Understanding the economic pressures and cultural differences of today’s Jewish youth are key to keeping the new generation involved in Judaism
That is the view of David Brown, executive director of the Union of Jewish Students.
“The challenges to being involved are harder today, such as economic pressures like paying off university fees," he noted in a session on Sunday.
And culturally things are different - those who are involved want to make more choices and have ownership of their choices. They might want more options or to set up new things as opposed to getting involved in old structures.”
The steep rise in property prices, especially in London, and the competitive postgraduate job market meant that university leavers were more focused on getting a foot onto the career ladder than making time for Jewish activities, he said.
The solution lay, Mr Brown believed, in what he described as a multiplicity approach to Judaism.
“The assumptions of the established community and organisations in thinking about what can they do with this generation is an issue. If young people get involved, they might not get involved in the way you want them to,” he said.
Mr Brown highlighted a 2010 Jewish Policy Research report on Jewish students showing they identify with Judaism more through culture and ethnic identity than through religion.
Additionally, although take-up of places on Israel tours remains high, there has been a significant decline over the past 20 years in numbers who attend youth group activities on a regular basis.
Mr Brown attributed this in part to the 30 per cent rise from the mid-90s to the mid-2000s in pupils enrolled at Jewish day schools who can already socialise with Jews at school, and partly due to the online world that the majority of today’s youth live in.
“If you want to find a group of Jewish people you don’t need to find them in a physical place, you can find them online,” he said.
Speaking of his own childhood and memories of Dana International winning Eurovision and Israel winning medals at the Olympics Games, Mr Brown, 31, said Jewish youngsters were now confronted with a different image of the country.
“Overall the atmosphere and background noise for Israel for this generation is different and much more negative and complicated.”
He said the three Gaza wars since 2006 and the huge growth in the visibility of the boycott campaign had played their part.
However Mr Brown ended his talk on an optimistic note, pointing out the numerous groups such as Haggadot, Moishe House, and The Bike Project that had sprung up in recent years, run by and for young people.
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