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jack wertheimer 1 Mapping the Scene How Younger Jewish Adults Engage with Jewish Community F ifty years ago, observers of American Jewish life were struck by the frenetic engagement of Jews in organizational activity. “What distinguishes the Jew from the non-Jew,” wrote Harold Weisberg, dean of the graduate school of Brandeis University, in 1964, “is, increasingly, not a specific ethic, religious discipline, or language, but the intensity and pervasiveness of his organizational commitments and activities. . . . At present, Jewish culture in the United States is predominantly what Jews do under the auspices of Jewish organizations.”1 Other midcentury observers joined Weisberg in marveling at the extent to which theirs was a time of joining, especially for newly transplanted urban Jews who had settled in suburbia after World War II. American Jews in record numbers became members of synagogues, Jewish Community Centers, and national organizations; they contributed to the campaigns of local federations of Jewish philanthropy; and in other ways they enacted their Jewishness through association. Noting these patterns, a major sociological study of the time commented on the “overwhelming” variety of Jewish organizations on the local level, which, in turn, played a “critical role . . . to help mediate the crisis in Jewish identity” and maintain “Jewish group survival.”2 By the end of the twentieth century, in marked contrast, one of the most influential analyses of Jewish identity and community began with the premise that a vast swathe of “moderately affiliated” Jews, mainly of the baby boom generation, served as bellwethers of a massive shift within the American Jewish community. Writing of the privatized nature of Jewish identification , Steven M. Cohen and Arnold Eisen determined that for many of these Jews, “the public sphere [of Jewish life] bears the burden of demonstrating its importance to Jewish loyalties nurtured and focused elsewhere.” More than 40 percent of respondents to the authors’ survey concurred with the statement “I find Jewish organizations remote and irrelevant to me.” Rather 2 jack wertheimer than regarding Jewish organizations as a potential “locus for friendship, a place where they could socialize with other Jews in an easy and relaxed atmosphere ,” many American Jews perceived Jewish organizational life as exploitative, expecting much and giving little in return.3 Hence, like the contemporaneous research on broader trends in American society conducted by Robert Putnam,4 the authors of The Jew Within found a baby boomer population characterized by loose connections and comparatively low rates of affiliation. If the generation that came of age after World War II was characterized by joining formal Jewish institutions, and if the baby boomers associated with Jewish organizations far more episodically and, perhaps, suspiciously, what can be said about the participation in organized Jewish activities by the succeeding generation of American Jews—the population now in their twenties and thirties that has been shaped by cultural and social trends at the end of the twentieth century and the beginning of the current one? Unfortunately, this question is not amenable to quantitative answers in the absence of an up-to-date national Jewish population study. We simply do not know how large a percentage of the roughly million-and-a-quarter younger Jewish adults attend any programs with Jewish content;5 nor can we pin down how frequently attendees participate in various types of Jewish programming. What seems beyond dispute is that the range of options created by and for this population is extraordinarily wide. Those who are inclined to engage with other Jews can choose from a broad array of new programs organized by their peers and also from more conventional types of activities held under the auspices of long-established organizations. Undoubtedly, social gatherings draw the largest turnout, as do concerts, film festivals, and other cultural events. Smaller numbers attend Shabbat and holiday celebrations, retreats, and recreational programs such as outdoor treks. Depending on their interests, young Jewish adults participate in peer-led minyanim, Orthodox outreach programs, or religious services sponsored by local synagogues of various denominational hues—all directed exclusively to younger Jews. They also elect to engage with other Jewish peers in social action projects for nonsectarian or Jewish causes. Some attend demonstrations and programs advocating for Israel or criticizing its policies, while some participate in programs offered specifically for peers of their age by national Jewish organizations . Those who identify with a specific subpopulation, such as an immigrant group, the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) community, or Jews who share a specific Jewish religious outlook, are able to join affinity...

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