Punked Jews who like black kids over Israeli ones

“New Jews”, argues CNN, is where Judaism is now heading; less keen on Israel, more worldly and more likely to inter-marry:

“When I’m on stage screaming, hitting my face with a microphone and pouring beer on my head, at least I’m singing about the Torah,” said the 26-year-old founder of PunkTorah, an outreach effort to inspire Jewish spirituality.

These Internet and media savvy Jews are behind what Ari Wallach, a 34-year-old social entrepreneur and consultant in New York, likes to call “Judaism 2.0.”

“They want to re-engage in the world as Jews, but not solely for Jewish causes,” said Wallach, who was one of the forces behind The Great Schlep, an online push, featuring comedian Sarah Silverman, that encouraged young Jews to fly to Florida and convince their grandparents to vote for Barack Obama.

“If asked, ‘Would you rather fund raise for trees in Israel or for solar-powered ovens for refugees in Darfur,'” he said, “they’re more likely to go with Darfur,” which is why the American Jewish World Service, an organization that fights poverty, disease and hunger in the developing world, resonates with many of them in a way other Jewish organizations don’t.

Text and images ©2024 Antony Loewenstein. All rights reserved.

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