Much has been written about the future of the American Jewish community. From historians, scholars and demographers to well respected Rabbinic leaders, they all pose the most perplexing question of our time – what will our American Jewish community look like in the future?

This fascinating obsession with our community’s future is anchored in our rich background, DNA and history which focuses upon the past and the present as a predictor or indicator for our future.

As Jews, we dream and pray for a future that will be blessed with the coming of the geula as well as with the hope and promise that the phrase B’shana HaBa B’yerushalayim (“Next Year in Jerusalem,”) becomes a reality. Not a hypothetical reality, but an aspiration which we truly and sincerely believe to become an eventuality.

So, in light of what we now know and experience as American Jews, what does our future hold for us?

First, it is essential that we accept the notion that its virtually impossible to actually predict the future. Having said that, there are communal and societal trends and realities which can in part inform our future.

Several characteristics of our community relate to demography, religious practice, migration, antisemitism, Jewish education, the impact of technology and our relationship to Israel, to name a few.

Although one can write volumes regarding each of these characteristics, I will attempt to highlight how and why several of these may affect and inform our community’s future. Remember, if our past experience or history has in any way informed where we are today, than I sincerely believe that today’s trends will affect, inform and shape our future.

According to the Jewish Federations of North America, the American Jewish community is at a ‘complex inflection point, marked by a paradox of vulnerability and deep resilience.’

In their recent Report they indicate that while major structural demographic and political changes loom, an unprecedented wave of communal reawakening is simultaneously reshaping Jewish life.

Education and Jewish Identity/Engagement

In a recently published Study, it is reported that for........

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