Religion & Beliefs
Are You An “Affiliated Jew?” What The Hell Does That Mean?
By Laurel Snyder / January 31, 2007
After the other day, when the boys chimed in on why men are so lazy and unmotivated, I got to wondering about whether Jewcy readers (who are obviously interested in Jewishy junk) are "affiliated Jews".
"Affiliated Jews" is a term that the institutional world tosses around pretty often. Jewish institutions want to "serve" or "empower"them. "Affiliated" means many things, but usually it means that you give money, belong to a synagogue or JCC (or Hillel or whatev). If you are "affiliated" it is likely you are forced to do Israeli folkdancing in a cinderblock room at least once a year.
"Unaffiliated Jews" are people that the Jewish Institutions want to "catch" or "engage". They're Jews who may practice, read, think, and know other Jews (or not), but they aren't "joiners." They don't give much money to Jewish agencies.
Beyond these distinctions there's also "Jewish Leadership" which is a term that describes people who form committees, teach Hebrew school, sit on boards. In high school, we called them "nerds".
But of course not everyone fits a box. I'm both "unaffiliated" and also "leadership" because I worked for Hillel, speak at Jewish events, sit on boards, blah blah blah. But I don't belong to a synagogue.
It's all kind of weird.
I know people hate doing stuff like this but I'd really really appreciate it if you'd take a second and answer these few question. I want to know who you are. (though you should feel free to anonymize if you like)! That way, if I'm ever called up before the International Jewish Cabal, I can tell them what the "new Jews" are really all about.
- Are you male or female?
- Are you in your teens? Twenties? Thirties? Forties? Older?
- Do you belong to any official Jewish organizations?
- Do you go to services?
- Do you belong to a synagogue?
- Do you have many Jewish friends?
- Are you interested in Jewish culture/identity/ideas?
- What makes you feel most Jewish?
- What lunchtable do you sit at (in the high school cafeteria)? Are you a hipster? An intellectual? A stoner? A jock?
Pretty please… answer these quick questions so I can fit you neatly into a box… or at least tell me why you don't want to!
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1.Female
2.I’m 22
3.Hadassah life member
4.rarely
5.no
6.a handful of Jewish friends
7.yes
8.celebrating holidays with family
9.band geek
male
23
No Orginizations
services 4x year MAX
NO synagogue
have a few Jewish friends
mildly interested in Jewish culture/identity/ideas
feel most jewish with family
stoner
1. Male
2. 40 something
3. yes
4. yes
5. yes
6. lots of jewish and goyim friends.
7. yes
8. my circumcision, my faith, and my lentel soup over pesach
9. totally gay table
I'm so glad you mentioned this, because I hadn't thought about my one uncut boyfriend in years. And suddenly a flood of memories came back to me, about what that felt like. I was living in a "scene", at the time, where the politics of circumcision were an issue for a lot of people, and it was a radical thing to be uncircumcised, or service such a member. But as a Jew I could NOT get around it. Every time I saw it (flaccid– hard it looks no different really) it was a shock to me. I felt bad. I had just moved back from Israel and was toying with the idea of rabbinical school, and it seemed in direct opposition to my newfound interest in Judaism.
I think it's fascinating, the physical importance of this marking, this brand that makes us Jews, and our relationship to it. Even for women. I wonder how it's different for gay men, where the marking is a shared thing, another kind of covenant.
1. Male
2. 20s
3. I have a meeting with ADL about a piece I did on CAIR. Does that count?
4. Sometimes I show up for Temple Beth El in Berkeley, but haven't been to the new building since I left home.
5. no synagogues
6. O, my friend, many.
7. Well, I've had Laurel Snyder on my show, huh?
8. I feel most like the guy who let his friends who were skipping midrash watch TV at his house when: I show up for shabbos and am the one who has to change the channel.
9. The one where no one is reading aloud from the Post.
1. male
2. Forties (but I’m really still 22)
3. No
4. Yes
5. Yes
6. Most of my friends are jewish
7. Yes
8. My Kids
9. The emptiest one and then see who joins.
Are you male or female? Female
Are you in your teens? Twenties? Thirties? Forties? Older? Older
Do you belong to any official Jewish organizations? Yes
Do you go to services? Maybe once a month or so
Do you belong to a synagogue? Yes
Do you have many Jewish friends? Yes
Are you interested in Jewish culture/identity/ideas? Yes
What makes you feel most Jewish? I live in the South. Leaving my home makes me feel most Jewish.
What lunchtable do you sit at (in the high school cafeteria)? Are you a hipster? An intellectual? A stoner? A jock? At my high school, there were onlly12 of us in the senior class. We ate in a circle. So I guess I’m 1/12 party girl, 1/12 Mormon, 1/12 beauty queen, 1/12 brainer…
Are you male or female? FEMALE
Are you in your teens? Twenties? Thirties? Forties? Older? THIRTIES
Do you belong to any official Jewish organizations? “BELONG” – NO … WORK FOR FULL TIME- YES! YES! VOLUNTEER FOR ADL and JFCS
Do you go to services? ONLY IF I HAVE TO LEAD THEM
Do you belong to a synagogue? NO
Do you have many Jewish friends? ALMOST EACH AND EVERY ONE SINCE POST-COLLEGE (STILL SOME FROM COLLEGE THAT AREN’T)
Are you interested in Jewish culture/identity/ideas? YEP – TREMENDOUSLY. PERSONALLY AND PROFESSIONALLY
What makes you feel most Jewish? COMMUNITY – TEACHING – SONG SESSIONS – ISRAEL – PROFESSIONAL CONFERENCES THAT REMIND ME OF YOUTH GROUP CONVENTIONS (INCLUDING SONG SESSIONS IN HOTEL LOBBIES BY 30 YEAR OLD STAFF PEOPLE!)
What lunchtable do you sit at (in the high school cafeteria)? Are you a hipster? An intellectual? A stoner? A jock? THE JEW CREW TABLE OF COURSE
Nice Jewish Gay Boy in my 30′s. Affiliated- Oy, am I… Some local, some national. I go to temple 4 out of 6 weeks I suppose. I have belonged to a synagogue my whole life, we belonged to a big one in the city and a posh one near the summer home, attended neither very often (HHD’s et cet). Since I moved out of the city, to Yuhupetz, I have gotten involved (board member et cet).
All my best friends are M.O.T. And I am interested in some of the culture, and some of the ideas. I like to see the way identity plays a role in someone’s life no matter what there identity is. Blacks who wear nothing but FUBU or only Ralph Lauren / Jews that keep kosher, or only eat lobster rolls – it’s all beautiful.
Telling goyish jokes or turning up my nose at the offer of an uncut trayf dick (a boy has gotta have standards…)
The Tory Burch Jews, the blonde ones who didn’t need N.J.s, who went to camp in the Adirondacks, belonged to the better clubs… we were assholes…
1. Female
2. Ahem… older…
3. No but see 5
4. Only recently
5. Joined this year because I couldn’t get tix to the high holidays otherwise! Then I decided to do the adult bat mitzvah thing… hey, do I get to wear a strapless gown????
6. Nope, this is California….
7. yes
8. holiday meals
9. Back then? behind the bleachers with my boyfriend. Now? can’t tell you!
You guys crack me up! Wouldn't it be interesting to have an actual (scientific) survey done like this… to have hundreds of responses and get to actually see howe we all stack up. I don't think "The Community" has numbers on this, but they sure do like to assume they know who/where we are…
Here's me:
Female
Thirties
The JCC (but just for babysitting. sigh)
Sometimes
No
A few
It would seem so!
What makes me feel most Jewish is reading Jewish books. And family stuff with my dad.
I sat at the table for kids who enjoyed feeling alienated. There weren't many of us though, so that encompassed metalheads, punks, hippies, etc.
1. Female
2. 18
3. NFTY
4. Kinda I dont actively go to services when I’m in chicago I go when im in other places or at NFTY events
5. Yes and i can’t stand my congragtion luckly I’ll be away form it next year
6. Oh yes
7. Are you interested in Jewish culture/identity/ideas?Yes yes Yes
8. hmm songleading having philosophical/ theological debates and reading D singers blog and various jewish blogs
9. we don’t really have tables like that since we have three lunchrooms and 4 lunch periods I just sit with my friends and the group changes according to period
1) Male, more-or-less
2) 30 years-of-age, with intellectual sophistication of teenager but eating habits and physical bravery of senior citizen
3) Give money to American Jewish World Service, Progressive Jewish Alliance, and Jewish Mosaic, which I guess makes me a member of those orgs
4) Very rarely go to services; when I do, it's usually only when I'm visiting somewhere where I'm interested in seeing how the local Jewish community rolls.
5) I don't belong to any synagogue. Considered joining local Conservative syangogue when I moved back to L.A., but then I thought, nah.
6) Most of my friends are not Jewish, but some are. Some of my friends with Jewish ancestry may not regard themselves as Jewish, and may not be regarded by halakha-mongers as Jewish.
7) Yes, have ongoing interest in Jewish culture, history, ideas, etc.
8) On a superficial level I felt most Jewish when I lived in Dublin and had local Arabs refer to me as "al-Yahud". I feel most warmth for Jewish culture when I remember the spitting-mad intensity my zeyde brought to the most trifling ethical issues. Generally, I think specific things may inspire in me positive feelings about Jewish culture, I don't think they really make me "feel more Jewish".
9) My high school cafeteria was divided pretty heavily along racial/ancestral lines (though the categories were muddled and general, and very American in that respect) : there was an African-American zone, a Persian zone (mixed Muslim and Jewish), an Asian zone (Korean, Japanese, mainland Chinese, Taiwanese), et cetera. I sat in a rare multicultural zone. That may just mean we were the dorks, not sure. I was a swimmer and a water polo player, so when I didn't sit in the cafeteria I ate with those guys.
1. female
2. 40s (i’m an old new jew)
3. no organizations
4. no services
5. no synagogues
6. some Jewish friends
7. interested in Jewish culture/identity/ideas (i’m here, right?)
8. I feel most jewish when watching The Pianist
9. stoner
I'm male. I'm in my thirties. I don't currently belong to any official Jewish organization. I go to services occasionally (mostly Erev Shabbat; Shabbat morning when I can get my lazy ass out of bed). I belong to a synagogue. I have both Jewish and non-Jewish friends. I'm very interested in Jewish culture/identity/ideas; bring it on. Shabbat dinners and, when I manage to go, synagogue both make me feel most Jewish. I'm definitely an intellectual/humanities/artsy geek; hung out with the geeks at school (but tried to avoid the nerds). There you go, Laurel; don't forget the bubble wrap, duct tape and shipping fees.
I can't resist a quiz… This is why my science teachers loved me.
Anyway: I'm male. I'm 22. I belong to the Jewcy organization. I don't go to services. I don't belong to a synagogue. I don't have many Jewish friends. I am not interested in Jewish culture (but I do enjoy I.B. Singer…). My big nose makes me feel the most Jewish. At school, I rolled with the kids that enjoyed fart jokes and poo stories. I've learned that I still roll with that crowd, in the Jewcy offices. Box me, baby.
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