Monday, December 1, 2014

Non-Jews Play Growing Role in American Synagogues, Researcher Says

By Judy Maltz reprinted in The Jewish Daily Forward

(Haaretz) — Non-Jews have come to assume prominent roles in Conservative and Reform synagogues around America, in some cases accounting for a relatively large share of congregation membership, according to a prominent Israeli-born scholar who has been studying the changing face of American synagogues in recent years.

“Sometimes as many as half the people in a synagogue are either non-Jews or married to non-Jews, or have a close non-Jewish relative, said Yaakov Ariel, a professor of religious studies from the University of North Carolina at a recent two-day conference in Jerusalem on the growing appeal of Judaism worldwide.

Ariel, who has been focusing his fieldwork on synagogues in the southern United States, said the increased presence of non-Jews in these congregations had in many ways changed the discourse inside.

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