A fascinating thing has transpired in the 63-year-old relationship between the Israeli Jewish population and their brethren in the American diaspora. The latter have just realized that their days are numbered -- not as a result of the encroaching existential dangers of the sort that Israel faces day in and day out -- but rather as the result of a slow implosion borne on the back of apathy, cultural acceptance and assimilation.
Ironically, no nation has been as embracing and tolerant of the Jewish people as the United States. One need only to read President Washington's remarkable letter to the Hebrew Congregation at Newport: "May the children of the stock of Abraham who dwell in this land continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants -- while everyone shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree and there shall be none to make him afraid."
Sadly, the American Jewish community has used this unprecedented opportunity unwisely. Instead of educating our children in the beautiful system of ethics, logic, personal growth and spirituality that is the Torah, they sought mainly to fit in with the population at large. Rather than instruct them in the miraculous and heroic history of the ancient people to whom they belong, they provided anemic and mind-numbing Hebrew School experiences and focused on making sure that they had competitive SAT scores and college-worthy extra-curricular activities. The result has been a cascading abandonment of true Judaic thought and practice and a collective spiritual ignorance that is unprecedented in our 3,000+ year project in this world. As a whole, based on the standard demographic measurements of affiliation, the American Jewish community appears terminal, and the effects are manifesting themselves now. In the words of Reform Rabbi Lance J. Sussman from 2010, "With the exception of a number of Orthodox communities and a few other bright spots in or just off the mainstream of Jewish religious life, American Judaism is in precipitous decline ... the reform movement has probably contracted by a full third in the last ten years!"
When contrasted with the continuity performance of the Israeli Jewish community, it's hard not to be shocked at the gap. Despite their highly publicized problems, the Israeli Jewish world is thriving. Among other facts, the Jewish birth rate there is the highest in the industrial world at about three children per woman. The entire population is obviously fluent in Hebrew and even the public school students get 12 years of biblical study -- both of which deeply enhance their sense of connectedness to their "Jewishness." It is commonly believed that most Israelis are secular but the truth is that in practice most Israelis are a hybrid -- incorporating many elements of Judaic practice such as having a Passover Seder, building a sukkah or lighting Shabbat candles -- without taking on the entire discipline (Hat tip: David Goldman). They also marry Jews, unlike more than 50 percent of their American counterparts. As the products of inter-marriage are statistically unlikely to be raised with any lasting Jewish knowledge or commitment and given their low birth-rates, it is simply a matter of time until the bulk of the community in America destroys itself.
This is the reason for the surprisingly antagonistic responses by secular American Jews to the Israeli government's recent ads prodding their expatriates to come home. The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg says that "I don't think I have ever seen a demonstration of Israeli contempt for American Jews as obvious as these ads." He also states that in his view intermarriage "can also be understood as an opportunity."
An opportunity for what? For inter-denominational understanding yes, but as a means of preserving the Jewish nation it fails utterly -- as it always has. It's the reason that the Reform and Conservative populations are now vanishing. Any student of Jewish history knows that there have periodically arisen great new Jewish movements that deviated from the mainstream, temporarily flourished and then collapsed and disappeared. It's the reason why the once great Karaite and Sadducee communities are irrelevant or non-existent, respectively. We are witnessing the latest iteration of that ancient cycle currently and it disturbs those who are standing on the wrong side of history. Israel is once again the epicenter of Jewish life and more and more we will see religiously committed leaders taking authority over Jewish matters -- both at home and in the diaspora. Even the once spiritually bereft IDF has begun contending with the need to accommodate the recent influx and promotion of religious soldiers in its ranks.
America has indeed been an important safe-haven for the remnants of the European destruction. We have flourished materially and been granted opportunities undreamt of by our ancestors. It has been good. But now the ground has shifted, and each Jew must make his or her choice -- to continue to allow themselves to be distanced from their Judaism and their connection to the land, or to explore and (hopefully) embrace them. Israel (and traditional observance), as was foretold by the Torah and the prophets thousands of years ago, is the future: "And He will return and gather you from among all of the nations where he has dispersed you. If your dispersed ones will be even at the ends of the heavens, from there God Almighty will gather you and from there He will take you. And God your Lord will bring you to the land that your fathers inherited and you shall inherit it and He will do good for you and make you more numerous than your forefathers." (Deuteronomy 30:1-5)
That this decline will occur seems a foregone conclusion, but it does not mean that we should casually resign ourselves to it. There is a Talmudic dictum that says that "all Jews are guarantors for one another." On a practical level this means that each one of us is responsible for the physical, emotional and spiritual well-being of all the others. I cannot sequester myself in my religious enclave and spiritually satisfy myself while the vast majority of my nation cannot read two letters of their own alphabet let alone navigate the finer points of our legal, ethical and philosophical texts. All Jews must take the time and the responsibility to reach out and -- at the very least offer to -- help educate their fellow Jew. Otherwise, soon enough we won't even know who to reach out to.
Follow Rabbi Adam Jacobs on Twitter: www.twitter.com/RabbiAdamJacobs
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You belong in Israel.
What you are fighting against is love decency and decent marriage across religious and racial lines.
I have news for you this is what our country is all about.
Every national ethnic and religious group is being demolished by intermarriage.
This is a wonderful thing. The greatest strength of our country. The last thing we need is go back to old world racism.
(T)he Israeli Jewish world is thriving. … the Jewish birth rate is the highest in the industrial world…The entire population is …fluent in Hebrew, … public school students get 12 years of biblical study….(M)ost Israelis are (not) secular … in practice most Israelis (Incorporate) many elements of Judaic practice -- without taking on the entire discipline. … They also marry Jews….This is the reason for the surprisingly antagonistic responses by secular.” (Jacobs).
This is a candid article but politically incorrect among “secular Jews” and intermarried Jews. The decline of American Judaism became a major issue in the 1990’s with the publication of the “Jewish Population Study.” Jewish outreach and continuity became the buzzwords. Today large segments of of the "self identified" Jewish American population are not Jews by traditional standards that were universal not that many years ago. This does not mean they are not "good people" they are just not recognized by the traditional as Jews. Traditional Jews don't make an issue of it. However, intermarriage with many liberal Jews would require that the secular or liberal Jew "convert" or alternatively the traditional partner "marry out".
In the United States anyone can identify however they desire and call themselves what ever they please. There are no generally recognized standards in the United States.
Of course the days of those American Jews are no more numbered than are the days of the Israeli Jews. Their life expectancies are comparable. Nor, are the lives of their children or grandchildren, or great grandchildren, etc.
Like everybody else, American Jews make decisions about what is important to them. In the article above, Jacobs has little more than the appeal to tribal identity to suggest that the decisions by the American Jews are in any way bad ones.
Non of which worries me. One need only peruse this tab on HuffPo to see how "Judaism" is little more than politics, unassailable platitudes and recipes. If that means the whole thing collapsed in 20 years, good.
I will insist that the Hebrews have done more to civilize men than any other nation. If I were an atheist, and believed in blind eternal fate, I should still believe that fate had ordained the Jews to be the most essential instrument for civilizing the nations. If I were an atheist of the other sect, who believe, or pretend to believe that all is ordered by chance, I should believe that chance had ordered the Jews to preserve and propagate to all mankind the doctrine of a supreme, intelligent, wise, almighty sovereign of the universe, which I believe to be the great essential principle of all morality, and consequently of all civilization.
What the Jewish community needs is active and more organized outreach. It is unavailable in many areas. Couples need to make a choice, and should not become stuck between two religions. Judaism takes lifelong study and is a way of life. It is almost impossible to stay away from Christian Celebrations. There is no objection against Christian celebrations, but it is not for the Jew. For that reason, it is good to have a homeland, where one can belong, and be part of the whole society.
If we read, and we hear, we already see and hear the complaints from Muslim, about encroachment of Christianity on their faith and community. It is not surprising, that neither ibsalzman, nor Macready, are unable to see the similarities between Muslim, and Jews with respect to having a difficult time maintaining their identity in a Christian nation. Neither can ibsalzman see what Islamic terrorism does to soil the faith of Islam and its public face.
What the previous two posters do, is so antithetical to judaism, that I can not believe that either one of them speaks from a jewish point of view. It is not that they disagree with Israeli policy. It is outright slander. And, as a response to this article, it is totally out of place to boot. It is not about Palestinians and Israelis. It is about community, jewishness, the future of the Jewish Faith being best served in Israel.
When I participated in discussions with Christians, they had genuine questions, which I could, by the way, not all answer either, such as Why the RED Heifer? On other occasions, reading what Jesus had said in the red letter edition, I saw nothing that distinguished him from any other Jew. He did not abolish Judaism, or The Law (Torah) for example. He was a Jew according to Jewish Law and tradition. We discussed that without repercussions from Christians.
If Israel wants the missiles stopped, then stop the occupation and siege and leave the Palestinians in peace to have a country on what is left of their historic homeland.
The term was first used to denote an official province in c.135 CE, when the Roman authorities, following the suppression of the Bar Kokhba Revolt, combined Iudaea Province with Galilee and other surrounding cities such as Ashkelon to form "Syria Palaestina"
The Hebrew name Peleshet usually translated as Philistia in English, is used in the Bible more than 250 times. In the Torah / Pentateuch the term is used 10 times and its boundaries are undefined. The later Historical books include most of the biblical references, almost 200 of which are in the Book of Judges and the Books of Samuel, where the term is used to denote the southern coastal region to the west of the ancient Kingdom of Judah.