Local synagogue launches initiative for post-college 20-somethings

by Johanna Ginsberg
NJJN Staff Writer

Carri Dolce, 23, of Caldwell, doesn’t take being Jewish for granted. “My dad is Catholic and my mom is Jewish, and it’s really important to me to have Jewish ties. My Jewish friends are so important to me.”

So when she got a call from the synagogue where she grew up asking if she would take the lead in organizing a new group for Jewish 20-somethings in the Caldwell area, she jumped at the opportunity.

“I said, sure. It sounds great. Tell me when. I love this stuff – getting the news out, I really enjoy that and I love planning events.”

That’s how the former United Synagogue Youth president and Sigma Delta Tau sorority member got involved with Marom, launched last fall in Caldwell through Congregation Agudath Israel of West Essex, where Dolce grew up and now lives.

Capitalizing on the large numbers of college graduates working in Manhattan but living with their parents due to skyrocketing city rents, the Caldwell group is attracting 10-20 young people to its events, scheduled twice each month.

Marom, an acronym for the Hebrew Mercaz Ruhani U’Masorti, or Masorti Spiritual Center, is the global Conservative movement’s outreach answer to post-college 20-somethings. It is a cohort thought to be underserved in the Jewish community in general, and Marom is intended to fill a space between the movement’s high school and college youth groups, United Synagogue Youth and Koach, and eventual membership in a synagogue.

“It’s clusters of young adults engaged in Jewish life, becoming leaders in Jewish life. I’ve been moved at how effective it has been,” said Rabbi Alan Silverstein of Agudath Israel, who also happens to be the president of the World Council of Masorti Synagogues.

Marom is a project of the Masorti movement, Conservative Judaism’s global partner. With chapters in South America, Israel, Europe, and the former Soviet Union, Marom is not a new program; but until now it did not exist in the United States.

The inspiration to begin the program came from another 20-something in the Agudath Israel community, Liza Gladstein. She first encountered Marom on a trip to Prague, where she attended a Marom conference while still in college. After graduating from college last spring, she suggested to Silverstein, he recalled, that they start a group in Caldwell.

“Here in the United States we have Koach, for college age students. That’s great, but a lot of people are moving back to this area after college, and we need to engage them,” said Silverstein.” This is an arena of outreach that is not generally part of the local agenda.”

So he decided to try creating a Marom chapter here, “

The group was launched in the fall — on an “experimental basis only,” said Silverstein — with a meeting at Gladstein’s home. It was run by Dolce on the volunteer side and by Randi Brokman, program director at Agudath Israel. In January, Jeremy Gerber, a first year rabbinical student at the Jewish Theological Seminary, joined the effort.

Gerber is spent 2003-2004 in England working with students on campus as well as with a Marom group in London. When he found out about the group in Caldwell, he said, “I was very eager to get involved.”
“The people involved are enthusiastic and interested,” said WHOM? “They want to be engaged. And it’s good for them to have someone their own age to relate to, but who can also offer ideas and suggestions.” He sees his role as both creating “a sense of close-knit community” and stimulating the group to think about Judaism at a more complex level than they did when they were younger. “Some people feel the Judaism they knew when they were younger doesn’t exist, or they can’t find it. I have to show them that Judaism says something to them and specifically for them, as a person just becoming an adult and figuring out his or her role in Judaism.”

Dolce welcomed Gerber to share the responsibility of running the group, which she found difficult balancing with work. “I leave home at 7:30 in the morning and I get home at 7:30 in the evening. I don’t always have time to make the phone calls – I already have a full-time job. With Jeremy, I share the responsibility. And it’s nice to have someone in it with you.”

The first events had a secular flavor, from a NJ Nets game to dinner and a movie.

But when Gerber suggested adding Jewish content to the gatherings, Dolce wasn’t so sure it would work. “I was skeptical. I didn’t think people would want to come to a Jewish event. But he brought up things people don’t talk about every day or remember from Hebrew school. It sparked conversations and it was something we all have in common.”

With Gerber’s prodding, events have included Torah on Tap, held at a local sports bar, and a Purim event. On April 10, the group will go together to see the off-Broadway farce “Jewtopia.”

Gerber and Dolce look forward to seeing the group take off, but both acknowledge that it takes time to create something from the ground up. “With any organization, you have to bend arms to get people to come to events. It’s particularly hard getting them out at the beginning. Starting any organization is difficult,” said Dolce. And Gerber said, “If someone says come join USY, you’ve heard of it; you know what it is. If it’s for your age group, you know you’re either in or out. For Marom, people haven’t heard of it so they’re skeptical. You have to convince them that it’s not just another way to get them to services.”

Both remain cautiously optimistic, and look forward to traveling with the group to build relationship with Marom groups in Israel and Prague. “Long term, I’d like to create a real community, where people come not just for events but because it’s their community. That won’t happen in a month or two. It will take a year and beyond,” said Gerber.

For more information, contact Randi Brokman at Agudath Israel: (973) 226-3600.

Johanna Ginsberg can be reached at jginsberg@njjewishnews.com.