Question: Given that the life cycle of synagogue membership consists of recruitment, integration, and retention, how would you prioritize these three elements from a congregational perspective? Why?
Your comments speak of building Jewish community in various ways. You refer to "membership" in a congregation. Do you feel membership is the best way to describe a congregant's place in a congregation? Do you think it might encourage the "turnstile" approach to congregational life we are seeing? What other descriptive would you use and how could this frame a more committed involvement?
You suggest that insofar as using the term "member" to refer to one who affiliates with a congregation may be associated with "the turnstile approach to congregational life," the term "member" or "membership" feels a bit dated. Here I would argue that it's not the label we use to describe those who do or don't affiliate with congregations that encourages their episodic engagement, but rather that this simply reflects the zeitgeist of our time. As Rabbi Stephen Pearce of San Francisco's Temple Emanu El has written, due to our response to postmodernism, wherein absolute truth and hierarchy has been eliminated, many contemporary Jews think and act independently of institutional religion. As a result, many erstwhile "members" of today's Jewish community feel themselves unencumbered by institutional baggage or communal expectation. Therefore, they may come seeking meaning and connection at a Reform Temple one day and may look elsewhere the next day, perhaps in another congregation in or out of our movement, and often in places other than the synagogue. This is all to say that the "turnstile" approach to Jewish life is already upon us, regardless of what we call one another.
How then should we refer to those who do connect with a congregation, who do in fact resonate to the power of community? If we are smart, we will recognize that these men and women, who are our neighbors and our friends, are our covenantal partners; even more to the point, they are our future. And our responsibility to them is clear: We must imbue each and all people who join with us, for however long they travel beside us, with a deep sense of our respect for their journey and our keen interest in their story and their search. For as an ancient rabbi taught: The one who is wise is the one who is able to learn from all people (see Ben Zoma in Pirkei Avot 4:1).
