Monday Morning Message – August 13, 2012

This past week I read a wonderful and very important article that addressed the challenges facing synagogues and other Jewish institutions in America today. Noting the fact that younger generations are less inclined to join institutions than their parents and grandparents were, Dr. Steven Windmuller begins his article in by asking the following:

Why are so many religious, political, fraternal and social movements in decline or facing major economic and political challenges? The declining numbers associated with these institutions and movements are indeed striking:

• Unions lost 612,000 members in 2010, dropping the unionized share of the work force to 11.9 percent from 12.3 percent in 2009. That follows a loss of 771,000 workers in 2008, continuing a steady decline from the 1950s when more than a third of American workers belonged to unions.
• Lions International membership dropped from 1.45 million in 1995 to 1.3 million within ten years.
• Kiwanis membership has dropped by 20,000 since the early 1990s.
• Rotary membership in the United States dropped from its peak of 445,434 in 1996 to 375,914 in 2007.

In other words: synagogues are not alone in the struggle to attract and maintain members. Fortunately, in addition to describing the problem, Windmuller offers some solutions — many of which we are beginning to take seriously at Congregation Torat El.

If you care about synagogues and the organized Jeiwsh community and want to see what we can do to re-energize and re-invigorate our members and our institutions, please   keep reading!

Enjoy and, as always, please send me your thoughts.  Please look for my next Monday Morning Message on Monday, August 27, 2012.