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Friday, February 11, 1MB
“No Room At The Top”
EDITOR’S NOTE: This Is the third in a six-part series by out-
rtaadinf Jewish college students and young adults. The articles
have been edited from a symposium entitled "Youth Looks at the
Jewish Community," presented at the recent General Assembly of
the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds in Montreal.
The following article Is by Wilton 8. Sogg of Cleveland.
The dilemma of Jewish youth
may be reflected in the recent
remarks of a rabbi to the effect
that “our greatest problem today
may well be the fact that we
have no Jewish problem at all.”
The same attitude has been ex
pressed with respect to the busi
ness world and the non-Jewish
community.
It strikes me as ironic that for
years we have complained abqyt
the second-class citizen status of
Jewish students at universities,
and now decry the fact that our
Jewish students have found the
academic environment so free of
anti-Semitic forces that we fear
for the loss of their Jewish
values.
We have blown our trumpets
and marched around the barriers
for so many years, that now,
when those walls have come
tumbling down, we seem to be at
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a loss for a rallying cry.
Our present open society re
quires a re-thinking and recon
ciliation of our goals. It is that
open society which provides the
escape valve and the alternative
arenas of service and responsi
bility to those who could be, but
will not be, the future leaders
of the Jewish community.
In the past, opportunities for
Jewish youth were confined to
the Jewish community; the al
ternatives were participation or
withdrawal. This kept many
leaders within a closed circle.
Now, because of our new altern
atives, the present leaders of the
Jewish community must be even
more forceful in their efforts to
attract and involve our genera
tion.
Any such efforts must come to
grip with a seeming inconsistency
in our goals. The community
must re-orient itself so that par
ticipation in the non-Jewish com
munity does not preclude deep
involvement in Judaism. As long
as I can remember, I have been
taught that the ideal is to be a
good American and a good Jew.
For a generation instilled with
the idea of an open society, this
creates a tension. I believe that
the tension can be lessened by
making Jewish activities more
relevant to the mainstream of
American life.
Much of the recent civil rights
activity, for example, has found
its expression through various
church institutions. We must find
a way to permit similar expres
sions in American terms through
our Jewish institutions.
Somewhere between the fear
of assimilation and the drive for
acceptance lies a balance which
is not only desirable but bene
ficial. The lesson is one of dual
responsibility, dual participation,
dual service.
Where are such lessons found?
In our religious schools, temples,
homes, and other institutions
which touch young people, shap
ing their lives and values. I
contend that our religious
schools, the principal insti
tution for instilling these
values, have failed in this effort.
I believe that our religious
schools fail because their objec-
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tives are poorly defined, if at all.
The greatest concern I have
seen evidenced in the schools is
over attendance—we bestow gold
buttons for perfect attendance;
never mind what we do with
them once we get them there.
Parents and the community at
large demand a Jewish education
for us, without really under
standing “why.”
The education seems to be the
"end,” and not the means. As a
result, the whole process often
becomes drudgery and a bore.
“JEWISH CIVICS COURSE”
What we need in our religious
schools is a course in “Jewish
civics,” so that we can learn
about the history, goals, and in
stitutions of both the national
Jewish community and our own
hometown. Such training would
make us better citizens of our
local Jewish community and in
crease our involvement in it.
Thus, Jewish education becomes
not an end in itself, but is the
means to more meaningful par
ticipation in and identification
with Judaism.
THE COLLEGE YEARS
And what of those limbo years
when young people leave the
temple religious schools and go
off to college? We encourage
them to make non-Jewish friends
and take part in all campus ac
tivities; and then we demand
Hillel membership, and mourn
their loss of Jewish values while
away from home.
The questions to which we are
here addressing ourselves all re
fer to “young people.” But can
you lump us all together? Abso
lutely not. Jewish youth consists
of a number of widely different
groups from the teens through
the thirties; married and single;
male and female; the high school
educated and those with advanc
ed degrees; the very poor and the
very rich; those deeply proud of
being Jewish and those attempt
ing desperately to deny it.
There is no simple panacea for
reaching and involving all of us.
No two human beings are alike;
how can anyone expect all young
Jews to respond in the same
way?
Any effort at attracting indi
viduals to Judaism and to active
participation in the Jewish com
munity must take into account
the various elements which have
shaped the life and ideals of the
individual. Perhaps the most im
portant influence is the family
and the home. Parents may say
as much by what they do not do
as by what they do. Many parents
insist that their children attr->d
religious schools, attend temple,
observe Jewish holidays by
ing home from school, while they
lead lives which reflect none of
this. It’s the old story of “do as
I say, not as I do.”
It should not be surprising
that against this background, as
soon os parental pressures for
token participation are relieved,
that all youthful participation
ends—and sometimes the retreat
from Judaism begins. Fortunate
ly, in many cases this retreat is
only temporary, and is only a
natural part of the exercise of
college freedoms.
A significant factor in involve
ment after college seems to be
the social structure and the re
sources of each individual Jew
ish community. Service and re
sponsibility naturally take time.
The whole issue of “involve
ment” and “identification” with
in the Jewish community has all
too frequently confused the ends
and the means. Why do we want
more people? Why do we want
more dollars?
We have to ask: “Involvement
for what?”
The task of moulding the Jew
ish community as we would have
it becomes easier and more ef
fectively accomplished if com
munity objectives are reconsider
ed and articulated.
TIME OF REBELLION
This is the era of the indi
vidual. Adolescence is a time of
rebellion, of battling for individ
uality. Any effort which denies
this, any effort to reach all of us
by the same means, any effort
which assumes that an approach
to one can be an approach to all,
that effort is doomed.
I plead for greater thought and
concern to develop and keep
young people within the leader
ship of the Jewish community.
The classic relationship of gene
ration to generation has been
that of confrontation and conflict
We find no such conflicts be
tween our generation and that of
our parents; rather we sense a
real desire for meaningful work.
But there is a need for know-how
which converts these mutually
affirmative feelings into a means
of moving young people into
positions of responsibility within
the Jewish community.
We are a generation of doers.
What we need is a sign that
there is, in fact, a place for us—
if we earn it and deserve it.
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