What Does It Mean to be Jewish Today? What Do Jews Bring to the World? (Ask the Rabbis‪)‬

Independent Jews in America are now creating an identity, which is not so much based on Israel but on different modes of religious expression. The popularity of Jewish Renewal, JuBus (Jewish Buddhists) and the chavurah movements show the search and need for community in contemporary Jewry. Jews today are moving away from the large synagogues, perhaps due to the rigid infrastructure or high cost of synagogue membership. We have a booming interfaith Judaism now due to intermarriages, and this hybrid-Judaism of merging Judaism and other cultures is uniquely American. The Jewish contribution to the world is based on the interrelationship between the particular and the universal. Genesis is a universal creation narrative, while the Sinai revelation deals with the particular covenant between G-d and the people Israel. But the prophets call on this particular people to strive for universal justice and peace. In our global environment, a particularistic identity allows the individual to strive toward universalism without becoming lost in the process.