The DIY spirit that is defying the impact of religious recession

Religious belief has been assailed by scientific atheism and discredited by the fundamentalist fanaticism on the rampage in parts of the world. At the same time, congregants struggle with the traditional concept of a caring God. As one Reform rabbi told him, "Even if my people understand the prayers, then they have difficulty relating to them. We say 'God, You alone are our saviour' and they say to me 'And not my surgeon?'"

One synagogue offers a meditation service, a healing service and yoga

Religious authority has weakened to the extent that people are "far more autonomous" and less inclined to toe the official movement line. This is true even among the modern Orthodox, he has found.

Some families, even if they are largely mitzvah-observant, have made "accommodations."

He added: "There are modern Orthodox Jews who eat in non-kosher restaurants - they permit themselves to do that because they will only eat dairy."

Another symptom is the reported incidence of "half-Shabbat" where youngsters use their mobile phones to text on Shabbat. There are also families who " turn on the light on Shabbat and watch television. At the same time, they have kosher homes and go to shul, maybe several times, on Shabbat. "

The further left you go, the more "picking and choosing" you find. One rabbi recalled the email he had received from his non-Orthodox brother explaining that as Yom Kippur fell on Saturday and he had a wedding to go to, he was "going to do my fasting thing on Wednesday".

The growing DIY spirit has led to the emergence over the past decade of a number of independent minyanim, often geared towards "younger millennial Jews". At the same time, more established congregations are being forced to evaluate what they offer.

Among rabbis, he said, there was "a much stronger sense that we need to be attuned to the diversity within our own membership and offer them multiple opportunities so they come to the synagogue". For example, one Conservative synagogue in Washington, as well as different minyanim on Shabbat, offers during the week, a meditation service, a healing service and yoga.

The growing popularity of mindfulness meditation in the West has led to attempts within Jewish circles to connect it to Chasidic teachings. But he was struck by another instance of revivalism - a growing interest within Reform Judaism in the 19th-century Lithuanian mussar (ethics) movement.

"Why? Because mussar focuses on middot, positive virtues," Professor Wertheimer said. "What are they trying to draw out is that Judaism will enable you to be a better human being. There is a man who works in the Reform movement nationally who is teaching mussar to rabbis so they can spread it to their congregants."

Another trend is the increased emphasis on music to enhance synagogue services. In this, the Reform movement has been a "trailblazer," he said. "They have a group of young people who are composers of liturgical music in a folk-rock style. These young people are sent to congregations all over the country to teach people how to sing these melodies."

Music can cross religious boundaries. He was fascinated to hear a tune composed by the late American singer Debbie Friedman being used in Orthodox synagogues which "have no idea where it comes from".

Although Jewish life has been affected by what is an "inauspicious time" for religion in America, he observed that "the flipside of this is that there is an outburst of creativity. How many people will be reached and drawn in by it is the $64,000 question."

While new religious ventures may not be enough to reverse all the secularising trends, he said, "there is no question that these various efforts of renewal are drawing in and enlivening the lives of those Jews who are receptive."