JewsByChoice.Org

This week the JTA has two articles reporting on two new ( well actually it might just be one, I never figured it out) studies conducted by the Reform Movement.

The First article “Survey of active Reform Jews Under-40 crowd more observant” indicates a growing trend towards “observance” among the movements younger members. I can’t say, I’m all that surprised by this. Because of the Movements over all move towards Tradition and Ritual over last couple of decades. More importantly because I see this as part of a much larger trend among younger North American Jews in general and certainly within the Non-Orthodox communities. The same thing seems to be happening with the Conservative Movement.

Here is a snippet from the Article:

Freelander says this increased commitment to kashrut and other Jewish dietary practices among younger Reform Jews does not represent a greater commitment to halacha, or Jewish law — just 53 percent of the under-40 crowd said halacha was important to their sense of being Jewish, a negligible increase from the 49 percent of older Reform Jews who said the same.
Rather, Freelander said, the increase in ritual observance is due to “communal norms,” the desire of younger Reform Jews to do what other Jews are doing rather than maintaining the more rebellious position of their parents’ generation vis-a-vis the other Jewish streams.
“The younger generation is more ritually comfortable across a wide range of practices, from kashrut to prayer,” Freelander said. “It’s a slow process of evolution within the movement.”

I don’t really know where this is all going but IMO any move towards higher levels of literacy and observance is a good thing. Although I’m not one of those people who is convinced that the URJ and CJ are inevitably headed for a merger somewhere down the road.  This move towards more tradition by Reform youth, when compared with the “apparent” slide towards the left, by the majority of conservative Jews, could indeed be seen as more evidence, that a merger is not, a completely inconceivable idea, somewhere down the line. But that’s just speculation and I don’t know that a merger would ever work.

The second article “Reform study finds disconnect between leaders and members” looks at some the discrepancies between what some members of the Reform Leadership think and what the laity is actually feeling on a number of issues. Again I don’t think this is just a “Reform issue, because the same can be said about the leadership and laity within the conservative movement.  Regardless the data gathered, is interesting and hit’s home (at least) with me, more than once.

Here is a snippet from the second article with bolding added for emphasis by me:

While the survey found significant areas of agreement, it showed that synagogue leaders misunderstood members’ interest particularly in areas related to spirituality and worship.

It included interviews with 910 former members of Reform congregations to find out why they joined and why they eventually left.

Whereas 50 percent said they joined because they wanted a place to worship, synagogue leaders thought worship was important to just 5 percent of those former members.
Synagogue leaders also overestimated the importance of their institutions in the religious lives of their members.
Fifty-eight percent of former members said they “were able to be Jewish without a congregation,” a factor that didn’t show up on the leadership’s radar. Also, 18 percent said they filled their Jewish needs “elsewhere,” again a factor the leadership failed to recognize.
That should serve “as a wake-up call to all the denominations,” Grotta said.

Interest in worship and spirituality is pronounced among newer as well as former members of Reform congregations, she said.

“What jumped out at us was the number of new people who join for worship, for spirituality, to learn how to become better Jews,” Grotta said. “The leaders didn’t get that at all.”
Money is also important, or rather the perceived value of what members get for their dues: 40 percent of former members of Reform congregations said they withdrew because membership was too expensive. Just 9 percent of the leadership thought cost was an issue.
Overall, the study shows that Reform Jews remain synagogue members if their congregation becomes their community, the place where their friends and family are.

Thirty-five percent of those who left Reform congregations said they “didn’t find community” at the synagogue, and 33 percent said it was because their “children didn’t connect” after they became b’nai mitzvah.
“If we don’t build a sense of community,” movement leaders warn in the study’s conclusion, then members of Reform congregations “will leave when they have received the services they want.”

Well no one asked me to be part of the survey, but if they had, I would have probably been very consistent with the above. The one thing that really strikes me as really odd, is how according to this study, Reform leaders didn’t get that “new people who join for worship, for spirituality, to learn how to become better Jews“. I mean how can that be? Does the Reform Leadership really think so little “spiritually” of their laity? Who knows?

Also the feedback regarding the importance of feeling a sense of community hit home. I know that this is something Tamara and I struggle with big time. 

Last but not least is the high cost of membership! I for one and cash poor and there for have a really hard time giving up the large amounts often needed to meet the average cost of membership. Especially when the community does nothing (or very little) to provide me with the kinds of learning and observance opportunities, I’m looking for. Now I’m not saying that my attitude is the greatest on this one, but it is, what it is!

Anyhow, both articles are very interesting and worth checking. I would love to know what our contributing/reading Reform-nicks make of all this, especially the JBS’s. Does this data reflect your experience and what do you think it means moving forward for the Reform Movement?

Also a big hat tip to Rabbi Andy for letting me know about these two articles via his Ideas blog.

Be well and happy day 2 of Chanukah!