October 17, 2007
JOI Announces Outreach Coalition
At its oversubscribed conference in Washington, D.C., earlier this week, the Jewish Outreach Institute announced the creation of a national directory of Jewish organizations committed to reaching out to the unaffiliated, including the intermarried, gays and lesbians and converts. Called "The Big Tent Coalition," the online directory will list organizations that are friendly to the unaffiliated as well as provide a space for organizations to share resources, provide organizations with a "stamp of approval" from JOI and give individuals a place to find outreach-friendly organizations.
Much of this is similar to our own Connections in Your Area system, which also allows interfaith-friendly organizations to sign up and individuals to search for organizations. But the addition of JOI's coalition to the field is laudable nonetheless.
I unfortunately had to back out of the conference at the last minute because we are putting the finishing touches on a redesigned website that will launch on Thursday, Oct. 25. That's why I've been MIA from blogging the last few weeks, and why I will probably blog little again until the relaunch. There will be some exciting new features of the site as it rolls out, and I will keep you updated.
Posted by Micahs at 09:45 AM
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October 4, 2007
Are Museums The Next Frontier of Outreach?
On Sept. 30, several hundred people gathered at a construction site at Fifth and Market Streets in Philadelphia to celebrate the groundbreaking on a new $150 million museum devoted to American Jewish history, according to the (Philadelphia) Jewish Exponent.
The National Museum of American Jewish History is just one of several ambitious Jewish museum projects opening around the country in the next few years. In San Francisco, the Contemporary Jewish Museum is reopening this spring in a dramatic 63,000-square-foot structure marked by a giant glass cube pirouetted on one corner. In Boston, plans are afoot for a $40 million New Center for Arts and Culture on the greenway covering the central artery. While nothing in the New Center's mission explicitly says the museum will be Jewish, all of its previous events have been Jewish-themed and the project was first proposed by the Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston and the Jewish Community Centers of Greater Boston.
What does this have to do with intermarriage? Well, when I was at the American Jewish Press Association conference in San Francisco earlier this summer, I saw a presentation by some representatives of the Contemporary Jewish Museum. They discussed the high levels of intermarriage and low levels of affiliation among Jews in San Francisco. In their research they found that Jews were looking for a non-threatening, non-religiously oriented, non-exclusivist and yet still Jewish venue to take their non-Jewish partners and friends. One of the primary goals of the new museum, the representatives said, was to provide that space.
I don't know much about the initial intentions behind the New Center for Arts and Culture, but previous events hosted by the Center (in its former home at Boston-area JCC) suggest they're aiming for a similar target. In June, the New Center co-hosted Bloomsday Boston 2007 with Boston College, a Catholic university. Bloomsday celebrated Leopold Bloom, the Jewish-Irish protagonist of James Joyce's Ulysses. Representatives from Boston's Irish and Israeli consulates took part in readings, and a panel discussed similarities between the histories of Boston's Jewish and Irish communities. It was an event simultaneously Jewish and ecumenical. Previous events hosted or co-sponsored by the Center have included a combined klezmer/swing concert, a presentation on Marc Chagall and something described as "an intimate music and poetry performance that explored the devotional traditions of 13th Century Sufi Muslim mystic, Jalaluddin Rumi and the 12th Century Jewish philosopher Abraham Ibn Ezra." This kind of cross-cultural, non-exclusivist, non-religious programming seems tailor-made for interfaith couples.
In the coming years, I am excited to see if these museums open new doors for Jewish involvement among interfaith couples. Or, if they transform the very way we think about Jewish involvement.
Posted by Micahs at 10:42 AM
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October 2, 2007
The Forgotten 360,000
When Alex Schindler pioneered outreach in the early '80s, the focus was on interfaith couples. It was all about getting those who had intermarried to feel welcome in the Jewish community, and feel like the Jewish community was something they wanted to be part of.
But what about their children?
According to the National Jewish Population Survey 2000-01, there are 360,000 Jews aged 18 to 29 whose parents are Jewish and something else. While some of these children benefited from the outreach revolution of the '90s, most did not. Yet the Jewish community's outreach efforts remain mostly focused on interfaith couples.
The latest cover story for j, the Jewish news weekly of northern California, explores this untapped population of children of interfaith couples. It's a very diverse population, ranging from children who grew up with no religion, to children who grew up with too much religion, to children who were raised solidly in one faith.
One problem facing these adults--or really anyone without a preexisting connection to a synagogue--is the lukewarm welcoming newcomers get at most synagogues. While there are certainly exceptions--Chabad chief among them--congregants and clergy don't always make a point of setting newcomers at ease, whereas many churches, especially Evangelical ones, do. From the story:
[Madeline] Adkins [child of an atheistic interfaith upbringing] has noticed during her extensive “shul-shopping” that Jewish institutions are not always as welcoming as she’d like.
“I remember going to an Easter service once and being so welcomed. They really wanted me to join,” she said. “I’ve rarely had this experience with a Jewish congregation. There isn’t that, ‘Oh, yeah! Come join us!’”
This population is only going to grow, and it is vital for the Jewish community's health to figure out how to engage them.
Posted by Micahs at 10:35 AM
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October 1, 2007
Intermarriage: Helping Jews Find Their Hotel Since 1970
Ed Siegel, the Jewish intermarried former theater critic for The Boston Globe, has written an amusing piece for the Globe about interfaith couples. It begins:
I have a theory about intermarriage. I know some people think Judaism is going to die out if Jews keep marrying outside the religion, but if my circle of friends is any indication, there's a practical, perhaps even evolutionary, reason for Jews to be marrying gentiles. In every relationship I know of, the Jew has the worse sense of direction.
...It's the same in every relationship, male or female, gay or straight. The gentile looks at the map and says, "This way." The Jew says, "After you." Why is this? Did our forebears walk around the desert for 40 years because they couldn't find their way out? It couldn't have been that they liked the sights so much.
It's a funny essay, but its point is less about the distinction between Jews and gentiles--his portraits strike me as a little tongue-in-cheek--than about the way that partners in a couple should complement each others' strengths. In that way, intermarried partners can be a positive influence on each other because of their different cultural and religious backgrounds.
Interestingly, I think his theory is bogus. I've never noticed Jews having an exceptionally poor, or exceptionally good, sense of direction. But that's why I also think his essay is notable. Even when the stereotypes have no connection to reality, I don't mind seeing somebody put them in print. We should all be able to laugh out our foibles, whether real or imagined.
Posted by Micahs at 10:37 AM
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