Synagogue Affiliation: Key to Israel Ties
In a new study, “Beyond Distancing: Young Adult American Jews and Their Alienation from Israel,” Steven M. Cohen and Ari Y. Kelman document a “growing distancing from Israel of [non-Orthodox] American Jews [that] seems to be most pronounced among younger Jews.”
Alarmingly, “Beyond Distancing” reports that among 1,800 interviewees under the age of 35, only 48 percent agreed that “Israel’s destruction would be a personal tragedy” and only 54 percent are “comfortable with the idea of a Jewish state.” Drs. Cohen and Kelman, strong advocates of Jewish peoplehood, fear that “these feelings of attachment may well be changing, as warmth gives way to indifference, and indifference may even give way to downright alienation.”
A key to deciphering these troublesome findings is the omission of Orthodox young adults, bypassing as much as one sixth of this sector of American Jewry. Why were they removed? Based upon other studies, the researchers assumed that Orthodox engagement with Israel has increased over the years. This is true because young Orthodox men and women are part of a religious movement and culture that affirm ties to Jews around the world. For that reason, a strong connection to fellow Jews is evident among young people within other movements as well, notably within the ranks of Conservative Judaism.
In 2003, the Ratner Center for the Study of Conservative Judaism at the Jewish Theological Seminary published the results of interviews with 1,000 college graduates from households affiliated with Conservative synagogues. Of these, it is encouraging to read that 89 percent assented that “I feel connected to the Jewish people,” 61 percent agreed that “I have a responsibility to help Jews around the world,” and 98 percent affirmed that “I am proud to be a Jew.”
We should be proud that 60 percent of these 22-year-olds have spent time in Israel, 15 percent have studied Hebrew for college credit, and 16 percent say they could “see myself living permanently in Israel.”
Despite the anti-Israel climate on campuses in 2002-03, during the second intifada, more than 90 percent of respondents from Conservative-affiliated households agreed that Israel is either “important” or “very important” to them. The Ratner report noted that far from winning them over or causing them to defect from supporting Israel, “the anti-Zionist vitriol that they face on many campuses has resulted in a substantial rise in this cohort’s sympathy toward Israel.”
The authors of the study concluded that these young Jewish adults from Conservative backgrounds “score high on Jewish peoplehood. National feeling and pride in their heritage dominate the list of virtues that the students consider highly important: remembering the Holocaust, caring about Israel, countering anti-Semitism, feeling a connection to other Jews.”
These gratifying results from the young people within our movement were exceeded during follow-up interviews with the subset who were alumni of Ramah camps. More than 90 percent of these former counselors and campers affirmed that Israel is “very important” to them; 63 percent had taken Jewish studies courses, often including Hebrew language; 64 percent of counselors and 47 percent of campers had signed pro-Israel petitions; and 57 percent of the counselors and 30 percent of the campers had attended pro-Israel rallies.
The Ratner Ramah study concluded that “this high and almost universal expression of strong attachment to the Jewish homeland goes hand in hand with the Zionist approach of Ramah. The curriculum at Ramah camps – with celebrations of Israel’s achievements, learning about Israel’s geography and its people, learning and speaking some Hebrew, singing Israeli songs and getting to know many counselors from Israel – enhances the ties of its campers and counselors.”
“Beyond Distancing” issues an urgent warning to American Jewry. Jewish communal leaders cannot allow the growing alienation of sectors of our younger generation from the Jewish state. Fortunately, studies surveying affiliated Orthodox and Conservative young Jews suggest a remedy, and likely it would be evident as well in future research among other Israel-oriented synagogue movements.
While assimilation and the concomitant erosion of a sense of Jewish peoplehood take place most frequently among families unengaged with congregations, the opposite is the case among synagogue member families. Conservative synagogues are places not only to pray and study Torah, but also to connect members with fellow Jews through sermons, lectures, classes, discussions, programs, mailings, internet postings, trips, and other activities.
Conservative synagogue members dwell within a culture that creates Jewishly identified homes, increasing the likelihood that they will send sons and daughters into programs encouraging connections to other Jews: camps, youth groups, schools, Israel experiences, Hillels, and JCCs. Long-term synagogue affiliation with Conservative synagogues offers the best formula for sustaining close ties with Israel.
Alan Silverstein is the rabbi of Congregation Agudath Israel of West Essex in Caldwell, New Jersey.
