What Are We?
If contemporary America were to pick a motto, it might well be “What have you done for me lately?” Each of us pursues individual happiness as we understand it. When the agenda of some outside organization intersects our own, we are willing to belong. But our belonging is usually pretty fragile—we belong on our own terms, for our own interests. If we’re unhappy with a rabbi’s sermon, we quit the synagogue, if we don’t have time to attend their meetings, we quit the organization.