Strength in Numbers
Well I’m back!
I have just returned from one of the first vacations I have taken in about ten years. It was wonderful to spend some quality time with my family.
Since I have returned I spoke at YU and Stern. The experience was an incredible shot in the arm. It was wonderful to meet so many of the beautiful and talented young men and women our communities have produced. At the sessions we discussed how one goes about doing Kiruv.
I threw out a statistic to them that I would like to pose to you. There are roughly 5.1 million Jews in America. About 10% of those Jews identify with being Orthodox. That means there are 510,000 Orthodox Jews in America today. What would it take to double our number to 1 million Orthodox Jews? Can you imagine the impact we could have if Teaneck or Woodmere was double the size? Can you imagine the impact we could have if all the yeshivot were double their size? The Orthodox Jewish Community should be setting this as there goal. Doubling our population is very achievable given Orthodox birthrates coupled with the Kiruv movement. Let us pool our talents and resources together to set our sites on this goal together.
In memory and honor of the late Dr. Abe Stern tz"l of YU fame: The finest way you could increase the rate of kiruv in North America would be to use Dr. Stern’s methodology to re-invent and re-introduce Torah Leadership Seminar.
Posted by Alan Schleider on 09/07 at 10:59 PM... and this was a speech when no statistics were going to be given. As always, you spoke awesome. It’s a good thing that we didn’t close the room dividers…
Posted by Menachem Butler on 09/08 at 03:03 AMı suport you
Posted by mubo on 09/08 at 08:09 AMKiruv has a very small, if any, impact on the size of the Orthodox community. If you look at the National Jewish Population Survey, the numbers of people born something else and become Orthodox is very small.
Moreover, despite the high Orthodox birth rate, we have had approximately the same proportion of the Jewish population since they started counting Jews in america.
Altogether, that looks like we lose far more people than we gain through Kiruv. Maybe we should focus on those already Orthodox, and keeping them that way, than on the very small number of people who are turned on to the demanding Orthodox lifestyle.
Posted by bayamoss on 09/08 at 08:12 AMOne word rabbi...love.
-Todd, KCPosted by sshopgirl2001 on 09/08 at 11:20 AMThis was an exellent entry. In response to some of the posters notes, the NJPS’s analyis and numbers are well known for inaccuracies and an almost abject inability to profile the Orthodox communities in North America. Therefore, the claim that this survey can be used in any way to minimize the effect of kiruv is highly dubious.
Once upon a time, NCSY had the equivalent of a TLS. It was called National Convention. I believe that the OU should underwrite NCSY’s National Convention because it can be a powerful means of showing a teen who is looking at his or her Jewish roots the beauty of Torah life via a weekend with an all star rabbinic faculty, the best advisors and other teens who are searching for their roots. I am sure that I am not the only NCSY alumnus who participated in National Convention during its prime years from the 1960s thru the 1980s who viewed National as a critical stage in their religious development. While the summer programs are excellent, they cannot create the achdus that a real live National Convention created with plenary sessions, elections, awards and a wonderful banquet.
Posted by Steve Brizel on 09/08 at 02:52 PMsteve - ncsy has grown too large to make nationals anymore. regionals are phenominal though and there is yarchei kalla/xtx.
im with u rabbi burg,just imagine if every orthadox person were to mekarev 1 jewish person, then all of klal yisrael could be saved.
and as a side note: westcoast misses you like crazzzzy!!!!!!!Posted by rachely on 10/12 at 03:41 PM
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