The Outreach Revolution

Dr. Jack Werthheimer

I think I’ve said this before – or something like it. Jack Wertheimer is one of my favorite Conservative Jews.  A recent article in Commentary Magazine could not be more positive about Orthodox outreach. In fact I think he is even more supportive of it than many Orthodox Jews.

Why would a prominent Conservative Jew be so supportive of Orthodox Kiruv? I suppose that he believes in the values of Torah and Mitzvos.  Despite popular notions to the contrary, Conservative Judaism is not opposed to doing Mitzvos. They actually support it. At least ‘on paper’.  How they define Mitzvah observance is where the problem lies. Another problem with Conservative Mitzvah observance are the percentages of those who actually observe...

My guess is that the percentage of Conservative Jews who observe Shabbos in any meaningful Halachic sense  – is very small. I believe that Professor Wertheimer is a part of that minority.

Theological differences exist too. But those problematic views are not mandated… and thus surmountable in an individual. That they are tolerated by the movement is beyond the scope of this essay.

Professor Wertheimer has done an excellent job of studying and analyzing Orthodox  Kiruv - in virtually all of its incarnations. He discusses its history, financing, appeal, and examines why it flourishes. He credits the Lubavitcher Rebbe for starting this revolution. And he correctly notes that many non Chabad Kiruv workers have learned from Chabad.

From Chabad; to Aish HaTorah; to Torah U’Mesorah; to community Kollelim; to Modern Orthodox Kiruv... he lauds it all. He even concludes that Orthodoxy underestimates its own success. Success that he views with a very positive eye.

He also notes the friction created  between Conservative rabbis who lead synagogues and Kiruv workers. The claim is that Chabad (for example) will set up shop and undermine the Conservative Shul business structure by offering smaller friendlier Shuls with little or no synagogue dues. They also offer to provide Bar and Bat Mitzvah ceremonies without any minimum Shul religious class attendance requirement (typically 3 years). Bar and Bat Mitzvah celebrations are a drawing card for membership. True to form, it seems that Professor Wertheimer has no problem with Chabad doing that.

The realities of 21^st century life in America have caused lofty Kiruv goals of bringing Jews to full observance to be lowered.  One of those realities is the massive attrition of Jews from the Conservative movement into secular lifestyles. The pool of Jewish Kiruv targets from there has been diminished. Conservative Jews tended to give their children at least a minimal Jewish identity making them more receptive to Kiruv. Those who have left it to become completely secular makes it much harder for them to be attracted to an observant lifestyle. I agree with him.

That the expectations have been lowered and that the Lubavitch model of linear success is increasingly becoming the model for non Lubavitch Kiruv.  Any increase at all in their level of commitment is now viewed a success. As such Professor Wertheimer contends that Orthodox Kiruv is having far more impact on American Jewry than anyone might imagine. Those who have come into contact with Orthodox outreach programs but do not become Orthdodox themselves take that knowledge and impart it to other non Orthodox Jew is their Shuls. These Jews might never come into contact with Orthodox outreach. Thus there is a sort of multiplier effect.

Proferssor Wertheimer has the  highest praise for Chabad. They seem to be the most successful and the most organized. For example he points out their JLI program:

Of particular note is the Jewish Learning Institute (JLI), by far the largest internationally coordinated adult-education program on Jewish topics, offering the same set of courses at hundreds of Chabad locations around the world, all on the same schedule. This means that Jews who are traveling can follow the same course from session to session, even if they find themselves in a different city each week. In the fall of 2012, nearly 14,000 American Jews were enrolled in JLI courses, and overall close to 26,000 participated in Chabad’s teen- and adult-education programs.

The Chabad network is striving to create a seamless transition, so that young people who attended its camps or schools will gravitate to a Chabad campus center when they arrive at college and later, as adults, will join Chabad synagogue centers. No other Jewish movement offers this kind of cradle-to-grave set of services. The participants in these programs, needless to say, range in their Jewish commitments, but with the exception of a small minority, all are drawn from the ranks of the non-Orthodox.

But he also notes the explosion of non Chabad Kiruv organziations as well – including the far more insular world of Charedim.  There are about 50 or so Community Kollelim that do outreach. My only real quibble with Professor Wertheimer is that these Kollelim are really more about in-reach than outreach (although they do outreach too). They tend to reach the already observant world and ‘raise the level of observance and Limud HaTorah’. There are drawbacks to this too which I have discussed in the past but are also beyond the scope of this essay.

Professor Wertheimer does note that there are problems as in the ‘pushback” by Conservative rabbis who see Chabad (for example) poaching their memebrs. Ironically the most critical of it are the Orthodox themselves. Among them Rabbi Ilan Feldman who discussed the issue in Klal Perspectives (I posted about it a while ago. It generated 175 comments!):

“Frum communities as cultures are simply not conducive to outreach,” he believes, because those communities have a defensive perspective and don’t welcome Jewish seekers who are not yet planted in the Orthodox life. Put differently, outreach workers of necessity develop a far more empathic understanding of the non-Orthodox population than do other sectors of the Orthodox world.

There is much more in his article. It is a very worthwhile read. I highly recommend it.

My hat is off to Professor Wertheimer. It almost sounds like he would like to see a merger of all movements into one that will truly be guided by Halacha… and that he is willing to concede the process to Orthodox outreach. I wonder how the hierarchy in his own movement feels about an essay like this. Or about him.

What are the implications of all this for Orthodox Jews? Should we become more directly involved with Hetrodox rabbis? Chabad already is.They have no problem appearing on the same platform with Conservative rabbis. But most of the Orthodox leadership has always rejected that – claiming that it would amount to giving them legitimacy. I agree that we should not do anything that would do that.

But where do we draw the line? If the goal is making Jews more observant there ought to be some leeway in this regard. Our battles with the Conservative movement are over. They no longer pose a threat to Orthodoxy. Now that the Conservative movement is shrinking all on their own, we need to re-think this issue.  Without getting into specifics (which I am not at liberty to say) I detect that this is already beginning to happen quietly with tacit approval even from the right. And that is a good thing.