Throw open the doors and windows

I’ve scratched the word “unaffiliated” from my personal vocabulary. I’m tired of the narrow and inaccurate world it describes.

The Jewish world can no longer be mapped as a series of concentric circles with “deeply engaged” at its bulls-eye and “unaffiliated” left completely off.

I realize that ultimately what makes us Jewish is the Torah. Beyond our shared history, culture and values, we are defined by our community’s relationship to God.

But synagogue affiliation is no longer an accurate test of Jewish engagement or interest. Moreover, by dividing the Jewish world along the lines of membership, we lose a valuable chance to see and embrace innovation and renewal.

The Jewish world is changing. We all know it. We can feel it; we can see it at community events; and many are worried.

Our “oy vey”-ing is the source of countless conferences, research projects and books contemplating the erosion of Jewish culture and identity. Our modern challenge indeed is, “Will our children and grandchildren be Jewish? How can we ensure Jewish continuity?”

One thing is sure: If we are to thrive as Jewish Americans, our community must be built with many open doors and windows. We must allow and celebrate diversity and quirky, fresh approaches to authentic Jewish life.

Spiritual hopping

In early September, I read a post on “Jewschool.com” that caught my attention. A contributor calling herself “Shteebelhopper” has taken on the task of “hopping” from synagogue to shul to minyan to discover the best of each. She is fueled, it seems, by a hunger for a prayer community that speaks to her culture and soul.

She’s proof for what I already know about myself: Many modern Jews want to really feel connected. They don’t want to attend just to stave off assimilation, but they want to feel and to know that their participation matters. They want to mesh their modern, creative American selves with their Jewish souls.

That may be nothing new, but what is remarkable is that today Shteebelhopper has a place to share her spiritual and cultural yearnings. She can find countless virtual watering holes where she can argue, commiserate, brainstorm and share with like-minded Jewish souls.

Shteebelhopper, if I may use her as a symbol, is not affiliated with a synagogue. But can anyone call her apathetic or unengaged? Rather she’s taking Judaism personally and deeply. That is a sign of great renewal, but it’s also part of a bigger picture.

B’nai B’rith Magazine described “The New Jew” in its Fall 2005 cover story: “Independent minded to a fault, these fresh-faced iconoclasts are thirsting for Jewish meaning and community, even though their definition of those terms often differs radically from the commonplace. Even though they often are ambivalent about the nature of their Jewish identity.

“Bypassing mainstream institutions, they are fashioning boutique Judaisms of their own. And in the process they have morphed from a curiosity into a formidable force — and no wonder. For better or worse, they may be redefining American Judaism.”

This is part of a real cultural renaissance, according to Hebrew University sociology professor Steven Cohen. He and Hebrew Union College research fellow Ari Kelman shared the preliminary findings from their new study of Jewish culture and identity, which was commissioned by the UJA-Federation of New York for the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Foundation and the National Foundation for Jewish Culture.

Cohen was quoted in a JTA story last week: “There’s indirect evidence that young Jews care about being Jewish, but they are expressing it in ways that are not institutional.”

So how are they engaged? Cohen asked. Through friends and family, cultural events such as film festivals and concerts, and through Jewish social service opportunities, to which young Jews flock in great numbers.

“Above all, Cohen and Kelman say, the younger generation is expressing its Jewish identity through culture — a vibrant, socially inclusive, hybrid culture centered in New York and a handful of other cities that draws upon popular youth culture with a distinct Jewish aesthetic,” according to the JTA story.

Ends in themselves

New York sits at the heart of this renewal, which goes far beyond gefilte fish and bar mitzvah suits. The city’s Jewish scene is pregnant with choices and variations, including Heeb Magazine, Jewish poetry slams, Kabbalistic yoga, environmental Jewish action, klezmer hip-hop concerts, young Yiddishists, in-your-face Jewish t-shirts, every denomination imaginable and countless people, gatherings and activities that lie beyond our existing categories.

There are exciting and important things happening here, too. I’m hoping for the return of Shalom Milwaukee, last year’s outdoor festival at the Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center. Under the hot September sun, Jews of all sorts came together and found a buffet of Jewish culture and community.

In addition to rich and varied education and family programs in synagogues, our community offers the annual Jewish Film Festival, a JCC program that took place Sept. 25-29. The JCC-hosted Jewish Book and Culture Fair, which includes events beginning Nov. 7, brings in national authors for a diverse mix of programs.

These and all other wonderful local efforts (inside the institutional box and out) are refreshing, as they not only reach out but also revise and reinvent. They provide new and accessible ways into our community. And provided they lie within basic limits of Jewish authenticity and integrity, we should celebrate and welcome them all.

Now, this year, our urgent duty is to throw open the doors and windows of our Jewish community and encourage this renewal, and not simply as a means to draw participants into our synagogues and communal institutions. We must accept these varied Jewish journeys as ends in themselves. Jews busily engaged in something Jewish points to a living culture and a stronger, healthier community.

Indeed, we are all enriched by a Jewish world that is wide, colorful and creative. When our community offers more ways to get inside, we all benefit.

As we mark the end of one Jewish year and the beginning of another, I wish for our community to have space for all of us – whether we wear a wig or a piercing, whether we play drums as part of prayer or stand in silence, whether we learn Torah or Yiddish or Zionism. These are all journeys for our Jewish souls, and they all have to be right.

May we be moved by our love of Judaism, God or each other rather than propelled only by fear of our extinction.

And may we have a healthy, prosperous, sweet year — perhaps to the beat of Chassidic reggae or hip-hop klezmer. Shanah tovah.