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There is a quiet sea change taking place in religion. We typically think of the religious type as conservative and monochromatic. But young progressives are finding faith, faith in orthodoxy because it aligns more with their spiritual and political leanings. How can this be? 1/10
It seems oxymoronic, how can the "rigidity" of orthodoxy provide a home for liberal thought? "There’s this cyclical spiral and these really old wisdom traditions that can feed change,” said Christina Tran, a 34-year-old comic artist in Corvallis, Ore. 2/10 https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/31/style/milliennial-nuns-spiritual-quest.html
That's the key-- there is wisdom in ancient knowledge. We forget that despite its name, orthodoxy is fluid and ever changing. Orthodoxy provides the guardrails for belief (sometimes very rigid guardrails) but within those guardrails there is a robust culture of free thought. 3/10
The question is how can Judaism tap into this quiet revolution and renaissance of religious thought when it's being led by a group of liberal progressives disenchanted with the emptiness of religious practice? Because this is way more than Reform practice versus Orthodox. 4/10
It's way more than the debate amongst the denominations because it appears that Jewish young adults are searching everywhere but within their Judaism. (The program in this article combining nuns with young adults was started by a Jewish man.) 5/10 https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/31/style/milliennial-nuns-spiritual-quest.html
I argue we can turn to Christianity for some answers. The print headline for this article was "The Future Of Christianity Is Punk." I say the future of Judaism is "punk" as well and we should lean into this moment in a very counter culture way. 6/10 https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/08/opinion/sunday/weird-christians.html
You can substitute Christianity for Judaism in this quote and it'll hold up word for word. This is the engagement moment Jewish organizations have been praying for. We are here. The moment is now. And how we react to this moment will shape the future for generations. 7/10
If we don't rethink our approach to engaging Gen Z and Millennials others will. Already consultant firms are pitching to corporate America how to capitalize off of this sense of wanting to belong and it's as bad as it sounds. 8/10 https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/28/business/remote-work-spiritual-consultants.html
But it won't work... it can't work. It won't because spirituality is more than profitability, efficiency and a faceless one size fits all corporate mentality. The workplace will never replace a community-based spiritual practice. 9/10
So that's our challenge. We can debate intermarriage, fight amongst ourselves about who's practice is more sincere, etc... OR ...we can acknowledge that there is a brewing movement of true, sincere yearning for spiritual health and organizationally we aren't ready for it. 10/10
