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Preface
- Brandeis University Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
Preface By the closing years of the twentieth century, new patterns of affiliation were palpably transforming organized Jewish activity in the United States. National organizations that had been dominant since the middle decades of the twentieth century saw their membership rolls shrink due to the passing of an older generation and a failure to attract enough young Jews to replace them. More generally, institutions of national prominence could no longer rally forces and mobilize ever-larger sums of money as they had in their heyday during the half century after World War II.1 Two economic recessions in the first decade of the new century have only worsened an already difficult situation , necessitating deep budgets cuts and the attendant dismissal of personnel vital to organizational missions. Simultaneously, institutional life has been weakened by an onslaught upon the fundamental assumptions undergirding policies: the belief that Jews have responsibilities to one another; Israel must be central to Jewish collective activity; the maintenance of some boundaries between Jews and non-Jews and between Judaism and other belief systems is vital for group survival; and some balance must be struck by Jews between their support for universal—i.e., nonsectarian—causes, on the one hand, and their maintenance of specifically particularistic institutions designed to perpetuate and enrich the lives of Jews, on the other. All these long-standing assumptions have come under intense scrutiny, and often have been subjected to withering criticism. Indeed, given the decline in formal affiliation and the breakdown of consensus, some observers have come to wonder whether it is useful any longer to speak of an American Jewish community. Even as the established institutions have contracted, a countervailing trend has become evident: a host of new initiatives has been launched to reach into every corner of the community in order to make place for as many Jews as possible. New initiatives aim to attract those Jews who may have felt marginalized in the past—new immigrants and their offspring, religious seekers, the disabled, the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender population, poor Jews, the intermarried, those who eschew denominational labels, the socially and environmentally conscious, and many others who viii Preface previously may have had only limited options to participate in Jewish activities . Particularly on the local level, entrepreneurial leaders have been busy launching new programs and institutions to address what they consider unmet needs and underserved niche populations. These multifarious efforts highlight and also celebrate the sheer diversity of American Jewish life, perhaps as never before. In short, a new American Jewish community is forming before our eyes, with contours that are not yet fully defined. It is premature to write off the large organizations despite their weakened condition, for they continue to remake themselves in a bid to recapture a larger share of the Jewish market. And it is also too early to judge the staying power of new initiatives, which continue to evolve in new directions—and form partnerships with each other and with established institutions and funders. At least in the short term, it appears that the old and the new will coexist and influence one another, in some localities uneasily and in others quite comfortably. But even if we cannot foretell the long-term outcome, the dynamism of the moment warrants attention. Driving many of these changes is a new generation of Jews in their twenties and thirties whose choices and commitments are shaping the new contours of American Jewish life. Just as the so-called GI generation, with its predilection for joining and group association, propelled the massive growth of local agencies and a national Jewish infrastructure, and just as the baby boomers, with their suspicion of formal organizations, heralded the retreat from Jewish associationalism, it appears that the current generation of younger Jewish adults is shaping a new landscape of Jewish organizational life based upon its particular outlook on Jewish collective action.2 Though much of the change remains subterranean, evidence of new thinking and organizing periodically rises to the surface, suggesting that fundamental changes are afoot. The activities of Mechon Hadar and more than sixty additional independent minyanim, religious quorums unaffiliated with any of the denominations, for example, have served notice about the alienation of some highly literate young Jews from conventional synagogue life— and their willingness to create their own settings for prayer and study. Similarly , the rapid growth of service programs and environmental causes under Jewish auspices are emblematic of a new emphasis on social action directed to the world at...