OK, its Sukkot. That's the third holiday so far this year (Jewish of course.) And what activities has Aish in St. Louis done to attract newcomers at a time when Judaism is clearly elevated in the consciousness of our secular and disconnected brethren (and sisteren?) you ask? Why Learner's Services of course. Forgive me for questioning but is that really outreach? Isn't there so much more to the holidays than services???
Don't get me wrong. Learner's services are great for people who know they want services but don't want to go whole hog ( :@ - little kosher humor) for normal services. They do help elucidate things. But they're for people who know they want services. That's more than half the battle for outreach as far as I'm concerned. The real task is how to get people to actually be interested enough in Judaism to think they want to try a service, if they have never been to one, or it's been many many years and they don't bring back fond memories. I.e. how do you convince Jews that they want to be interested in Judaism in the first place? Especially when the idea of services brings back memories of boredom and confusion. This blogger thinks the key is to show them that there is more to Judaism than services in the first place. The Holidays, with their generally pleasant traditional observance and good food(we'll leave Yom Kippur out of it for now) are clearly the best time to do that. So what is Aish doing about that? Crickets: Chirp Chirp.
Now the Aish-associated synagogue is doing a Pizza Party in the Sukkah, mid-day Sunday with storeytellers and other little kid oriented stuff. And so once again Aish has decided that having activities for Jewish people who already have little Jewish kids is somehow going to prevent AssimilAishion. Well maybe it will in 20 years. Of course that ignores the fact that lots and lots of young Jewish adults are marrying out RIGHT NOW and not having little Jewish kids and aren't going to be at your Sukkah party. Apparently Aish thinks they can afford to skip a generation. Well, being a member of the generation they're apparently skipping, I tend to take offense. Why no evening Young Professionals Only Sukkah party (you can skip the storyteller) or something? Anything.
The assimilAishion problem continues to be low priority at the high holidays for Aish. Or so it seems.
3 comments:
Although I have the utmost respect for the AssimilAishionist and his opinions, I see Aish a bit more positively than he does on this issue. Of course, his point is valid that there should be a singles event for Sukkos, and it's not as if Sukkos, with its four days of chol hamoed, or Aish St. Louis with its two locations, is logistically challenged if it were to host two Sukkos events, one for families and another for singles. The problem is that Aish STL has ignored outreach for so long that they can barely get decent attendance at one event, let alone two.
More to the point, in a post long since deleted, I mentioned how Aish should exploit the holidays more for their outreach potential. I distinctly recall comparing Aish's St. Louis efforts with Chabad's, and how Lubavitch can draw a crowd for their holiday get-togethers seemingly at will. The idea of a Sukkah party was disparaged by many, including Alexis. I, for one, am happy to see Aish coming around to holiday-themed outreach events. Granted the execution is far from perfect, but if Aish continues to implement more Chabad-like concepts, I am guardedly optimistic that they can hone their outreach skills, and maybe one day (soon, hopefully!) have truly successful kiruv events.
In the meantime, I am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.
While my distinguished colleague (what is this C-SPAN?) makes a point, I would have to say that events that don't go after college aged kids and young professionals, barely qualify as outreach in my opinion. Why? Because the objective is to catch people before they marry (out), not the few who actually married Jewish. If you're not doing that, your not doing outreach, you're just having a party. I hope they enjoy the party.
While I try to look at this as being a positive development, i.e. I don't remember a Sukkos party at all last year, I can empathize with those who feel that this half-hearted attempt at outreach is akin to rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. And it only takes a quick perusal of the marriage section of the Jewish Light to realize that the intermarriage rate in St. Louis is skyrocketing. Could it be more than two out of every three Jews in STL is intermarrying? If not, it must be close to that. If the St. Louis Jewish community is sinking (to continue with my Titanic analogy) perhaps more energetic measures than an ambiguously aimed party are required. I guess the follow up will determine which one of your humble bloggers is right on this point. And sadly, considering Aish St. Louis's track record, I have to admit the Assimilaishionist will probably prove more correct.
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