A “handbook” for Reform rabbis containing ideas on how to bridge the generation gap that alienates Jewish college youth from home and synagogue has been published by the youth committee of the Central Conference of American Rabbis. The 44-page booklet, titled “Working With College Students — A Handbook for Rabbis” noted that three out of every four Jewish youths of college age are college students but many of them regard the religious establishment and Jewish values to be “irrelevant” to the problems of everyday life.
According to Rabbi Jack Stern, CCAR youth chairman, many Jewish youngsters are disturbed by the Vietnam war, the draft and civil rights problems. They must be made to understand “the relationship between the teachings of Judaism and the ideals they carry out into action,” he said. “They reject identification with the organized Jewish community since they see the establishment as ‘phony and hypocritical,’ too frequently indifferent to and fearful of social change.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
