Super Sunday's Defector

Last week I gave a public seminar on Jewish attrition which is really a subset of religious attrition.  It takes many forms, and unless one is among those Church Centered people that Stephen Covey, z"l, so vigorously downgraded in his 7 Habits, we all probably have some element of this.   I've been on Federation's Do Not Call List for 25 years and I do not expect a solicitation today.  Indeed, many Federations and other fundraising organizations have written off their small donors as not worth the effort or the telephone earfuls that their contributions would bring.  I've not forsaken tzedakah, quite the opposite, just fired my agent for doing this in 1995 and brought this vital initiative In House.

I think the attrition from Judaism that we see now is really Leadership Generated Attrition, the just deserts of how people see themselves as being treated, whether accurate or not.  Of course those machers told each other how wonderful their leadership efforts were.  Defectors were by definition, inferior Jews or ingrates.  Probably not true then and not true now as their leadership clones who have taken up the baton look at how to make the best of their current circumstances.

For me, the experience violated some of the most basic needs of the Animal Kingdom.  We all devote our efforts to looking for food, avoiding predators, and reproducing.  I gathered food and a good deal of professional and personal satisfaction externally to the herd, found a fair number of predators from within, and had to protect one of my offspring.  Even looking at the herd for the security and opportunity it provides, the losers of the rut who are put in subservient positions may start seeking a different herd where they can flourish more effectively.  That's me.  That's a lot of people.  It's not everyone.  They'd have real tzuris if it were.  The disaffiliation composite speaks for itself.  The rut through which the people of title emerge will just have to engage smaller herds.