The Tour…

I will be speaking in the United States November 4-17th.  If you live in the NY, NJ, MD, PA or D.C. area, and would like to book a speaking event or book signing, please contact me directly.  As dates become confirmed, I will post the events here.  Stay tuned…

A Secular Jew and the “why” generation

I was raised in a secular Jewish household.  What that means is that I had no connection to my Judaism and no tangible Jewish identity.

So what did being Jewish mean to me?  It explained why I had a big nose, why I talked with my hands and why I liked Chinese food.  Judaism offered no promises of financial security, prosperity or success.  Judaism was something ancient and archaic; something to be remembered – perhaps, but certainly nothing to be desired.

Having no tangible connection to Judaism laid the groundwork for the decisions I would make concerning spirituality and faith in high school.

Understanding what it means to be Jewish is the number one factor in the continuity of the Jewish people and must be the number one priority for Jewish educators across the spectrum of Jewish observance and identity.

Generation Y has become the “why” generation and young Jewish people – spanning the entire range from Orthodox to unaffiliated – are no longer satisfied with the answer that we believe what we do, just “because”.  It is not enough for them to know that we reject other faiths because we are Jews, they need to understand WHY we reject these other faiths.  They need to know that we do so not out of rebellion, but for good reason – reasons that have stood the test of time – 2000 plus years of time – reasons that are as eternal as the God who brought us out of Egypt and called us His “chosen people.”