While previous generations of Jews were concerned about questions relating to anti-Semitism and the Holocaust, which revolved around a survivalist agenda, this generation, says Rabbi Schwartz, is no longer motivated by those same things. Instead, they care about matters of membership, meaning in life, spirituality and God. We, as Jewish leaders, have to follow the new priorities Baby boomers are classic religious shoppers. We no longer need to stick with the tribe, if you will, because the outside world is no longer threatening to us or our religion We need to move away from the definition of inclusivity we operate under. Our agenda cannot be just ethnically focused.
People are in search for a meaning and a purpose.
Some of these Jewish seekers find their way to a local synagogue. Unless synagogues begin to ask themselves questions about what they can do to speak to the Jews who have not yet walked through their doors, the Jewish community will continue to dwindle and decline. For anyone to believe that Jewish continuity can be ensured by passing rabbinical resolutions against intermarriage and sending young American Jews on free Birthright trips to Israel is to completely misunderstand the religious dynamics at work in today s American society. For Judaism to survive, it must free itself of ethnic chauvinism and a focus upon the Middle East and return, instead, to the humane and universal Jewish religious tradition which, in reality, has much to say to the spiritual searching of the present generation. Given the commitment of time, energy and resources to the Birthright program, however, such a return does not seem to be on the current agenda.