I imagine it’s, like many things, a both/and. I wonder also where you live regionally. I don’t hear or see much in terms of capital campaigns for synagogues anymore, and I myself am part of, and hear more about, communities small and large that are not invested in the structure of a pulpit rabbi who leads a community, but rather a broader vision of leadership, education and community accountability. I do actually see people studying Torah–it’s just not necessarily at synagogue or the JCC.

But I also imagine, as many things do, this varies depending upon where one lives. Living in NY in the U.S., my perspective is skewed–I live in the largest concentration of U.S. Jews, so the range of practices and ways in which I see communities shifting and changing is very different from when I was growing up in CT. I think this is somewhat true for other major cities, like Philadelphia and Chicago, but I’d be interested to hear how others experience this in their communities.

But the shift from Temple Judaism to Rabbinnic is still happening, isn’t it? No, not Jews on the far right who worship the rebuilding of a Temple. Its those in the center and the left, for whom a Capital Campaign for beautiful structures holds more importance than the scriptures they house and the strictures we’re told to espouse.

Granted, I don’t see people flocking to Temples as much as they maybe once did, but nor do I really see people flocking to Torah. Thoughts?