Alan and Barbara
Over the years I’ve had pleasant interactions with Alan and Barbara, but we never got together socially. Recently, I have come to know Barbara a bit as we both take tap dance lessons. It was stimulating to talk with them about life at the temple and general Jewish issues. Barbara is not Jewish and never converted. However, she has served on the board and is an active part of the community. They have two grown daughters.
I asked them if they see a future for liberal Jewish life:
Barbara:
I think it's a little challenging today because, well, you're a past president, so I don't have to tell you about how difficult it is to have a brick-and-mortar place, especially post Covid. And if you live in a big city like New York, there's so many competing things. Why does someone need to be a member of a temple? You know, why? And I don't really know what that will mean for liberal progressive Jews.
Alan:
We hope that when our children have children, if they do have children, that they'll come back to the fold the way we did in that sense. But there's no guarantee. And, you know, intermarriage becomes even a bigger issue at that point. Not everyone is like Barbara who's going to embrace the community and become so identified with the temple and its commitments. Liberal Jews are the ones who are the most likely to intermarry.
I think whether you believe or don't believe, I think people will go through their lives wanting to know if this is all there is. Even if they're not religious, there may be moments when they're in the temple where the music or the community or something they read, may give them some kind of comfort. Whether they identify that as a religious slash spiritual experience, I don't know. People come back They may not be conscious of why they come back or what the temple offers them. Maybe it's the fact that, you know, when you were a child, you heard these prayers and, and, and you heard these blessings, and they're part of your DNA or they become part of your DNA if you hear it enough. But I think that human beings have had religious relationships through the dawn of history, or even pre-history, whether they worshipped fire or the weather. So, there's something out there that's part of human experience. Is it going to be Judaism or reform Judaism in the future? I'm not going to be here for that level of the future, you know?