Lost JUP-pie in the City
I moved to Washington D.C. from a small Midwestern college town where I was the “first Jew” for many a rural student and comments and questions about horns weren’t entirely abnormal. As a result, I quickly and closely bonded with the few fellow Jews on campus; we were our own community where everybody knew everybody and facetime at bars felt more like schmoozing at Kiddush. Secretly, I yearned for the day when I could move to a big city, find a shul, decent falafel and the “Nice Jewish Boy” of my (mother’s) dreams.
But now that I’m in a city rich with Jewish culture, influences and people, I feel, well, horn-y. I feel like I stand out more than ever. Uprooted from my previous Jewish ties, I’m in my own cultural diaspora where I have my own strong identity and no clue how to express it yet. I know what to call my new phase in life: JUP-pie, or Jewish Urban Professional if you’re not into the whole brevity thing.
This process of re-planting after college happens to almost every graduate, regardless of religion or location. For all of us, I’d like to see more accessibility from social groups designed for young professionals.
In the Jewish community, social groups must make better use of the web so I don’t get tangled up in it. That can be as simple as keeping a website updated. There are few things more depressing than clicking on an online calendar only to find that nobody has updated it since Passover. Do you really expect me to believe that nothing has gone on in your organization in nearly four months? Frankly, if the answer is yes I’m not sure I want to be part of it in the first place.
You can laud or lament the role that new media is playing in the way that people interact with one another, but at the end of the day it’s still at center stage. Jewish leaders need to acknowledge that and use these new tools to attract a new audience. Kudos to most organizations for taking the first step and setting up a website. But keeping up an active online life tells young professionals that the organization keeps up an active social life. Social media takes it to the next level by essentially making “web time” and “real time” the same thing. With user-friendly sign-up and a host of third-party applications designed to make these sites work on your terms, even the least tech-savvy among us can set up an organization’s profile with just a few clicks. In the end, social media encourages the group, rather than the individual, to add content and subsequently add to the group. These same young professionals who interact with each other online are then more likely to interact with each other in person. Everyone wins!
A simple Google search brings up a wealth of Jewish life bursting at the Beltway’s seams. But as I, and other college grads, begin my search for a more personal identity – without family, school or other social constructs dictating my way – we go in with the disappointing knowledge that inaccessibility stands in my way. But we also go into it with the excitement of knowing our involvement in these groups can work as a two-way street. We can also voice these concerns to the people we meet, form a coalition and get something done.
And one day, it could be me on the inside of the organization reaching out to new baby JUP-pies in the city.
