We Have the Seekers. Will We Keep Them?

Imagine you’ve decided to go on a hike for the very first time. It’s something you’ve been considering for a while, but now you’ve mustered the courage to try. You pack a bag with the things you think you’re supposed to bring, you read up on best trails near you, you arrive in a small parking lot that’s supposed to be the trailhead. You’re excited but nervous to be there; you don’t know where to start, and you don’t want to get lost. There’s woods in all directions. What do you need in order to really explore what the trail has to offer? Some trails are poorly marked, full of brambles and obstacles, lack maps, and make visitors feel like giving up as soon as they arrive. Others have thoughtfully considered their visitors’ experience; they feature a well-labeled parking lot and trail entrance with a giant standing map of the trail with a large red dot: You are here. If you’re lucky, there’s a booth with paper maps and an actual park ranger able to listen to what you’re looking for and explain which trail would be the right one for you. But if you’re really lucky, there’s a guided hike with a naturalist starting in 15 minutes where you can learn with others the best trails, how to spot wildlife, and where the best views are. That’s a trail you’ll come back to and make your own.

The same is true when people come to a Jewish community for the first time, whether because they are newly Jewish or they’ve just moved to town or they’re rediscovering their Judaism: They are faced with a labyrinth of Jewish organizations, programs, and events. If we don’t deliberately design our signage, our maps, and our guides, these Jewish seekers will feel like giving up before they even start.

I know this is true because I’ve listened to Jewish seekers’ stories. Over the course of the fall, I spoke with ten young adults who had successfully integrated into Jewish community in Toronto—newly-connecting Jews who in the last several years have become more interested in and have taken successful steps to make a home in a Jewish community institution. I was documenting the success factors that enabled these seekers to make a Jewish community life for themselves. I asked them each, What would be their advice for others like them who were seeking Jewish community? 

The thing that interviewees most often replied was: perseverance. 

No matter how welcoming Jewish professionals think we are making our institutions, the overwhelming impression of those seeking to connect was that it feels like running the gauntlet: a public trial, beset on all sides by challenges. It was like walking through an unfamiliar woods without a map.

We have more and more seekers looking for our Jewish communities. The data shows that these seekers are right in front of us, raising their hands and waving them at us: There is a post-October-7 surge of interest in Judaism among non-affiliated or less involved Jews. Not only that, but anecdotally, every congregational rabbi I know has overflowing conversion classes of people looking to become Jewish. Most of these surging Jews came to Jewish institutions because they had a deep sense of feeling lost, of feeling vulnerable, and of feeling a yearning to explore an identity that they had previously taken for granted or not considered at all. The most important thing we can do in our institutions is to give them the information they need to find their way; otherwise the path to integrating into Jewish community will be simply too difficult for them to sustain. 

They are ours to lose.

We don’t have a recruitment challenge, we have a design challenge: How might we make integrating into and building a home in Jewish community feel less like running the gauntlet and more like checking into a luxury hotel? How might we make joining the Jewish community feel like finding a trail you grow to know and love?

Note, I am not talking about Jews who are no longer interested in connecting with Jewish community. If they find their way back, we will be here to meet them with open arms. But sometimes I find there’s confusion among Jewish professionals around this, and their efforts go toward recruiting instead of onboarding our people into our communities. There are enough Jews and future-Jews seeking out Jewish community right now to focus on onboarding, instead of prioritizing convincing people who’ve left it behind to try again. 

Based on my years of work as a rabbi and engagement specialist, and the conversations with Jewish seekers and engagement practitioners for the report we at Clal have completed called “Smoothing the Path: Strategies for Integrating Newly-Connecting Jews,” I want to suggest one thing our communities should do first: 

Create 10-session, city-wide “Start Here” learning cohorts, in which seekers can learn Jewish basics together, so they can enter their next Jewish room with confidence. This is the guided hike, with peers, and someone to explain it all.

I say this for a few reasons, all of which are findings from our research:

First, we need to invest in core Jewish competencies for adults. In our study, we found that learning is a primary and essential pathway into community. Our Jewish communities often only debate this about children’s curricula, but not everyone who wants to be part of Jewish community had the chance to learn when they were a child. Yet, they still need core fluency to participate, and no amount of public affairs debates or visiting podcast hosts will make up for a lack of Hebrew-letter reading, basic holiday knowledge, or ritual literacy. We need non-judgemental and low-barrier, yet robust, learning opportunities to give seekers the information they need to feel confident participating in Jewish communal life. 

Second, we need to think city-wide. As they explore, newly-connecting Jews interact with many Jewish institutions, from synagogues to community centers to grocery stores and Judaica shops, depending on the size of your community. When we approach Jewish belonging on a city-wide scale, we are able to onboard people from a variety of entry points and help them along their way to their best community fit—which may not be their first one.

Finally, we need to provide ongoing guidance to Jewish newcomers. One-off engagement may introduce people to Jewish life, but it rarely sustains them. A key to ensuring ongoing participation is having ongoing supportive relationships with Jewish professionals and mentors, and also with peers. A peer group of newcomers—a regular hiking group, so to speak—means participants can ask all their “stupid questions,” try things out together, and share their challenges and triumphs along the way.

So what is a “Start Here” Jewish learning cohort? Bringing together the above insights, your “Start Here” cohort should be:

1. Focused on need-to-know basics: What is the most essential information someone needs in order to be able to walk into a synagogue, Jewish community center, or Jewish person’s home? I’m talking about the items you’ll find in a synagogue and how to use them. When to stand and sit. What to say in different settings. How the local community is structured and its institutions. Basic kashrut laws and the sociology of how different kinds of Jews interact with them. Unspoken cultural and behavioral expectations. This is not a place for a long discourse about theology or the history of Israel or Jewish Broadway songwriters. The greatest fear of newcomers is doing or saying the wrong thing in a Jewish setting, and it keeps them away from attending their first or second Jewish gathering—often for years.
2. Relational by design: Focus not only on the Jewish information being shared, but equally on the relationships between the participants and their teacher, and among the participants themselves. These enduring relationships will carry them as they build a Jewish life for themselves, and give them friends with whom to try new things.
3. Sophisticated yet for beginners: Remember that your participants are sophisticated in their lives, even if they are beginners at Judaism. Start from square one, but don’t make it pediatric.
4. City-wide: These groups should not be tied to one institution, but rather should be an offering of the whole community. This achieves an economy of scale and also means they are a place from which newcomers can discover their communal best fit. 
5. Pluralistic, and open-minded: The role of the teacher is to be a trusted guide, not a representative of a particular kind of Judaism. And these are not conversion classes—they are designed to equip learners with the knowledge they need to participate in Jewish community, no matter their Jewish status or certainty.

If we are able to invest in these “Start Here” learning cohorts, we will provide a clear and useful onramp to Jewish life that addresses the core needs of newcomers, and we will be able to keep more of those new seekers once they find us. When people walk into our communities, they will be greeted with the maps, guides, and peers they need to explore and to make it their own.