Jewish Megatrends

Visionary solutions for a community ripe for transformational change—from fourteen leading innovators of Jewish life.

"Jewish Megatrends offers a vision for a community that can simultaneously strengthen the institutions that serve those who seek greater Jewish identification and attract younger Jews, many of whom are currently outside the orbit of Jewish communal life. Schwarz and his collaborators provide an exciting path, building on proven examples, that we ignore at our peril."
—from the Foreword

The American Jewish community is riddled with doubts about the viability of the institutions that well served the Jewish community of the twentieth century. Synagogues, Federations and Jewish membership organizations have yet to figure out how to meet the changing interests and needs of the next generation.

In this challenging yet hopeful call for transformational change, visionary leader Rabbi Sidney Schwarz looks at the social norms that are shaping the habits and lifestyles of younger American Jews and why the next generation is so resistant to participate in the institutions of Jewish communal life as they currently exist. He sets out four guiding principles that can drive a renaissance in Jewish life and gives evidence of how, on the margins of the Jewish community, those principles are already generating enthusiasm and engagement from the very millennials that the organized Jewish community has yet to engage.

Contributors—leading innovators from different sectors of the Jewish community—each use Rabbi Schwarz's framework as a springboard to set forth their particular vision for the future of their sector of Jewish life and beyond.

Visionary solutions for a community ripe for transformational change—from fourteen leading innovators of Jewish life.

"Jewish Megatrends offers a vision for a community that can simultaneously strengthen the institutions that serve those who seek greater Jewish identification and attract younger Jews, many of whom are currently outside the orbit of Jewish communal life. Schwarz and his collaborators provide an exciting path, building on proven examples, that we ignore at our peril."
—from the Foreword

The American Jewish community is riddled with doubts about the viability of the institutions that well served the Jewish community of the twentieth century. Synagogues, Federations and Jewish membership organizations have yet to figure out how to meet the changing interests and needs of the next generation.

In this challenging yet hopeful call for transformational change, visionary leader Rabbi Sidney Schwarz looks at the social norms that are shaping the habits and lifestyles of younger American Jews and why the next generation is so resistant to participate in the institutions of Jewish communal life as they currently exist. He sets out four guiding principles that can drive a renaissance in Jewish life and gives evidence of how, on the margins of the Jewish community, those principles are already generating enthusiasm and engagement from the very millennials that the organized Jewish community has yet to engage.

Contributors—leading innovators from different sectors of the Jewish community—each use Rabbi Schwarz's framework as a springboard to set forth their particular vision for the future of their sector of Jewish life and beyond.

Foreword xiii
Ambassador Stuart E. Eizenstat
Preface xvii

Part 1 The Changing Face of Jewish Identity in America
Jewish Megatrends: Charting the Course of the American Jewish Future 3
Rabbi Sidney Schwarz

Part 2 Perspectives from the American Jewish Community
Jewish Culture: What Really Counts? 43
Elise Bernhardt
Synagogues: Reimagined 54
Rabbi Sharon Brous
Jewish Family Foundations: "Come Together, Right Now" 67
Sandy Cardin
Israel and Jewish Life: A Twenty-First-Century Educational Vision 82
Dr. Barry Chazan and Anne Lanski
Denominationalism: History and Hopes 94
Dr. David Ellenson
"Getting" the Next Generation: Young Adults and the Jewish Future 107
Wayne L. Firestone
Jewish Social Justice: Looking Beyond Ourselves 122
Rabbi Jill Jacobs
Jewish Community Centers: Not Just a Gym and a Pool 135
Rabbi Joy Levitt
The Orthodox Difference 147
Rabbi Asher Lopatin
Interreligious Collaboration: American Judaism and Religious Pluralism 160
Rabbi Or N. Rose
On Tribes, Food, and Community 174
Nigel Savage
The Federation System: Loving Humanity and the Jewish People 188
Barry Shrage
Jewish Education: From Continuity to Meaning 202
Dr. Jonathan S. Woocher

Part 3 The Way Forward
Toward a Jewish Renaissance 219
Rabbi Sidney Schwarz

Notes 238
Suggestions for Further Reading 247
About the Author 250
Index 251