine for Jews and the people who love them” — has been selling out at newsstands and bookstores across the country.
Another study of younger Jews, conducted by the American Jewish Committee, suggested that Orthodoxy will become a larger and more influential force in coming decades. The survey, which looked at the 1.5 million U.S. Jews between the ages of 18-39, found that Orthodox Jews comprise 11 percent of all U.S. Jews and 16 percent of 18-29 year-olds.
The survey also found that Orthodox Jews marry at a younger age, have more children and are more Jewishly engaged.
The same study found that the Holocaust is proving more important than Israel in positively affecting Jewish identity for the younger generation.
Still, as tensions flared in Israel this summer, American Jews moved quickly to aid the Jewish state. Jewish leaders met publicly and privately with world leaders and diplomats, urging them to condemn Hezbollah and stressing the complicity of both Iran and Syria in the war.
Middle Eastern politics intruded squarely onto the American Jewish scene in Seattle when the JCC shooting incident took place. In the wake of the attack, a security alert was issued to Jewish institutions.
Even before the war with Hezbollah, however, Israel was at the center of American Jewry’s agenda. An effort in Congress to cut off assistance to the Palestinian Authority after Hamas’ landslide electoral victory in January met unexpected resistance from a coalition of dovish Jewish groups.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) strongly favored the bill, but Americans for Peace Now, the Israel Policy Forum and Brit Tzedek v’Shalom objected particularly to the U.S. House of Representatives version because it would cut off the Palestinian Authority regardless of whether it is led by Hamas.
In the end, both bills passed overwhelmingly. The Senate and the House have yet to reconcile substantial differences between their versions of the bill, casting doubt on whether it will land on President Bush’s desk this congressional session.
Meanwhile, the Arab-Israeli conflict also was being played out on the silver screen across the country as two films — Steven Spielberg’s “Munich” and Hany Abu-Assad’s “Paradise Now” — took on the hot-button issues of terrorism and counterterrorism.
“Munich” was based on the story of Israel’s hunt for the Palestinian terrorists who killed 11 athletes at the 1972 Olympic Games. “Paradise Now’ told the story of two fictional Palestinians preparing to carry out suicide bombings in Israel. Both films were criticized by some members in the Jewish community who said they humanized terrorists, drew a moral equivalence between Israel and those who terrorize it and, therefore, legitimized their deadly tactics.
Both films were nominated for Academy Awards, though neither won.
Elsewhere, the Jewish community took a leading role in efforts to end the atrocities in the Darfur region of Sudan. Jewish groups were instrumental in founding the Save Darfur Coalition, organizing large-scale rallies in Washington and New York, raising money to aid the effort, calling for United Nations intervention in the war-ravaged region, protesting against the government of Sudan and collecting 1 million postcards calling on President Bush to support a stronger multinational effort to protect Darfur residents.
In April, Arnold Eisen was selected to be the new chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary, Conservative Judaism’s flagship institution.
The choice of Eisen, a Jewish studies professor and chairman of Stanford University’s Religious Studies department, surprised some because he is not a rabbi and has spent his professional career in academia. Eisen will be just the second non-rabbi of the seven people to have held JTS’ top post.
In addition, Hillel selected Wayne Firestone as its new president. An attorney by training, Firestone, 42, worked in high-tech in Israel following a stint as an administrator and lecturer at Haifa’s Technion — Israel Institute of Technology. He also headed the Anti-Defamation League’s Israel office for a year before joining Hillel in 2002, where he most recently was executive vice president.
With the High Holy Days upon us, one fear may no longer to be in play: The lulav shortage appears to be a thing of the past.
Jewish tradition holds that the four elements comprising the lulav represent the human spine, heart, eyes and mouth. And so, with plenty of lulavs to go around, here’s to a year of strength, happiness, the ability to see things clearly and only good tastes in the mouths of the Jewish people. And to a year as sweet as the etrog’s aroma.
JTA bureau chief Ron Kampeas in Washington and correspondent Sue Fishkoff in California contributed to this report.