By Yaakov (Jim) Schwartz, author Judaism On Purpose™
[Humans] are motivated by a will to meaning.
Victor Frankl
In the movie, City Slickers, Mitch (Billy Crystal) and his friends Ed (Daniel Stern) and Phil (Bruno Kirby) are having mid-life crises. To shake the ennui, what next, and the something’s wrong: I just can’t put my finger on it, but it’s wrong, they go on a two-week wild west holiday driving cattle. There Mitch meets Curly (Jack Palance) and asks him a question:
“Curly, do you know what the secret of life is?”
Mitch :“Your finger?”
Curly: “One thing. Just one thing. You stick to that and the rest don’t mean shit.”
Mitch: “But, what is the ‘one thing?’”
Curly: [smiles] “That’s what you have to find out.
. Meaning is: The One Thing.
Why has, even before Covid 19, other than high holiday attendance, synagogue affiliation and identification of Jews with Judaism declined (22% of Jews in a 2013 Pew Study called themselves ‘nones’ even)?
Meaning – a lack of personalized individualized meaning.
In fairness to the synagogue, with 200- 400-600 families etc – the synagogue in neither capable in form (capacity/resources) nor function to provide personalized individualized meaning
The purpose of this ReJEWvination column & those to follow is to illustrate a process & model (Judaism On Purpose™) – either as a adjunct to the synagogue or even standalone (on Zoom etc) to deliver The 1 Thing – individualized personalized Meaning (with or without Jack Palance’s finger) INside out thru Judaism…again.
Rabbis & Cantors:
For Further Information about Judaism On Purpose™
Contact Mordecai Levinson
levinsonmordechai@gmail.com
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