PAC Conf Call Dec 12 Writeup

Presentation by Bruce Phillips

December 12, 2005

Bruce Phillips, a leading demographer of the Jewish community, and author of the 2004 San Francisco Jewish Community Study, spoke with the InterfaithFamily.com Network Professionals Advisory Circle on December 12, 2005 about how survey findings can inform outreach to interfaith families. The following topics were discussed:

• Whether interfaith couples feel welcomed in Jewish organizations
• Why we don't find as many interfaith couples in Jewish organizations 
• The importance of retaining members
• Jewish "social capital" and home-based programming
• The need to share and distribute expertise
• Conversion

Whether interfaith couples feel welcomed in Jewish organizations

In the National Jewish Population Survey 2000-01 ("NJPS"), intermarried people said they did not feel unwelcomed in Jewish organizations. Bruce said that scans which show that synagogues are not welcoming are misplaced because intermarrieds don't report that they feel unwelcomed. But Gary Schoenberg questioned whether people really feel welcomed, or their expectations have just been lowered - they don't expect to be invited to others' homes, for example. Bruce agreed that they do have lowered expectations. The NJPS question also focused on stigma ("as an interfaith family, do you feel welcomed").

Why we don't find as many interfaith couples in Jewish organizations

A main reason why more intermarrieds are not in Jewish organizations is that the non-Jewish partner is not familiar with Judaism. There is a need to familiarize non-Jewish partners with what the Jewish world is all about.

Dawn Kepler commented that a lot of people are making Jewish connections on their own, without formal affiliation.

It is important for outreach professionals to have in mind who they are trying to reach. For example:

• The "balance of religions" in the household make a big difference for a couple's orientation to outreach. Couples with a Jew by religion and a secular or uncommitted non-Jew are most likely to raise their kids Jewish and give them a Jewish education. 
• Single parents, divorced from non-Jewish spouses, are more likely to look to the Jewish community.
• Young adults of mixed parentage area an expanding group.

The San Francisco study indicates that synagogues are still the main connecting point for people, but JCC's are important, and more important for interfaith families.

Bruce said Jewish organizations don't take building membership seriously. In response, Dawn Kepler pointed out that in her area, ten synagogues are in capital campaign mode, bursting at the seams, so they are already overwhelmed and need ADDITIONAL funding if we want to assign them more work. There is an ongoing message in outreach work that blames the synagogues and wants to heap responsibility on them; but we don't offer funding to help. The synagogues are supported by individual members, perhaps 200 or 300 people in some cases.  Why do we feel it is the job of a few hundred people to pay for this?  If we want the synagogues to do the primary work then we need to financially and programmatically support them.  In Dawn's Federation, she has a budget to pay for programs that her synagogues host. She pays for advertising, refreshments, etc.  They provide the building, the janitorial, the security, and often their rabbi comes FREE in the evening to participate or teach.  She works in partnership with her shuls and JCCs.  We can survive together or we can disappear one at a time.

In response to a question from Wendy Palmer, who commented that JCC's in Texas are struggling, Bruce said that lower affiliation rates with Jewish organizations are tied to the rate of intermarriage. But he did community studies of Houston in 1986 and 2002, when the JCC was weakened, and said they had not adopted a perspective of how to grow. Other factors for lower affiliation are consumerism, and people not being used to having to pay.

There is not a lot of usage of Jewish pre-schools by interfaith families. This could be promoted.

The importance of retaining members

Outreach should both keep people in as well as welcome them in. The San Francisco study showed that children of intermarried parents were as likely as children of in-married parents to get Jewish education, but they dropped out sooner, before Bar/Bat Mitzvah. This suggests that they are trying things out, and leaving.

Jewish social capital and home-based programming

Affiliated people have a lot of Jewish friends. Organizations should encourage connections. Hospitality to guests is a mitzvah. Average congregants should invite interfaith couples to their home. Eve Coulson asked how that concept could be applied in a JCC. Bruce said the staff should be sensitized that its mission is to bring people in. Rosanne Levitt said that some people are reluctant to be Shabbat hosts in their home because they fear they aren't doing the ritual perfectly. Laurie Rutenberg said that liberal synagogues and JCC's don't tend to see what happens outside the building as part of their agenda.

The need to share and distribute expertise

In the San Francisco area, more is known about outreach strategies than is distributed. Expertise is not taken advantage of. Resources aren't made available in an organized and systematic way. There is a need for more research. A lot is learned from experience that isn't shared. Bruce encouraged the professionals to keep track of what people tell them. One of the purposes of the Professionals Advisory Circle is to help information to be shared and distributed.

Conversion

In response to a question about new conversion efforts announced by the Reform and Conservative Movements, Bruce said they assume that once someone converts, their behavior and outlook changes, and he suspects it is the reverse, that behavior and outlook change, and then people convert. Conversion should be a public acknowledgment of a profound change that has occureed.Getting someone to convert is not a magic act. A sizeable group say they are practicing Judaism but haven't converted. That's the Protestant way - going to a Methodist church makes one a Methodist. Bruce said forcing conversion can be counter-productive. He noted that in studies, many converts have a Jewish parent.

Rabbi Michael Safra and Rabbi Judy Kummer discussed conversion in Conservative synagogues. Judy said the reaction of people interested in keruv to the new conversion effort announced at the Conservative Movement's Biennial was to take it as permission to do outreach.

Hear the Replay of the Conference Call

Return to Professional Advisory Circle