{"id":314,"date":"2007-07-30T11:12:48","date_gmt":"2007-07-30T11:12:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/virtualtalmud\/2007\/07\/the-way-forward.html"},"modified":"2007-07-30T11:12:48","modified_gmt":"2007-07-30T11:12:48","slug":"the-way-forward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/virtualtalmud\/2007\/07\/the-way-forward.html","title":{"rendered":"The Way Forward for Our Youth"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s interesting to see the tension between Rabbi Stern<\/a> and Rabbi Grossman\u2019s<\/a> posts\u2013the former portrays himself as the purveyor of substance and the latter as the purveyor of sizzle. What we need, of course, is both. It goes without saying that we need to make Judaism accessible and inviting, but it also needs to be grounded in a content that does more than take the things people are already doing and flavor them “Jewish.” As a Reconstructionist, I\u2019m a big believer in the collective wisdom of the Jewish people to make Jewish decisions\u2013this is why Judaism has evolved over time and remained an organic and relevant part of Jews\u2019 daily lives. So I don\u2019t think we need to tell young people what their Judaism should look like, they can figure that out for themselves.
\nWhat we do need to do is emphasize the importance of Jewish identity and of proudly and publicly proclaiming their allegiance to Jewish peoplehood. We need to offer them ideas of what our civilization has created (abiding sense of holiness in the world, justice, ethics, belief in the perfectability of the world, beauty, humor) and the tools they can use (sacred texts, Jewish history, social action, liturgy, music, art) to help create a meaningful and dynamic Judaism in their own time. Then we watch them go in directions we can\u2019t possibly imagine. The key is to get young Jews to care<\/em>, to be invested in the Jewish project, to understand that being Jewish is important\u2013possibly the most significant aspect of their being. It all flows from there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s interesting to see the tension between Rabbi Stern and Rabbi Grossman\u2019s posts\u2013the former portrays himself as the purveyor of substance and the latter as the purveyor of sizzle. What we need, of course, is both. It goes without saying that we need to make Judaism accessible and inviting, but it also needs to be…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":100,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-jewish-issues"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Way Forward for Our Youth - Virtual Talmud<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/virtualtalmud\/2007\/07\/the-way-forward.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Way Forward for Our Youth - Virtual Talmud\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It\u2019s interesting to see the tension between Rabbi Stern and Rabbi Grossman\u2019s posts\u2013the former portrays himself as the purveyor of substance and the latter as the purveyor of sizzle. What we need, of course, is both. It goes without saying that we need to make Judaism accessible and inviting, but it also needs to be…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/virtualtalmud\/2007\/07\/the-way-forward.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Virtual Talmud\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-07-30T11:12:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rabbi Joshua Waxman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Way Forward for Our Youth - Virtual Talmud","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/virtualtalmud\/2007\/07\/the-way-forward.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Way Forward for Our Youth - Virtual Talmud","og_description":"It\u2019s interesting to see the tension between Rabbi Stern and Rabbi Grossman\u2019s posts\u2013the former portrays himself as the purveyor of substance and the latter as the purveyor of sizzle. 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