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If You Build It, They Will Come

By Jaime Bassman, Consultant, Whole Community Inclusion / Back in the 1980’s, after the movie “Field of Dreams” was released, I heard a particular line from the film that was frequently quoted (and often misquoted): “If you build it, he will come.” When the Pew Study, A Portrait of Jewish Americans, was released in the fall of 2013 (and the hand wringing over the future of American Judaism began anew), it spurred many organizations to consider how to rebuild their institutions and offer fresh, relevant programming in order to keep Jews in the fold.