Last week, OU and RCA congregational rabbis and shul presidents heard a skilled analysis of the recently-released Pew Research report on American Jewry. Preeminent American Jewish sociologist Professor Steven M. Cohen, a research professor at Hebrew Union College who served as senior consultant to the Pew organization for the study, visited the OU to appear on a webcast. He focused on the ramifications of the report for the Orthodox community and the role that the Orthodox community can play in light of the results of the study. (Learn more here.)
OU staff and lay leaders were also invited to tune in or attend in person at 11 Broadway, where they were able to ask questions of Prof. Cohen about the research. Online participants also had the opportunity to pose questions to Prof. Cohen via email or Twitter. (Circumstances required that I introduce the webcast over the phone from the West Coast.) After a detailed presentation by Prof. Cohen, questions from viewers were introduced to the conversation by OU Chief Communications Officer Mayer Fertig. You can view the webcast in its entirety here.