10:15-11:15  Keynote Presentation:  Dr. Tobin Belzer

How Post-Boomers Engage with the Jewish Community

Belzer began her talk by defining two key phrases important to discussions of young adults: emerging adulthood and post-boomers. In the past 50 years, what most people experience during the years between age 18 to 35 in industrialized societies has dramatically changed. Instead of entering young adulthood - the developmental stage marked by long-term commitments to family and vocation - in their early twenties, most people now postpone these transitions. Scholarly attention to this change has increased in recent years and is now widely referred to as emerging adulthood. Those who currently occupy this new life-cycle stage are post-boomers. Belzer explained why the term "post-boomer" provides a useful way to think about young adults today. Drawing upon the insight of sociologists Don Miller and Richard Flory, Belzer explained that attempts to differentiate the subtle differences between how one age cohort is monolithically characterized in relations to others (e.g. how Millennials compare to GenXers), tends to decrease the terms' explanatory value. Instead, the term post-boomer refers to young adults whose formative experiences have been colored by significant social and cultural developments unique to their time and place in history. Just as baby boomers had multiple responses to such things as Vietnam and the "sixties," so too do post-boomers' responses to their experiences vary.

Belzer then gave an overview of the multitude of organizations and programs that have emerged in the past decade to engage post-boomers. Engagement efforts have been made in every sector or Jewish life. There are grassroots efforts, programs through Federations, environmental organizations, leadership development programs, opportunities for young philanthropists, and project incubators, as well as social justice and arts-based organizations. Many national organizations have young adult divisions. Jewish Studies courses and employment in Jewish organizations are two more ways that young adults become engaged. There is Taglit-Birthright Israel and related alumni efforts. Orthodox organizations are also doing outreach to this population. The list goes on.

Belzer spoke about her own involvement in Joshua Venture: A fellowship for young Jewish social entrepreneurs. This program -which was one of the earliest engagement efforts for post-boomers-had a tremendously positive influence on her personal and professional life, Belzer explained. It has also launched many of the programs that began to shift the landscape of young adult engagement. Yet the organization closed its doors after only two years. Joshua Venture (which is currently in the process of being re-launched) was a success in some ways but not in others.

She used this example to problematize the idea of "success" when engaging young adults, pointing to how differing motives lead to different measures of success. She drew upon examples from her research "Congregations That Get It" to explore this point further. As part of an inter-faith research team, Belzer explored Jewish, Muslim, Protestant, and Catholic congregations that are successfully attracting young adults. She presented three examples of Jewish congregations that have been identified as successful models. Yet depending on the motivation to engage young adults, these synagogues might not measure up. For example, a large Reform synagogue in Los Angeles has a young adult program that is 800 members strong. The group's activities include: a basketball league with 12 teams, annual events like an appletini party to celebrate Rosh Hashanah, educational opportunities and regular "happy hours." While the community is extremely active, few of the members attend Shabbat services. In another case, hundreds of young adults attend Shabbat services at a synagogue in New York, yet few are actually paying members. Both congregations are successfully engaging young adults. Yet if the motive is to entice post-boomers to become paying members, only one congregation is successful. If the motive is to offer young adults a meaningful prayer experience, still just one congregation is succeeding.

Belzer noted that what works to attract some, does exactly the opposite for others: some young adults want events with substance where they can engage with others through a learning process. Others are interested in opportunities to socialize and have a cocktail with other Jews. Some might not step foot into a Jewish organization's "happy hour" while others would never attend an educational program.

Her ethnographic study of the Mission Minyan, and independent minyan in San Francisco's Mission District provided an example of a community that seeks to satisfy a population of young adults that includes individuals with different approaches to religious observance. For example, some require separate seating for men and women. Others are uncomfortable with gender segregation, so mixed seating is important. To address the differing needs of community members, the seating on Saturday mornings is arranged as a "trichitzah," with a men's section and a women's section, that are separated by mixed gender seating. The Mission Minyan is an example of a group trying to engage post-boomers who have diverse attitudes and behaviors.

Belzer noted that post-boomers' needs and desires are not fixed. Their Jewish participation and interests will wax and wane: what is attractive now might not be in the future and what is currently uninteresting could be engaging at another time. She concluded by asserting that the one thing that is crucial for engaging post-boomers is the availability of numerous choices.

Tobin Belzer PhD is a sociologist of American Jewry. Her research and program evaluations have focused on young adults' Jewish identity, Jewish organizational culture, Jewish education, and comparative congregational studies. She has worked with numerous Jewish organizations and foundations including: Foundation for Jewish Culture, Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies, The Koret Foundation, the Jim Joseph Foundation, Mandell L. Berman Jewish Heritage Center for Research and Evaluation in Jewish Education at JESNA, the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, and the Los Angeles Bureau of Jewish Education. Belzer earned her PhD in Sociology from Brandeis University. With Rabbi Julie Pelc, she is the co-editor of Joining the Sisterhood: Young Jewish Women Write Their Lives (SUNY Press, 2003). Belzer was awarded the Hadassah Award for Excellence in Writing about Women from the American Jewish Press Association. She was a 2007-08 Fellow of the Congregational Studies Team's Engaged Scholars Program, funded by the Lilly Endowment. She can be contacted at:  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .