How Spiritual Are America’s Jews?
The first-ever comparative national study of spirituality among American Jews and Christians demonstrates that young Jews are more spiritually inclined on every available measure than their elders. The historic large gap in spiritual orientation between Jews and others is narrowing, especially among younger adults, those 35 and under. The S3K Synagogue Studies Institute report, written by Professors Steven M. Cohen and Lawrence A. Hoffman, both of Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion, draws upon a web-based national survey of 1596 Jews and 1520 respondents drawn from the general population.
This growth of spiritual receptivity among young adult Jews can be attributed to 3 factors:
- The growth in the number of Orthodox Jews, especially among people under 35.
- The parallel, and even more substantial, growth of intermarried families and Jews by choice, both signifying the growth of Jews with Christian parents, husbands and wives. These family members appear to render their Jewish relatives more open to, and comfortable with, the ideas, expressions and language of spirituality.
- Even non-Orthodox Jews with two Jewish parents (a shrinking population sector, albeit still a majority) are more receptive to spiritual language than older counterparts.
As ethnic ties among American Jews diminish — with more non-Jewish parents, spouses, children, friends and neighbors — American Judaism is becoming, in broad terms, less ethnic and more religiously and spiritually oriented.
These findings have serious implications for Jewish communal policy makers, rabbis, educators, and planners. More American Jews are expressing interest in the study and experience of spirituality. The two population segments showing especially elevated spiritual concerns are precisely the two major demographic growth sectors of the Jewish population: the Orthodox, and Jews with at least one non-Jewish nuclear family member.
As spiritually oriented American Jews grow in number, seminaries will have to educate students to show comfort with spiritual language, and help congregants with their spiritual search. Congregational rabbis, especially those serving large numbers of intermarried families or the Jewish children of the intermarried, will find greater demand and greater receptivity to spiritual language and concerns in the years to come.
Join the conversation with study authors Steven M. Cohen and Lawrence Hoffman.
Full report, http://www.synagogue3000.org/files/S3KReportHowSpiritual.pdf
April 1st, 2009 at 10:51 pm
Shmuel Rosner from the Jerusalem Post comments, http://forward.com/articles/104681/
April 7th, 2009 at 10:32 am
Ed Case, InterFaithFamily.com comments on the study, http://www.interfaithfamily.com/blogs/Network/statistics/attracting-interfaith-families-through-jewish-spirituality/
April 9th, 2009 at 8:33 am
J.J. Goldberg’s take on the study from the Forward, http://forward.com/articles/104681/
April 14th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
I am hoping that there is some deep-seated yearning for spirituality amongst many Jews. I found this type of spirituality missing in contemporary Judaism. I wrote a book, Secrets of Jewish Spiritual Living, which has just been published. It’s based upon the forgotten writings of Rabbi Alfred G. Moses. It’s for both Jews and Non-Jews. I see it as the universal guide to manifesting health joy and success by helping you find the Divine Harmony at the center of your life. I like to refer to it as “The Jewish Secret”. I hope that it can serve as launching pad for spirituality based upon Judaic teachings. The book can be viewed and read online FOR FREE at
http://jewishspiritualliving.com and is also available on Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble as well as through bookstores nationwide. My blog is available at http://jewishspiritualliving.net This is my labor of love!!!
April 14th, 2009 at 4:58 pm
Nurturing the Spiritual Lives of Our Children
According to the March 2009 report, How Spiritual Are America’s Jew?, spirituality is one of the gateways into meaningful Jewish life, a gateway that the Jewish community has neglected. The authors of the report, Steven Cohen and Lawrence Hoffman, find that Jews lack the language to talk about God. Without language to describe spiritual experiences, those experiences are fleeting.
Since I started writing for children about God, I did so because in most Jewish materials I found, God was missing, at least the kind of God I could believe in. All children come to us with an innate spirituality. What they don’t have is the language to express it. We need to give them the language to talk about God, the tools to reflect and explore their spiritual experiences. Spiritual experience is a given. Spiritual awareness must be learned or it will be remain dormant for a lifetime.
Most of the stories about faith and God I found (and there weren’t many Jewish ones) stifled the imagination and didn’t relate to the world of childhood. I wrote God’s Paintbrush and In God’s Name to encourage children to have a conversation about God, to imagine God in the landscape of their lives – learning to ride a bike, getting lost, feeling lonely. I wanted children to be able to do more than parrot back names for God from the prayer book, but to name God out of their own experiences – to call God - Father, Mother, Friend.
Jewish education is more than the transmission of information, knowledge about ritual, customs and history; it is also about teaching our children to be gracious and grateful, to have courage during difficult times, to have a sense of wonder and appreciation, of joy and purpose. That is what it means to nurture their spiritual lives.
Some Children’s Books by Sandy Eisenberg Sasso
Jewish Lights Publishing
God’s Paintbrush
In God’s Name
But God Remembered
Noah’s Wife, The Story of Naamah
God in Between
Cain and Abel- Finding the fruits of Peace
Adam and Eve’s First Sunset
Paraclete Press
Butterflies Under Our Hats
Reconstructionist Press
Siddur Kol HaNoar – The Voice of Children – A Siddur for Shabbat (a children’s prayer book)
Co-edited with Jeffrey Schein
May 11th, 2009 at 10:16 am
Rabbi Rami Shapiro weighs in, http://rabbirami.blogspot.com/2009/05/jewish-spirituality-survey.html
May 11th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
I just read Rabbi Rami Shapiro’s posting as linked to by Aaron Spiegel. I could not agree with him more. I too believe than rabbinic Judaism is dead and the rabbis are simply in denial. I have tried to provide an alternative message based upon the Old Testament in my book, “Secrets of Jewish Spiritual Living” at
http://jewishspiritualliving.com but I am afraid that it will fall on deaf ears.
And so it is…….