Blogging Elul Day 16: Change

"This is an hour of change." So begins the poem by Leah Goldberg, one that we read in our siddur, Mishkan T'fillah. For forty years now, it's been clear that the Jewish People has been at a tipping point, a nexus of change. More than just the pendulum shifts we've experienced before (from acceptance to oppression, peoplehood to religion, etc.), we are in the midst of a total redefinition of what it means to be a Jew.

And the truth is, no one has the answer as to what it all will mean. However, this book  , American Post-Judaism, by Shaul Magid, offers a controversial and radical exploration of where the future is going. Reviewed by Rabbi Jack Riemer (himself an excellent thinker on the topic of transitions, and thanks to Peter Grumbacher for pointing it out), the book suggests that

we now live in a post-halachic, post-Holocaust, post-ethnic, post-Judaism, and post-monotheistic world. He claims that the liberal movements within Judaism have had their day, that the focus on peoplehood will not endure much longer outside of Israel, and that only an uncompromising Orthodoxy and an innovative Jewish Renewal movement will survive.

Now, Magid, himself a friend of the Renewal movement, has banged on this drum before, and there is always a question of agenda with such books. HOWEVER, as my teacher David Aaron reminded us, sometimes it's not about the answers, it's about the questions. We are in the midst of change, and it's increasingly clear that these changes are not about tactics (how to raise money, how to support Israel, how to get people to join synagogues, etc.) or even strategy (how can the synagogue best serve the needs of Millennials) but cultural and generational.The question, then, becomes not how we harness the change or resist the change, but how we embrace the change. Or, as Leah Goldberg would put it: shall we turn back, my brother, my sister, or cross over?

we now live in a post-halachic, post-Holocaust, post-ethnic, post-Judaism, and even post-monotheistic world. He claims that the liberal movements within Judaism have had their day, that the focus on peoplehood will not endure much longer outside of Israel, and that only an uncompromising Orthodoxy and an innovative Jewish renewal movement will survive. - See more at: http://ejewishphilanthropy.com/american-post-judaism-offers-bold-predictions-that-may-very-well-come-true/#sthash.yzXuiToL.dpuf

we now live in a post-halachic, post-Holocaust, post-ethnic, post-Judaism, and even post-monotheistic world. He claims that the liberal movements within Judaism have had their day, that the focus on peoplehood will not endure much longer outside of Israel, and that only an uncompromising Orthodoxy and an innovative Jewish renewal movement will survive. - See more at: http://ejewishphilanthropy.com/american-post-judaism-offers-bold-predictions-that-may-very-well-come-true/#sthash.yzXuiToL.dpuf

we now live in a post-halachic, post-Holocaust, post-ethnic, post-Judaism, and even post-monotheistic world. He claims that the liberal movements within Judaism have had their day, that the focus on peoplehood will not endure much longer outside of Israel, and that only an uncompromising Orthodoxy and an innovative Jewish renewal movement will survive. - See more at: http://ejewishphilanthropy.com/american-post-judaism-offers-bold-predictions-that-may-very-well-come-true/#sthash.yzXuiToL.dpuf

we now live in a post-halachic, post-Holocaust, post-ethnic, post-Judaism, and even post-monotheistic world. He claims that the liberal movements within Judaism have had their day, that the focus on peoplehood will not endure much longer outside of Israel, and that only an uncompromising Orthodoxy and an innovative Jewish renewal movement will survive. - See more at: http://ejewishphilanthropy.com/american-post-judaism-offers-bold-predictions-that-may-very-well-come-true/#sthash.yzXuiToL.dpuf