Last fall, the Pew Survey Research Center released the results of their extensive study, providing a detailed Portrait of Jewish Americans. Among the survey's sobering results was the fact that the practice of Judaism seemed to be declining at an alarming rate. And the man who may have been the least surprised at the results of the Pew survey was Dr. Ron Wolfson, Fingerhut Professor of Education at American Jewish University, President of Synagogue 3000/Next DOR, and author of Relational Judaism: Using the Power of Relationships to Transform the Jewish Community (Jewish Lights Publishing).
Published several months before the results of the Pew survey, Relational Judaism identifies the problems facingJewish organizations in America today, explains why those problems have persisted and grown, and, most importantly, offers a prescription for successfully solving them by having our institutions re-engage in a meaningful way with individuals within the Jewish community.
Speaking about his book, Dr. Wolfson points out, "The late 20th century model of Jewish engagement trended towards big event programming, committee work and that sort of thing, which, at the earlier part of the 20th century actually worked. But people's lives have changed. The availability of the Internet as a source of Jewish information, the widespread adoption of American individualism, even things like donor-designated giving, and other social indicators have changed the landscape of 'work.' So the first thing we need to do to move forward and answer the results of the Pew survey is to get a clear understanding of what's going on and how the transactional/programmatic model is not nearly as effective as it used to be in engaging people in organized Jewish life."
BOOKS DR. RON WOLFSON
LBJL March 2014 | www.lbjewishlife.com
Watch Dr. Ron Wolfson's presentation at the FJMC 2013 Convention