Perhaps more than any other denomination, the Reform movement has been at the center of conversations around Jewish identity in America.

In the 1980s, it grew to become the largest branch of Judaism in North America. It continues to hold that spot today, representing about 35 to 37% of American Jews.

As the first movement to welcome intermarried couples, the home of some of the largest synagogues in Jewish American life and the moderating force between support for a Jewish state and liberal democracy, Reform Judaism remains at the center of the most important questions in Jewish life today.

We put those questions to Rabbi Rick Jacobs, the president of the Union for Reform Judaism, which represents more than 800 synagogues across North America, 14 summer camps and the NFTY youth movement.

Jacobs himself is a former congregational rabbi who led Brooklyn Heights Synagogue in New York for nine years and Westchester Reform Temple in Scarsdale, New York, for 20 years. During this reflective High Holiday season, he offered some wisdom on the Jewish issues of the day. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Intermarriage rates are at record highs in the U.S. How can we still find ways to build strong Jewish homes in this environment?

Let’s take this back a couple of years. It’s the late ’70s. Rabbi Alexander Schindler is my predecessor, and he basically took a stance that went against the grain. Rather than push interfaith families away, why don’t we lovingly embrace them?

He got a lot of pushback, but it was the most brilliant shift. Now, when we look back on it, it was absolutely critical.
I look at my clergy colleagues. Some of them are the children of interfaith households, like Rabbi Angela Buchdahl. She’s leading the Jewish community brilliantly.

I think this idea that intermarriage looks like decline is a mistaken assumption. We have focused on bringing interfaith families into the mainstream of Jewish life and we are now succeeding.

We are now the largest movement. Part of the reason is our embrace of interfaith families.

We counsel (interfaith) couples to do the best they can and to know that the Reform movement in particular embraces them. And we encourage them to send their children to an early childhood program or a Jewish summer camp.

There are things that a couple can do that increase the sense of belonging. We show up with arms extended.

For Jewish couples, those are also the things that make Jewish values and Jewish commitments real. I attended one of our Reform summer camps out in California and it changed my life.

When your 3-year-old comes home from the early childhood center and says, ‘Can we sing Bim Bam?’ ‘Can we light candles?’ of course you’re going to do that. That’s often how the path forward begins.

Younger generations, millennials, Gen Z, remain less attached to institutions in this digital age. How can synagogues stay relevant?

That’s not just in Judaism. It’s across the faith continuum. It could be Protestant. It could be Catholic. It could be evangelical. They are affiliated less. 15,000 churches closed last year.

I actually think a lot of our young people may not feel that the institution is key, but a lot of them are connected to Jewish values, living Jewish experiences.

The idea of how we affiliate is a fairly modern idea. In the 19th century, you didn’t become a member. You rented a pew.
We want young people to connect.

For some, it’s through social justice. Some want to be doing a lot of learning. Some want meditation. Some want social and other kinds of communal events.

I think this is a moment where there’s a lot of interest and a lot of yearning. People are struggling for some deeper meaning. The surgeon general says we have an epidemic of loneliness.

I take it as a question about the structure of Jewish life. We want to help them find the embers of Jewish life and practice. Many of our congregations are incredibly adaptive.

I think it’s a new day. And I think we read all the demographic surveys probably more than we should. We should spend more time building our Jewish communities.

There’s a rich inheritance. These values, these teachings, they are what you can anchor your life in. We live in a pretty transient world.

We’re focused on creating experiences. Our synagogues do that. Our camps do that.

When people experience the beauty of Jewish life, I find people are quite smitten. You can have a deep connection and not formally be affiliated with the Federation or the synagogue.

We have 800-plus congregations across North America. Their mission isn’t simply to be a club for the members but to be a beacon for the wider Jewish community.

Jews have perhaps never faced less antisemitism in American institutional life but have perhaps never faced more in the community and on the internet. What do you make of this paradox? What does it say about Jewish American life today?

If you had asked me 25 years ago if I would be spending as much time as I am not only thinking about antisemitism but responding to it, I would not in any way have thought that would be the reality. And we’re not paranoid. The graph is going up and up.

I had a group of teens. We were in Poland this summer. We were visiting Auschwitz that day.

I said, ‘How many of you have personally experienced antisemitism in the last year?’ Out of 100 teens from all over North America, two-thirds of the hands went up. They shared real stories about what happened. These were real encounters with antisemitism.

This is real. And the amount of money we spend on security is astounding. I was with a colleague from the Protestant world, and we went into a synagogue, and he said, ‘Wow, this is like TSA.’

At Central Synagogue in New York City a couple of weeks ago, there was a man who charged the synagogue during Shabbat services. But the following Friday night, there were more than 40 clergy leaders from across the spectrum who came to stand with Central Synagogue.

We are living with this reality, and at the same time, we also know that Americans aren’t all harboring antisemitic views. We take it seriously. But we also know we have to continue to build those allies and expressions of solidarity.

We have a Jewish potential presidential candidate who uses his Jewish identity as part of his political persona. We also have a major party, that same candidate’s party, that is becoming more and more hostile to Israel. What are American Jews who identify with or lean toward the Democratic Party supposed to do in this political environment?

We have some pretty ominous signs from the conservative and the progressive sides of the political spectrum. We, as a Jewish community, need to ask a lot of questions.

I think today people not only want to know more, but they want to question candidates from the right and the left. What is their commitment to the Jewish state? What is their connection to the Jewish homeland and the Jewish people?

I think in the political fray right now, if we look at New York City or Michigan, Israel-Palestine becomes a local political issue. It becomes an issue in every type of campaign.

As a Jewish community, we are discerning. We also think we need to speak up. There is a group of rabbis who are meeting with the Democratic senatorial candidate in Michigan [Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, who has opposed Jewish self-determination].

I don’t think the automatic answer is that if you’re unhappy with the Democratic Party, you’re going to rush over and find a home in the Republican Party. People are being much more intentional about their political commitments today.

California recently passed a law recognizing Jewish as an ethnicity and ancestry group. Synagogue security fended off a truck rammer in the Detroit area back in March. In Pennsylvania, the Nonprofit Security Grant Program continues to get more funding. The Jewish American Security Act, which got some level of bipartisan support when it was introduced by the American Jewish Committee in Washington earlier this year, established what I described as a national agenda for the Jewish future. Are Jewish advocacy efforts working?

The Jewish American Security Act was one of the few bipartisan bills to be created in the last year.

This would be a critical piece of legislation. And frankly, the majority leader of the House [Steve Scalise] was at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield after they had the attack, seeing and learning.

This bill is a great example of turning fear and anxiety into a concrete bill that can help us. Across the board, we all see this as essential.

California — that was a victory, to have the Jewish community be considered an ethnic group. But Jews are facing major challenges in all 50 states.

There are things to point to as successes. This is a moment where we don’t want to watch from the sidelines. We want to be on the field, moving the needle. But these are really positive examples we can point to.

It’s been almost three years since Oct. 7, 2023. There’s been a lot of anecdotal evidence that the attack and its aftermath made people feel their Judaism in a deeper way and come together in Jewish community more often. Have you found that to be true on an ongoing, sustainable basis?

Our demographic studies actually catalogue that surge. We literally call it the surge of interest. It was immediate after Oct. 7.

People, particularly people who are not very connected, said, “I want to be more involved. I want to learn more.” We’ve seen a dramatic uptick in conversions to Judaism.

I think we still see the effect of that surge today, but not as strong as it was in the first year. I think there’s definitely a feeling in the Jewish community that this has been a time to dig in more. I also think there’s been a huge surge of pride.

People want to gather in community. They want to feel the strength. People want to feel a part of the Jewish community, feel that meaning.

jsaffren@midatlanticmedia.com