How do the unaffiliated Jews of America connect to Judaism?
A recent study commissioned by the Workmen’s Circle/Arbeiter Ring seeks to respond to this question and finds that “values” may be one answer. One of the fastest growing segments of America’s Jewish population is made up of those Jews who consider themselves Jewishly engaged but do not affiliate with any synagogue.
According to this study, nearly 1 million Jews now fall into this category. A large proportion have shabbat dinner in their home, fast on Yom Kippur, and pray. Perhaps most importantly to those of us who work in the Jewish social justice world, a majority of engaged but unaffiliated Jews, connect to Judaism through Jewish values and specifically social justice. In the words of the study...
“They still show numerous signs of Jewish engagement. They also tend to be attached to Israel and demonstrate noticeably strong commitments to economic justice and social equality.
They are also exceptional in their progressive political views. Of note, nearly twice as many of the engaged and congregationally unaffiliated Jews compared to others see economic justice issues as important “to a great extent,” identify as pro-labor to a great extent, and see the current federal tax system as unfair.”
To find out more about engaged but unaffiliated American Jewry and to see some of the implications for encouraging Jewish communal work, take a look at the full article at http://circle.org/cultural-jews-release/
