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FALL 2004		Vol. 33, No. 1

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In "New Jew Cool," author Sue Fishkoff quotes Toronto-based cultural commentator Hal Niedzviecki, 31, as saying: "In many ways, pop culture is our community. Call it liberating or sad, but there's no denying that the new Jewish-influenced pop culture [e.g. oversized Star of David necklaces, Jewcy t-shirts, Madonna studying Kabbalah, Hasidic hip-hop] is a way to communicate a sense of some communal yearning for deeper meaning and more intimate connection."
Do you agree that the "Jewish-influenced pop culture is a way to communicate a sense of yearning for deeper meaning"?
Yes , No ,
Another Fishkoff interviewee, Brandeis University Professor Jonathan Sarna, points to the fact that many of today's Jewish leaders cut their political teeth in the antiestablishment student and chavurah movements of the late '50s and '70s. "The writers at Heeb and those organizing salons via Reboot.com are doing pretty much the same thing," Sarna argues. "The most creative ideas for revitalizing Jewish life often flow from the bottom up…from outsiders rather than insiders….We dare not close our ears to them."
Do you agree that, in order to "revitalize Jewish life…we dare not close our ears to outsiders" in the Jewish community?
Yes , No ,
Fishkoff goes on to quote Rabbi Andy Bachman of the Brooklyn Jews Project, who cautions congregations not to try to bring young people in too fast or too completely, sending likely "targets" on missions and pushing them to take leadership roles in the congregation. "They've very skeptical, so we need to move slowly," he says. "We have to spend the next five or ten years understanding this huge number of people looking for connection, but on their own terms."
Do you agree that synagogues should "spend the next five or ten years understanding this huge number of people" before trying to bring them into congregational life?
Yes , No ,

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