A group of South Peninsula Jews have spent nearly two years trying to answer these questions and brainstorm ways to help some of the “marginally affiliated” find their Jewish niche.
“There is a population out there that wants to get connected,” said Linda Kurz, who heads the Jewish Community Building Network. “They’re unaffiliated, but they’re at the door looking in.”
Some of these Jews have tried to get involved but failed; others haven’t put the time into a search. But most surprising to Kurz is the fact that a good number of them are simply uninformed.
“I don’t think people know what’s out there anymore,” said Kurz. “We have to find ways of breaking through that.”
The network members haven’t finished plotting their strategy yet or decided where to seek funding. But ideas include creating a newsletter or offering a telephone service specifically for the Peninsula.
The telephone service would be somewhat different from the one already run by the S.F-based Jewish Community Information and Referral. The South Bay’s line would involve more “hand-holding” and follow-up, Kurz said.
The telephone line could be used to facilitate interest groups for individuals, such as Jewish meditators or Jewish book junkies. Or it could link Jews who live in the same neighborhoods.
The initial data came from surveys distributed at Stanford Hillel’s services last fall. About 550 of the 3,000 to 4,000 servicegoers mailed back the surveys.
The Jewish Community Federation South Peninsula region paid to print the surveys and tabulate the results. Since then, the network of a dozen community members and lay leaders of day schools, synagogues, the federation and the JCC has been on its own.
In the spring, the network invited about 20 of the servicegoers to two focus groups. Based on the discussions and the survey, the network then began to draw up ways to reach the interested-but-unaffiliated crowd.
A shorter, follow-up survey was distributed at this month’s Stanford Hillel High Holy Days services.
According to last fall’s 11-question survey, the servicegoers include a significant number of older, longtime area residents.
More than half of those who responded are between 36 and 55 years old. Seventy percent are married. And 58 percent have lived in the area for more than 10 years.
“So it isn’t just newcomers,” said Kurz, who is a board member of Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos Hills and former president of Mid-Peninsula Jewish Community Day School.
Most weren’t affiliated with local Jewish institutions.
Just 12 percent were synagogue members. Twenty percent belong to the JCC. And 28 percent were affiliated with the federation — “which probably means they give money,” Kurz said.
About 70 percent agreed or strongly agreed that it was important for them to feel connected to the local Jewish community. But 65 percent said they didn’t feel involved at all.
When asked to rank four reasons — time, expense, friendliness and publicity — for their lack of affiliation, time was the single-most important issue for 36 percent.
Joy Kellman, a network member, said this response reflects more than a problem with time management.
She knows from personal experience. Her only Jewish connection in the past two decades was the Stanford Hillel’s High Holy Days services. “People find time for what’s a priority,” said Kellman, whose joined the network last year after learning about it at Hillel’s services. “People don’t know how to make the connection. And because it’s not a priority, it slips off their list of things to do.”
Though the expense of affiliation was the No. 1 issue for only 18 percent, Kurz said, many focus group members resented paying membership dues “up front.”
The survey also found that respondents differentiated between joining groups and forming friendships.
“They wanted to connect with other people. They weren’t necessarily interesting in joining an organization,” Kurz said.
Shelley Hebert, a network member and former board member of the Palo Alto School for Jewish Education, said the organized Jewish community should pay more attention to the positive aspects of alternative groups, congregations and schools.
“We have placed too much emphasis on trying to fix things that aren’t working in our Jewish life,” she said. “In our area we have a lot outside the mainstream…Yet we haven’t systematically looked at things that are successful and learned from them.”