What Does Barbie Say About YOU?

Wednesday night I’m joining several local Jews in their 20s and 30s to speak on a panel at Temple of Aaron called “The Future of Judaism: Told from the 20’s/30’s Perspective.
To tell you the truth, I’m sort of nervous about it. I need your help.
The premise of the night is that we’re going to watch the award-winning film “The Tribe,” which simultaneously traces the history of the Barbie doll and the history of Judaism to discuss the questions: What does it mean to be an American Jew today? and What does it mean to be a member of any tribe in the 21st Century?
I don’t know if I have an answer to those questions so I wanted to throw a few out to you, and then I can bring your voices with me onto the bima at Temple of Aaron to answer these questions for an audience that I’m sure is mostly sure to be folks in their 50s, 60s and 70s.
A Few Questions to Get Us Started…

  1. What’s the difference between  being a Jew in your 20s or 30s and being a Jew in your 40s? Aren’t we all searching for the same thing?
  2. Are today’s young Jews any different than our parents’ generation when they were our age?
  3. What the hell does Barbie have to do with me? (other than the fact that she was created by a Jewish woman)
  4. What is the organized Jewish community doing wrong and right to reach out to Jews in their 20s and 30s?
  5. What would get you – a Jew in your 20s/30s – to step into a synagogue? (and if you say “an event like this” that’s awesome, and come say hi to me during the reception before the event)
  6. Is there a future for Judaism? (scary question, possibly)
  7. By not welcoming interfaith marriages with open arms (where the parents want to raise their kids Jewish), are we as a religion isolating a huge chunk of the next generation of Jews, and perhaps pushing them away for good?

Well that’s a start – any thoughts?

BTW – shameless plug – it would be really cool if in addition to writing your thoughts, some of you came to the event (co-sponsored by the UJFC Young Leadership and Temple of Aaron) and shared your thoughts in person. Just sayin’.
(Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/migrainechick/ / CC BY 2.0)