The other crisis on campus

Our Jewish community is rightly concerned about Israel on campus. Serious challenges face pro-Israel students around the country today, and much ink has been spilled about the topic. 

But the purpose of this piece is not to recap the stories you’re already reading. Rather, I want to give voice to a quieter, but possibly more consequential, crisis on campus today: the pronounced decline of Jewish identity and literacy in North America.

On campus today, we estimate that about 80 percent of our incoming Jewish freshmen now hail from families with sparse Jewish affiliation. Many, but not all, of these students were raised with a blend of different religious and cultural practices, often by intermarried parents. Others were given almost no cultural or religious orientation to their Jewish heritage beyond a Star of David necklace or some weak cultural messages about “two Jews, three opinions” or the importance of bagels.

And even if they had a strong connection in their childhood, say through an early childhood program or Hebrew school, that connection often waned after their b’nai mitzvah ceremonies.

As the leader of the largest Jewish community at UCLA, I am constantly aware that the silent majority of Jewish students aren’t being heard. They don’t blog about Israel or post on Facebook about being Jewish. And you don’t hear from them at shul or in Jewish organizations because, well, they don’t go. 

Numerically, however, they represent the future of Jewish life in North America. And our success in both Israel on campus and the future of Jewish life hinges on their involvement.

Changing this reality requires an all-hands-on-deck approach to fix the “pipeline” of Jewish identity building. The template for success actually already exists. It’s been studied to be effective. It just takes commitment to execute.

Jewish identity building starts with parents who are willing to inculcate Jewish life into their children’s lives — before their kids have any reason to protest! 

Parents can read Jewish children’s books from the PJ Library and eat Shabbat dinners together as a family. Prioritizing travel to Israel over Hawaii, or even playing recordings of Jewish songs (there are some good ones, I promise) while in the car provide children with “default” Jewish experiences.

Inspiring young children nourishes their passion and affinity — and leads to them joining the many excellent Jewish peer communities, summer camps and inspiring after-school programs already in existence. Paired with sustained Jewish home life, these programs build literacy and a sense of belonging.

Next, bar and bat mitvah training that focusses on making Judaism compelling, relevant and valuable should lead seamlessly into post-ceremony learning and engagement for 13- to 18-year-olds. Several successful programs already exist, the best of which utilize Jewish values to inform adolescents’ most pressing concerns about relationships, sex, drugs and even national politics and science.

Parents who invest time and money by engaging in their own Jewish learning and giving a fixed percentage of their income to tzedakah (hopefully with their kids’ input) also model commitment to the Jewish people.

The final step, of course, is college. Here, however, parents’ suggestions are merely that — suggestions. When your child moves away from home and has as many as 1,200 student organizations on campus vying for attention, it’s no longer up to parents to choose. They should certainly bridge their children by insisting that they tour the Jewish organizations during campus visits and make sure that the Jewish professionals on campus know their children have arrived, but beyond that, parental influence is significantly diminished.

That’s why, even though I’m a Hillel rabbi, I’m not writing about Jewish campus life. Yes, we are doing phenomenal work to keep these students from falling through the proverbial cracks. Last year, in fact, we engaged more than 70 percent of the Jews on campus, irrespective of their background.

But we are also deeply aware that the students who lead our Israel and Jewish communities on campus are often those with robust pre-college Jewish involvement. While we often do attract students with no Jewish background and help them to transform their Jewish identities, we much prefer to be part of strengthening an existing Jewish commitment than starting from scratch.

Rosh Hashanah provides us with an amazing opportunity for introspection and commitment to meaningful change. I have been impressed by the American Jewish community’s response over the past five years to anti-Zionist forces trying to pollute Israel’s image on campus. In that time, the community has funded nearly 100 distinct organizations that claim to do pro-Israel work. 

At the same time, I have become increasingly alarmed at the growing number of “insufficiently inspired” incoming students at universities across the country. These Jewish freshmen are often proud to be Jewish, but they can’t articulate precisely why. Their big question — “Why be Jewish?” — has not been sufficiently addressed. 

Whether our motivation is Jewish grandkids or ensuring that we have passionate Israel leadership on campus, I believe the key to securing both is for all Jews to commit to building a Jewish-identity pipeline with the same enthusiasm and resources we have demonstrated for supporting Israel. Our community, when activated, is capable of amazing, and enduring, results.

RABBI AARON LERNER is executive director of Hillel at UCLA.