At a post-GA-meet-up yesterday, Jeff Finklestein, the CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, threw out this question: What do you think is the biggest challenge facing your generation? He meant this in a Jewish context, and attendees’ answers touched upon leadership (or lack thereof) in our age group, and delegitimization of Israel (that was me), and the meta-answer of acknowledging all of these issues, and not necessarily choosing one that is important.
I actually liked that last answer the best, and I’ll give Mia Jacobs credit here. She’s the outgoing president of the Hillel JUC’s student board for the University of Pittsburgh. I liked her answer for recognizing the complexity and diversity of issues our generation faces, and how we can still be so divided even in our community, even in our age group.
I think one of the challenges that my generation faces is the idea of a congregation — finding one, joining one, paying dues, making that commitment. All of these discussions make me think about how technology is increasingly changing our world, and especially our Jewish world. My favorite and most recent example: ShulShopper. I can’t recall how I stumbled upon this new tool, still in its beta-testing phase, but I promptly forwarded the URL to several people that I knew would appreciate it.
Essentially, ShulShopper is a online tool that helps Jews find a synagogue (or equivalent, like a minyan that meets in someone’s home). If you’re from out of town, recently relocated, or just searching for a “more fulfilling prayer service” (their words, not mine), ShulShopper will probably be able to help you. According to their website, you can:
search for congregations in your area, browse through flavors and affiliations, add a congregation to their directory, collaboratively manage a congregation’s profile, rate and review congregations, and connect wth other members of your community.
Sounds pretty solid, right? It’s getting there, but the creators still have a lot of work to do. They even acknowledge that fact in their To Do list. As a test, I did searches for Pittsburgh, PA and Columbia, MD, two cities I’m familiar with. It seemed as though most of the congregations were listed, but there was hardly any information or reviews about the congregations. It’s an interesting project of Jew It Yourself, and one that seems distinctly of the millennial generation. Maybe ShulShopper will help bring my generation of Jews of all sorts together.
