Reform Magazine - The Outreach Revolution
I’m actually in the middle of another (Reform related) post so I’m not going to dedicate a whole bunch of time to this one but I thought this was noteworthy enough to share with other readers.
So here we go.
The Winter 07 issue of Reform Judaism Magazine is now available online and apparently it focuses on “The Outreach Revolution”. Although I haven’t actually read any of it as of yet, based on the cover it certainly looks interesting.
Here’s the “official” issue overview as found on the Reform Judaism Magazine Online site.
This “Focus” symposium, “Outreach: The Next Generation,” examines aspects of interfaith marriage and child-raising through the experiences of six individuals: Lucas McMahon and his non-Jewish father, Tim; Rachel Flynn and her non-Jewish father, John, who later became a Jew; Joelle Berman and her non-Jewish mother, Beverly. The “Focus” also includes seminal statements by two presidents of the Union for Reform Judaism who have played key roles in the thirty-year history of the Outreach revolution
At first glance this issue seems to be more focused on intermarried couples and how to be more inclusive regarding non-Jewish spouses, both in terms of general participation as well as potential converts. It also looks like a couple of the articles are about children ( possibly now young adults but I’m not sure) raised as Jews in interfaith families and how that’s impacted their sense of Jewish identity and participation. Having said that, I’d be surprised if there wasn’t at least one article or part of an article mentioning outreach and converts.
Anyhow as mentioned above, I haven’t actually read anything other than the overview and article synopses (is synopses even a real word), but my curiosity has certainly been piqued and I hope to read a few of the articles later on this week. Incidentally, I suspect that this issue will be of interest to other Jews by choice and potential converts, which is why I’m posting about it here (duh)!
Also a couple of our blog contributors are in interfaith marriages, one of whom is currently raising children in an interfaith environment. So I’m curious to read their takes on all of this.
Anyhow like I said, it looks interesting, so you might wanna check it out.
Shalom Avi, and thanks for this post. As anyone who read my last post knows, I get this magazine in the mail, so I will be interested in reading the articles. I have to admit that as a more Conservative/Masorti oriented guy, one thing I REALLY admire about the URJ is their commitment to outreach. They are sort of the Lubavitchers of progressive Judaism in that, as a matter of movement policy anyway, they have arms open wide to Jews of all stripes, backgrounds, and even to non-Jews who are interested in exploring conversion. They are the only movement that, in my opinion, has the orientation to converts that existed in the 2nd Temple Era - Remember the story about Hillel and the would-be convert who asked the sage’s Torah while standing on one foot? Anyway, thanks for the post!
Yair
Hello Yair
I’d never thought of Reform as being the “Lubavitchers of progressive Judaism” however I have described a Chabad as being proponents of the ” Reform” doctrine of “Informed Choice”, so I suppose your analogy works at least for me.
Anyhow, once you’ve had a chance to go over those articles maybe you can share your thoughts with us. I know that I for one am curious to hear about your take on the subject.
So I just saw one of these articles pop up on my google reader, and I can’t say I really like the article. It’s written by a girl who is writing about her FATHER, who converted. It seems awkward — why didn’t the father write? I appreciate the Jew’s point of view on the convert, I guess, but it seems strange.
(http://reformjudaismmag.org/Articles/index.cfm?id=1291)
I also dislike the following: “My mom likes to say that the best Jews aren’t always the ones you find; sometimes they’re the ones that you make.”
It makes it sound like they molded him into a Jew, but as you know and as we discuss here on the forum, it is such a personal place.
Hey Chavi
I have now read all the ones that are available online and I agree with you that they seem kind of lame.
Also the “made” comment bugged me as well!
I guess this issue had promise but fell short at least IMO!
This is Rachel (the author of the article, “The Making of a Jew”), and in response to Chaviva’s comment, I wanted to let you know that my father did, in fact, write one of these articles. His is entitles “A Breathing Faith of My Own.” I understand that this is confusing as he and I have different last names - just another example of our mixed family!
Hey Rachel thanks for stopping by to clarify things.
Actually I read your dads story again today and it was better the second time around. I guess part of the let down (at least for me) was that the “Outreach” Stories really focused more on interfaith Families and I had hoped for stuff a little closer to home. You know as in JBC converts who were drawn to Judaism for Judaisms sake and not as a result of intermarriage or the likes. Not that one is better than the other. Simply that JBC stuff is closer to me and therefore I was hoping to see it better represented.
Rachel, Thanks for the clarification. I intend on picking up the full magazine to get a well-rounded look at what the issue has to offer. However, I am on the same note as Avi when he says that he was hoping the outreach involved those who choose Judaism for themselves, not with any attachments or anything like a spouse or future spouse or child who is Jewish.
I know that when people find out I didn’t convert for or because of someone, I sometimes get funny looks! I think it’s more rare than people think.