Jewish Students Cite Need for Changes in Jewish Community

According to 65% of 600 respondents to a questionnaire sent to one thousand Jewish students on campuses all over the country. changes will have to be made in Jewish communal life if the Jewish community wants to encourage youth to participate in it. The survey, conducted by the Chicago Chapter of the American Jewish Committee, sought to elicit responses from students on; “Jewish establishment;” religious services; Jewish identity; Jewish education; reading matter, and reactions to Israel. The complete report, entitled “Not Just A Number…” was written by Sheryl Leonard, AJC’s Midwest Director of Public Relations and Education. In explaining the title, Miss Leonard stated. “Young people are not numbers or categories. They are distinct individuals with deep perceptions, concerns and ideas.” Dr. Bernard Beck, Associate Professor of Sociology. Northwestern University, in his commentary on the survey said; “While there is some independence of answers to different questions, there is a core of agreement on the ‘positive’ side of all major questions. Even allowing for the weakness of ecological correlations, it appears that most respondents have a pattern of opinions which should be reassuring to anyone worried about the waywardness of Jewish youth.” Some of the findings of the survey were as follows; On what represented the “Jewish establishment” to the student, 17% replied that it was Jewish organizations; 15%-financially powerful and influential Jews; 13%-the Jewish community; 9%-synagogues and temples, and 5%-the family structure. To 30% of the students, “establishment” was a combination of 2 or 3 of these categories; 6% found it was all of the above, and 5% gave no answer.

On the subject of attendance at religious services, 48% attend on holidays only; 19% attend regularly; 17% stay away entirely, and 16% go occasionally. Regarding the question as to whether or not something should be done to encourage greater participation with the religious community, 65% stated “yes” and 34% said “no.” Those who expressed having no concern in this topic were less than 1%. Some of the specific statements by students regarding change in the synagogues structure were; Don’t engage merely in rituals and unrelated prayers. Spend more time on philosophical and cultural meanings rather than on repetition of rigidly structured services; Help the family to learn about holidays and customs together; so they can be enjoyed as a family unit; Sermons are often too long and meaningless to the immediate urgencies and relevancies of today’s boring issues; Redirect “establishment” groups back to religious ideals instead of using the synagogue as a fund raising device; Sponsor more youth-centered activities and make facilities more readily available to them. On the Shabbat and holidays, invite students away from home to the homes of congregants. Students should not be charged a fee for attendance at High Holiday services. Engage the interest of youth and demonstrate that they, too, have a stake in their religious and cultural heritage. Along with their suggestions for change, a number of students expressed their frustrations with statements to the effect that “what’s the use of responding…no one’s going to change anyway.”

On the subject of having a sense of Jewish identity, 93% responded in the affirmative and 6% responded negatively. Less than 1% left the question unanswered. Although the majority expressed a sense of Jewish identity, only 54% of this group felt something should be done to encourage greater participation with the religious community. In giving their reasons for what constitutes the basis for their sense of Jewish identity, the following emerged; 24% cited cultural/intellectual reasons; 13%-moral/ethical; 11%-religious; 10%-family; 7%-social; 7%-Israel; 28% felt it was a combination of the above factors. The word “pride” was used quite frequently in many of these positive responses. On the subject of a need for more basic Jewish education, 80% responded there was such need and 20% felt Jewish education was unnecessary. 50% stated that Jewish education should begin at the pre-school level; 25% at the primary grade level, and 16% at the upper grade level. While “home” was not included in the questionnaire as one of the levels for starting Jewish education, it was written in by 7% of the respondents. The remaining 2% had no response to this question. Some of the comments written in by students on the subject of Jewish education included such remarks as:” As schools are constructed now, they create apathetic Jews…make Sunday School progressive and experimental…include what is happening today…more sociological information on Jews in America…teach more comparative religion and basics of love and humanity…more history and heritage…” On the subject of Israel. 88% stated that it did have special meaning for them; for 12% Israel had no meaning. Yet 8% out of the 12% who had a negative response to Israel, did express a strong sense of Jewish Identity, and 6% felt there is a need for more Jewish education.