Manhattan group energizes Jews in 20s and 30s

By Jason Cohen
May 23, 2008

It can often be difficult to attract young Jews in their 20s and 30s to the temple and the Jewish community. Four years ago, Rabbi Elie Kaunfer changed that by creating Kehilat Hadar, a spirited organization on the upper West side of Manhattan for Jews in their 20s and 30s.

At the age of 27, Kaunfer told an audience May 19 at Highland Park Conservative Temple-Congregation Anshe Emeth, he was experiencing a void in his Jewish life.

"Young Jews in their 20s and 30s bring continuity, diversity, and are the future of Jews, therefore I moved to [Manhattan's] Upper West Side, where it is the nexus of Jewish life," Kaunfer said.

However, he and his friends still didn't feel quite comfortable there. One night, he and three friends at a bar mapped out an ideal minyan. They spread the word about the new group, and 60 people showed up for the first Shabbos. Each week, the number of people that attended increased, and now the thrice-monthly minyan has 200 congregants. 

Kaunfer, a former corporate fraud investigator who is now in his third year of Rabbinical School at the Jewish Theological Seminary, said the stereotype is that young Jews don't want to participate.

"It's hard to attract young Jews in their 20s and 30s, and the best way to is to use young people to bring in young people," Kaunfer said.  

Called Hadar, Kaunfer's group is made up of volunteers.

"In college, many people were part of organizations like student government or their newspaper where they had leadership roles, so they are used to having power," Kaunfer said. "Therefore, Jews in their 20s and 30s are like older people and just don't want to be programmed and told what to do."

Hadar is a very spiritually and social action related group, he said.

"We do social action because we want to be involved in the community as a Jew," he said.

Because of the expensive cost to live in New York City and the fact that people are always moving, Hadar has expanded across the country. 

"People pass through, many saw how good Hadar is and started Hadar in different places across the country," Kaunfer said. "Now it's not just on the Upper West Side. We can't leave things to chance, therefore we network all of the minyan of Hadar across the country through the Internet and hold nationwide conferences for Hadar." 

According to Kaunfer, it is a place for young Jews no matter what their level of observance.

"We started the first egalitarian yeshiva in America, bur more importantly, our goal is to bring young people into an environment that matches their values and future of the world," Kaunfer said.

Kaunfer said Hadar doesn't force anyone to join, and their young members are doing this for themselves.

"There are four things that stand our about Hadar: One is values, which involves first impressions," Kaunfer said. "First impressions really do count because people are very judgmental. Secondly, our prices are cheap. We usually don't charge more than $5. Third, there are no singles events because the only thing that those people have in common is being single. Lastly, there is no guilt. We don't want to guilt you into coming; you need to want to come here on your own." 

At Hadar, volunteers are driven by volunteers, where there is a relationship between the people that volunteer and the people that want to volunteer.

"Finding people that want to be in Hadar is like a scouting event -- you need to personally ask people to volunteer," he said. "If you see someone at services all the time and one day ask them [to] help set up Kiddush, it would be very hard for them to say no," Kaunfer said.

How can a community like Highland Park or New Brunswick get young people involved? Having a movie night won't do the trick, Kaunfer said.

"What communities like this really need to do is know who the young people of the community are, bring them in, and ask them what they want at the temple," Kaunfer said.

Each year Hadar tries to put on the best possible High Holiday services.

"We do high holiday services each year that knock your socks off," Kaunfer said. "The melodies are powerful and draw people in. Ultimately it is the best show in town and people are going to come."

Kaunfer explained that Hadar empowers young people so that they can do what they want, leading to high quality programming.

"It's important that the right people are in charge, not just the first 20 people that walk in," Kaunfer said. "We need to find out who's out there and get names and numbers of people."

Congregant Michael Weingrart of Highland Park said that the demographics of the area make it challenging for the temple to attract young Jews in their 20s and 30s.

"I'd like to point out, what brought me back was spirited Rutgers Hillel, I never knew that there was a different tune to Lecha Dodi," Weingart said. "Additionally, Hadar proves by example that young Jews in their 20s and 30s can succeed in Jewish life."

Congregant Beth Kraemer of Highland Park said that young Jews are vital to our community.

"Young Jews in their 20s and 30s are an important voice for establishing the Jewish community here," Kraemer said.