The Other Jews
I don’t live in New York (I live in the Boston area), but one thing that really struck me about the survey reported on in your June 22 article, “Changing Face of New York Jewry,” was its adherence to the categories of Reform-Conservative-Orthodox, and the lumping of all other Jews in a category of “unaffiliated” with the assumption that these Jews have a tenuous connection to Judaism.
But what about Jews who do not identify themselves with these traditional categories but who are very involved in independent minyans or congregations and are very active in Jewish life in other ways? I would probably put myself down as “just Jewish” or “unaffiliated,” yet my family and I are very active in our community and send our children to day school! But this survey would probably lump me with Jews who practice another religion. It would be interesting to figure out how may Jews fit into the category of nondenominational yet active. It appears to me that this is a growing and important subset of Jews who are being ignored by the powers that be.
Felice Whittum
Boston, Mass.
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