I asked my mother when I was a kid if I could be Jewish so I could get gifts like some of my friends.
Those celebrations do not involve Seniors...they happen when a Jewish youth turns 13 years of age. Hal
Uh, I’m afraid that there are probably more seniors than juniors at the celebrations. And, may I also correct one other thing which is that on the Orthodox side, the Bat Mitvah (girls) the coming out age is 12, not 13 as it is on the conservative side.
Not to worry Hal. Although no, I guess being a bit of a ham would disqualify you from being Kosher albeit you have been pickled before.
It's odd but growing up in a small Maryland town I was never aware of any Jews in my high school or elsewhere. There were probably one or two families in town but they didn't identify as such. I didn't know enough about the last name thing to 'suspect' anyone. There was no temple in town. Odder still, to this day I don't know any Jewish people, at least not as they might self-identify. I met one or two in my traveling days in my 20s but they made no particular impression on me. If I met a Jewish person today I might try to find out if he was a Zionist but I guess that would make me antisemitic. That make about as much sense as if I would ask.a a Fiji Islander if he were a Zionist. Would that make me an anti-Fijian? Knowing no Jews, it's hard to be antisemitic. I have other prejudices though. Women, for instance. I don't like women who don't think I'm handsome. Are they crazy or what?
That's the percentage of Americans belonging. I thought it would be considerably higher but trends show a big decline.
I would venture to write that a major portion of believers do not commit to a specific place of worship by becoming a member.
Conversely, there are lots of "members" who have not set foot in the facility in years. In many churches, those people greatly outnumber the regular attendees. And they may be attending elsewhere and just not gone through the transfer process. Personally, I loathe the concept of "belonging" to a church. It smacks of misplaced allegiance.