BRUCE LICHT
FOUNDER OF MY ELEVATOR PITCH FOR GOD, ENTREPRENEUR, AND AUTHOR
Bruce grew up in Lafayette, California and received a BA in Political Science from UCLA as well as a Graduate Gemologist degree from the Gemological Institute of America. After graduating, Bruce operated his family’s 100 year-old retail fine jewelry business for twenty-two years. Bruce had a passion for computers and graphic arts, so he changed careers and joined his best friend at a national technical publishing company for seventeen-years as the company’s Publisher, where they invented the modern labor law poster industry, including the first “All- On-One Labor Law Poster” and “Labor Law Poster Compliance Plan.”
Aside from being the Founder of this website, My Elevator Pitch for God, Bruce was the co-editor of the book titled, Elevator Pitches For God: Volume 1, and author of the cookbook titled, Immediate Chef: No Previous Experience Required.
Bruce’s goals for this website are: To introduce more people all around the world to God and strengthen the faith of those who already believe in a non-political and non-religious way, to bring people together, find common ground between different faiths, create meaning in people's lives, and start to move the world in a better direction.
You can help by sending this website to friends and family and posting it on social media!
You can also connect with the website project’s LinkedIn page below:
Where’s the Beef?
BRUCE LICHT
A Jewish person walks into a religious bookstore and says, “I would like to purchase a prayer book.” The store owner reaches back and grabs a book from a shelf and places it on the counter. The customer picks it up, leafs through it and says, “this prayer book is for people who are much more religious than I am.” The store owner replies, “These prayers were compiled by Moses, King Solomon, King David, members of the Great Assembly, and more, over the course of centuries.” (1). The customer says, “I want one that’s appropriate for members of a Reform Congregation.” The store owner replies, “This will work. Just tear out all the pages with everything you don’t believe in anymore.”
This joke comically explains why so many people end up losing interest and ultimately abandoning their different religions. Ask yourself, “Where’s the beef?” (2)
It’s an objective fact that only religious education rooted in commitment to God will succeed. This applies to all religions. Nothing else in history has ever worked. For example: Jewish denominations that have essentially dumped most observances will basically die out in four generations. That’s because what keeps Jews Jewish is Jews actually keeping Judaism, and Jews keeping Judaism is Jews keeping the Written and the Oral Law, which is the rocket system, the fuel, and the guidance system behind it. (3)
Below is a chart created by actuaries who are the people that calculate odds for insurance companies. They took 100 Jews from the different denominations and analyzed what happens across four generations. (4)
Secular Jews:
Starting out, in the 1st generation, there are 100 Jews
After 2 generation, there are 36 Jews left
After 3 generation, there are 13 Jews left
After 4 generation, there are 5 Jews left
Intermarriage Rate: 72%
Average Number of Children Per Family: 1.62
Reform Jews:
Starting out, in the 1st generation, there are 100 Jews
After 2 generation, there are 51 Jews left
After 3 generation, there are 26 Jews left
After 4 generation, there are 13 Jews left
Intermarriage Rate: 53%
Average Number of Children Per Family: 1.72
Conservative Jews:
Starting out, in the 1st generation, there are 100 Jews
After 2 generation, there are 62 Jews left
After 3 generation, there are 38 Jews left
After 4 generation, there are 24 Jews left
Intermarriage Rate: 37%
Average Number of Children Per Family: 1.82
Centrist Orthodox Jews:
Starting out, in the 1st generation, there are 100 Jews
After 2 generation, there are 151 Jews left
After 3 generation, there are 228 Jews left
After 4 generation, there are 346 Jews left
Intermarriage Rate: 3%
Average Number of Children Per Family: 3.23
Hasidic/Yeshiva Orthodox Jews:
Starting out, in the 1st generation, there are 100 Jews
After 2 generation, there are 295 Jews left
After 3 generation, there are 874 Jews left
After 4 generation, there are 2,588 Jews left
Intermarriage Rate: 3%
Average Number of Children Per Family: 6.4
The numbers don’t lie – it's not “learning the book,” it's “living the book.” (5)
Footnotes:
1. The Jewish prayer book, called a “Siddur,” is not the work of a single author, but rather a compilation of liturgical texts and prayers from many sources that have been brought together over thousands of years.
The fundamental structure as well as some of the prayers are attributed to a group called, “Anshei Knesset HaGedolah” – the “Men of the Great Assembly,” from the Second Temple period.
The standardization of the public service, especially the standing prayer called the “Amidah.” Is credited to Rabban Gamaliel II.
2. The expression "Where's the beef?" originated as a popular advertising slogan for Wendy's fast-food restuarants in the 1980s, criticizing the small amount of meat in their rival's burgers. It means "What is the substance?" It is a phrase that questions the lack of value or concrete details in something.
3. There is no debating this point. The head of the Reform Movement said it himself, “when Jews leave Judaism behind and stop living and learning as Jews, they're doomed.” Maybe not in one generation, but always by four, and never past five. They assimilate and ultimately disappear.
4. From Dan Kullman’s The Shema Podcast for the Perplexed: Crash Couse in Jewish Denominations with Rabbi Ken Spiro:
5. Nothing else in the 3,300+ year history of the Jewish people has ever worked.