Secular and cultural Jews are a significant, growing segment of the American Jewish community today, and Boston is no exception to the trend.

In 2001, the American Jewish Identity Survey reported that a quarter of American Jews do not identify with Judaism as a religion. Here in Greater Boston, according to the 2005 Boston Community survey, more than half of area Jews do not affiliate with synagogues.

To address the educational needs of this diverse group, last winter the Posen Foundation gave Hebrew College a $40,000 grant over two years to fund curriculum development and outreach toward secular and cultural Jews. On four Thursday evenings in January, Dr. Avi Bernstein-Nahar led 33 students in a course on the legacy of Baruch Spinoza, the first philosopher to renounce Judaism without repudiating his Jewishness. A Workmen’s Circle collaboration, the course was quickly oversubscribed by many first-time Hebrew College students.

“We are not only opening doors for secular Jews to learn more about their culture, we are offering religious Jews and those already associated with Hebrew College the opportunity to hear their voices, and be enriched by their experiences,” says Bernstein-Nahar, Dean of Educational Planning and Development.

A second Posen-funded initiative currently in development, the JP Salon Project responds to the clear desire by many secular, cultural and unaffiliated Jews to participate in the millennially old Jewish conversation, on their own terms and turf. HC’s new Greater Boston forum will create an informal, grassroots community space where independent-minded Jews and fellow travelers can tackle contemporary issues and challenge preconceived notions.

Jamaica Plain resident Leslie Belay Me’ah’03, a student in the Master of Jewish Liberal Studies program at HC, has been planning the initiative with Bernstein-Nahar, and envisions this series as a facilitated Jewish salon, or a university without walls. “We want to create a space for open deliberation, inquiry and debate about Judaism, capture that energy, and provide good food and drink,” she says.

Each series will be moderated by some of Boston’s most outstanding scholars, artists, activists and intellectuals. Topics may include Jewish music, art, politics and political theory, and secularization in historical context. Possible salon sites and locations include cafés, pubs and bookstores in Brookline and Jamaica Plain neighborhoods.

Experiencing a revival today, salons were spearheaded by Jewish women in Berlin in the late 18th century and reemerged in Los Angeles in the 1930s. “Intrinsic to the evolution of democracy,” says Bernstein-Nahar, “salons provide a meeting space where all participants are valued contributors to the process of shaping public opinion.”



back to top