Independent Jewish Spirituality Online
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Young, Jewish professional is an insulting, loaded term that the Jewish community needs to do away with.
Before PunkTorah became a non-profit, Jewish multimedia company and hub for independent Jewish spirituality, I often went on diatribes about young Jewish professionals. I mentioned how much I hate the term in PunkTorah’s latest book and probably the third most read article on PunkTorah is about the secret language of these strange beasts.
Problem is, I’ve become one.
Yes, I am a young, Jewish professional. I run a Jewish non-profit. I am becoming a rabbi. I am a lay spiritual leader at the world’s only online, independent chavurah. I find myself in-and-out of the young, Jewish professional “scene” and I have to admit, I am normally able to hold-my-own in a crowd, but these suit and tie, business card flashing, hair gel coma inducing events of romantic hookups and business deals give me panic attacks and warm thoughts about psychiatric drug commercials. I recall one event I went to at a college, where in the intensity of name tags, Jewish Geography and let’s-take-an-arial-photo-of-us-on-my-Smartphone-so-I-can-publish-it-to-the-young-Jewish-professionals-Facebook made me want to run to the bathroom and hold myself in the fetal position until it all blew over like some kind of Yiddish tornado swallowing up the town.
Obviously I have strong feelings about this. So I made a YouTube video about it. Enjoy.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ux5IocEMjZw
Jews love starting organizations, more than anything else. And the worse the acronym, the better. Without cheating, try to figure out what any of these organizations do:
CPMAJO, JINSA, JHSGW, NJCRAC, COEJL, CAHJP, EAJC, COJECO, BACJRR…
How often do we start “organizations” with “Mission Statements” full of snappy buzzwords?
What does that even mean?
Nothing. Not a single thing.
We can form as many organizations as we want, that DOES NOT mean that anything is going to get done. It just means that a bunch of people are going to sit around in a room, talk about all the things that they want, talk about themselves, and accomplish nothing.
This is especially true with “outreach” organizations. The very word “outreach” implies that some people are already on the outside, while others are on the inside. Of course, those people within an organization are the insiders, trying to engage others.
But here’s the interesting irony: people don’t want to be friends with an organization, people want to be friends with people. Community comes from personal interaction, not signing up for a committee.
The organization should be a tool for personal interaction, not the other way around.
Would you feel comfortable telling your secrets to PepsiCo? How about Wal-Mart?
No.
So how do we fix this?
We need to stop focusing on what we can do and look at we are doing.
What are we doing to bring Judaism to those who need it? How are we making Judaism more accessible and relevant to the 21st century? And when I say “we“, I’m not talking about the JCC or JNF or the ABCD or whatever. I’m asking all of us, personally:
What are YOU doing to live Jewishly?
No one is perfect, and no one, no matter who they are or say they are can live a perfect Jewish life. No one person can fulfill all the mitzvot. But remember, just because the road is long, it doesn’t give you an excuse to stand still. G-d only cares about how far you have walked on your own path.
So stop talking and get off your tuchus! Engage! Create something! Talk to people! Find out what they need, find out why they don’t care about being Jewish, why they can’t find Judaism meaningful to their 21st century daily lives.
Find this out and do something!
-Patrick and Michael
