The Daily Herald – “Reaching Out, Reaching In”

Jews help Jews find their religion

Jeff Reiss always struggled with his own Judaism. Growing up in Clifton, he attended synagogue only on major holidays, mainly to keep his Yiddish-speaking parents happy.

“I didn’t want it,” Reiss said. “I just was ashamed of being Jewish.”

No longer.

At the Clifton Jewish Community Center on Tuesday night, the 50-year-old Reiss sifted through the pages of his thick, new prayer book, “The Complete Metsudah Siddur.”

“I like it because it has the translation, line-by-line,” he said, indicating a page with Hebrew and English text, side by side.

Reiss was surrounded by 25 men and women, gathered in pairs at round tables to study the Old Testament, known to Jews as the Torah: the fundamental laws of moral and physical conduct.

Those in the group are among some 10,000 Jews across the world who participate in Partners in Torah. Founded by Passaic Park resident Rabbi Eli Gewirtz, the organization pairs traditionally observant Jews — most commonly Orthodox Jews — with less observant, secular Jews. The partners come together in community centers and synagogues nationwide, or long-distance via telephone. Their discussions focus on everything from the Hebrew language to Jewish philosophy and law.

“Our goal is to make the world of Jewish literacy available to as many Jews who would want to partake of it,” said Gewirtz, national director of Partners in Torah, which is funded by Torah Umesorah-National Society for Hebrew Day Schools.

Over the past 20 years, a variety of community-based and national Jewish outreach programs have materialized in hopes of getting Jews more involved in their heritage. The variety of their approaches reflects the diversity of the American Jewish community itself.

No one knows exactly how many such programs exist. Indeed, the very definition of “Jewish outreach” is open to debate. Some argue that every synagogue in the world constitutes an outreach effort. But the number of formal programs, aimed solely at engaging Jews in their so-called Jewishness, is on the rise.

“What really shook up the American Jewish community was the 1990 National Jewish population survey,” said Jeff Rubin, national director of communication at the Washington-DC-based Hillel: The foundation for Jewish Campus Life. “It really shocked the Jewish community into recognizing the profound problem that was laying before us, the whole notion of a community that was not replacing itself.”

According to the United Jewish Communities National Jewish Population Survey survey, between 1990 and 2000, while the U.S. population increased by 32.7 million, the number of American Jews decreased by 300,000, from 5.5 million to 5.2 million.

Experts point to a variety of factors, including a high rate of intermarriage with other religions — up from 28 percent in the 1970s to 47 percent by 2001. Only 33 percent of children of couples with one Jewish parent are raised Jewish, the survey said.

American Jews tend to be a diverse lot, expressing their religiosity in a variety of ways. For 43 percent of American Jews, “being part of the Jewish people” is the quality “most important to (their) Jewish identity, according to the 2004 Annual Survey of American Jewish Opinion, conducted by the American Jewish Committee. Twenty percent cite a “commitment to social justice,” and another 14 percent cite “religious observance” as most important to Jewish identity.

The approaches of Jewish outreach groups reflect that wide-ranging identity. Birthright Israel offers all-expense-paid trips to Israel; The National Jewish Outreach Project sponsors “Hebrew Reading Crash Courses” in communities across the country; AVODAH recruits Jews in their 20s to work in local non-profit organizations in New York and Washington DC, while they communally study Jewish history, culture and religion.

One of the best-known outreach efforts, both in America and abroad, is that of Chabad-Lubavitch. Its Hasidic followers approach secular Jews in malls and subway stations, asking if they’d like to partake in a holiday dinner or learn more about specific ritual observances. The goal is to increase Jewish knowledge of, and adherence to, the commandments of the Torah, said Rabbi Michael Rabbi Gurkov, of the Chabad Center of Passaic County, in Wayne.

“Unfortunately, today many Jewish people grow up with limited knowledge as to what Judaism is all about,” Gurkov said. “People might think they know what it is, but really, people know more about the tags that are on the back of their sweaters.”

On the other end of the spectrum is the Jewish Outreach Institute, which seeks to engage unaffiliated and interfaith couples in the Jewish community. The Jewish Family and Children’s Service of North Jersey, located in Fair Lawn, for example, hosts the Institute’s “Dealing with Interfaith Marriage” groups.

“We are more interested in the heart and hands, rather than the head of Judaism,” explains J.O.I. executive director Rabbi Kerry Olitzky. “That can mean something like recipes in the kitchen.”

Because some Orthodox and Conservative Jews feel J.O.I. advocates intermarriage, Olitzky says, they view the organization “skeptically, would be the best spin I would put on it.” But, he added, “we are driven both by a philosophic mission and demographic mission.”

Despite their diverse approaches and goals, Jewish outreach groups have a central unifying factor, said Yitzchak Rosenbaum, program director of National Jewish Outreach Program.

“We’re all looking to make the connection on some level,” Rosenbaum said, adding that, from Chabad to J.O.I. to Partners in Torah, education acts as a seedling for Jewish growth.

“The big picture is, we want Jews to survive.,” he said. “There are a lot of important things about being Jewish. There is a heritage of good family life and a tradition of scholarship and study that is generations old.”

That tradition was honored at Tuesday night’s Partners in Torah meeting at the Clifton JCC. There, Jeff Reiss sat next to his partner, Stuart Lippman, a 45-year-old Orthodox Jew from Passaic, reflecting on how he became involved in the group.

It was about a year ago that Reiss saw the Partners in Torah flier in a local shop. By that time, his wife, Sarah, had convinced him of the merits of keeping a kosher home. Slowly but surely, over the years, Reiss had become curious about Jewish philosophy, and the meanings behind holidays he’d celebrated since childhood. So, he contacted the organization and asked to be partnered up.

Since then, Reiss and Lippman have met weekly. They have examined everything from Torah portions to newspaper articles in addressing Reiss’ curiosities and questions. He has gradually become more observant; these days, he wears a yarmulke and attends an Orthodox synagogue.

“Basically, I do this for myself,” Reiss said. “To center me, ground me.”

Across the room, Lisa Raphael talked with old friends. Raphael, a Conservative Jew who lives in Montville, participated in Partners in Torah when it was launched in 1991, and had come back to visit.

During her three years in the program, she studied Hebrew to better understand synagogue services. Now, she’s considering returning to the program.

“I’m a Hebrew school dropout,” Raphael said with a laugh. “Now, I’m 42. A lot of people start to re-examine their lives and look back to religion. That’s the whole foundation of your being.”

* *

Reach Jessica Adler at (973) 569-7169 or adler@northjersey.com.