Recently in Demographics Category

In a conversation about Shabbat the following comments were made:

"I think there are a lot of 20-somethings who have already decided they want to observe Shabbat...but they haven't found a place for that observance in Reform Judaism.  And particularly if you are not married with kids.  If you are single or even if you are partnered, if you don't have kids, there is really no place for you.  I have found this in New York, even.  There are a few minyanim, but other than that, if my husband and I go to synagogue, we don't have kids so we don't fit into the Tot Shabbat crowd, and if we go to the adult service, it is either people who are retired or it is a singles event.  I mean, there's just not a place for young people who want to observe Shabbat."

(Nicki Greninger, 5th yr. rabbinical & education student at Hebrew Union College - Jewish Instiute of Religion, New York campus)

"I am wondering how many closet Shabbat observers we have in our congregations, of all ages.  Because I would say it is very lonely to be a 50-something-year-old Shabbat observer in a Reform congregation as well.  It is not unique to the 20 year olds.  And there may be more of us than we realize..."

(Iris Petroff, Temple Society of Concord, Syracuse, NY)

The youth in our congregations and even those a little bit younger than that who are attending our camps, our youth programs in North America, and our programs in Israel are having experiences in many of those settings where they are living in the time and space of Shabbat; living the whole week in anticipation of that moment. Many of us who work with these teens offer them these opportunities; we encourage them to explore their Judaism, and to explore their relationship with God. With our kids who get further and further into our programs, the ones who go to EIE and the ones who come to our programs at KUTZ, they are crying out for more of theose kinds of experiences. We find ways to give these experiences to them, and then they go back home. It is very disappointing and a big letdown for a lot of them, for a number of reasons. One obviously is the basic; home is not camp. We have probably all heard the story about the little boy who goes to camp and comes home and tells his mom about how much he loved Havdallah. And she says, "Well, we can do that here." And he says, "But we don't have a lake!" We are succeeding with a lot of these kids. They are having these moments, experiences and connections. But then there is a disconnect between that and what is happening in our institutions and in the Movement as a whole.

(Caryn Roman)

So what can we do?