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radically. With less influence from those forces
that once held our community together, we live in
a world of ultimate choice, and this constitutes the
third phase of North American Jewish life, which
I will call “individualization.” In it, all is ultimately
left up to the choices each individual makes within
a vast range of possibilities.
We are now denizens of a world brimming over
with choice. Consider two simple examples: once,
when one went to buy milk in a grocery store, there
were three choices: regular milk, 2%, and skim.
Now, step into any supermarket and you will be,
as I am, baffled to see the variety that is available:
organic and non-organic, Lactaid vs. regular, Parmalat
that promises the shelf-life of Methusaleh, soy milk
and almond milk and rice milk in all their varieties,
non-GMO milk, and on and on and on. An
enormous number of choices now go into even the
simple act of buying milk. Once, there was one
giant phone company called AT&T, but now we
consider dozens of choices when we seek phone
service: landline or wireless; smart phone or not;
VOIP or FIOS; Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, or other
smaller brands; cable or fiber optic; limited or
unlimited minutes; international long distance or
not; bundled with television and internet with hot
spots, or perhaps not; and so on. And how do we
decide? We peruse the shrill and biased reviews that
all disagree with one another, and try to make sense
of all of our many, many options. This trend applies
everywhere – from books and entertainment, to the
news we watch and read, to what one does with
one’s body and spouse and gender and family and
friends.
In this third phase, Judaism, too, is saturated with
choices. Along with such possibilities comes the
overwhelming distraction inherent in too much
choice – it takes time to take in all this content and
then make all these decisions, time we once spent
reading and thinking and studying and learning.
We are the most distracted generation in history,
and studies prove that a preponderance of choices
leads both to more confusion and to more super-
ficial engagement. Add to this the broad prolif-
eration of Jewish organizations, synagogues, and
seminaries aimed at serving ever smaller and more
tightly defined segments of our community, and a
resultant shift in the role of centralized communal
organizations. While it has required Jewish organi-
“
Our message of a thoughtful, ethical,
innovative, and dynamic Judaism that
actively learns and observes, that cares
for those in need and works for those in
need of justice, is perfectly suited for the
world around us.”
Celebrating with Rabbi Panken:
(1)
Rabbi Michael Marmur, Ph.D., Jack,
Joseph, and Morton Mandel Provost.
(2)
HUC-JIR’s Deans: (from left)
Dr. Joshua Holo, Los Angeles; Rabbi
Jonathan Cohen, Ph.D., Cincinnati;
Rabbi Naamah Kelman, Jerusalem;
Rabbi Shirley Idelson, Ph.D., New York.
(3)
Father Michael Graham,
President, Xavier University.
(4)
Faculty representatives who marched
in the Torah processional with students
and alumni: (from left) Rabbi
Richard S. Sarason, Ph.D., Cincinnati;
Dr. Alyssa Gray, New York; Rabbi
Rachel Adler, Ph.D., Los Angeles.
(5)
Dr. Arnold Eisen, Chancellor,
The Jewish Theological Seminary.
(6)
Rabbi Michael L. Chernick, Deutsch
Family Chair Emeritus in Jewish
Jurisprudence and Social Justice
and Professor Emeritus of Rabbinic
Literature.
(7)
Andi Milens, President, HUC-JIR
Council of Alumni Associations,
who represented HUC-JIR’s alumni
in the Torah processional.
(8)
Rabbi Deborah Waxman, Ph.D.
President, Reconstructionist Rabbini-
cal College (not pictured), and Rabbi
Asher Lopatin, President, Yeshivat
Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School.
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