New Learning Circles

Jweekly.com has article about Keva, a new non-profit in the San Franciso area. The article touches on three distinct trends: disaffection with current institutions, yearning for community, and a focus on Jewish texts. These trends are thoroughly relevant to Messianic Judaism. Here’s an excerpt:

A number of studies indicate that unaffiliated 20- and 30-something Jews . . . are turned off by conventional Jewish institutions and want to create their own Jewish vision of community.

Instead of fighting against this increasingly common tendency, Kevah leans on it. This means it does not recruit for its learning circles. It also doesn’t choose the curriculum, offer class signups or charge a fee.

Instead, Kevah relies on existing social networks to grow a learning group organically. This means that a person interested in starting a Jewish learning group is the one who assembles the group and finds people to participate and commit to attending.

“We don’t convince [people to join]. Their friends convince them,” Bamberger said. “We don’t have to do anything. The group organizer says, ‘Just come to my house for dinner, just once, and if you find it interesting, come again.’ It’s a very informal and organic process.”

Once a group of eight to 12 is formed, the participants decide what they want to learn and how often they want to meet. That determines which educator — all volunteers at this point — Kevah assigns to the group.

Read more here.

So, what do you think--Would study groups like this (and an organization like Keva) would be good for Messianic Judaism?