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Chicken Little, chicken soup and the Reform moment

[additional-authors]
January 9, 2014

Almost half a century ago, a cover story in Look Magazine described “The Vanishing American Jew.” Extrapolating from demographic trends on intermarriage, birth rates and generational assimilation, the author predicted that the Jewish community in America would blend in and disappear before the end of the century.

One year later, 1965, the General Assembly of the Jewish Federations in North America, invited Rabbi “>Pew Research Center in its recent study of Jewish Americans (the ““>here and “>considered the results to be “sobering,” if “not unexpected.” A Forward editorial “>said that Pew has presented a “very grim portrait of the health of the American Jewish population in terms of their Jewish identification.” And Daniel Gordis, American born Senior Vice-President of  Shalem College in Jerusalem, “>writing about the “extinction” of American Jewry and how necessary it was to “give mouth-to-mouth to our dying community.” Chicken Little had nothing on these folks.                                  

Why so many David and Devora Downers? Well, according to the Pew Portrait, the percentage of the population of the United States that identifies as Jewish is much less than it was two and even one generation ago and Jewish Americans are older and are having fewer children compared to the general population.  Indeed, the Jewish American fertility rate is less than that required for zero population growth in a developed country.

In addition, according to Pew, the strength of each leg of the traditional triad which has supported Judaism – God, Torah and Israel – has been impaired. Only 34% of Jewish Americans believe with absolute certainty in God or a universal spirit and 23 % do not believe in either. Only 19% believe that observing Jewish law is essential to being Jewish and only 28% think that being part of a Jewish community is essential.

The boundaries between the Jewish community and others seem to have dissolved. While the majority of Jews currently married have a Jewish spouse, almost six of every ten Jews married since 2000 has a non-Jewish spouse. And inter-marrieds and their children are not as well connected to the Jewish community as are two Jewish parent households. 

Conversely, conduct previously seen as not acceptable seems to be becoming more prevalent within the Jewish community. According to Pew, Christmas trees can be found in 30% of Reform, 18% of Conservative and even 4 % of Orthodox homes.  Commentary’s Senior Online Editor Jonathan S. Tobin “>points out that the percentage of children of intermarried couples who identify as Jewish is greater than was predictable based on data collected two decades ago. Indeed, Senior Research Scientist and Brandeis Professor Theodore Sasson “>concludes that “Jews are fine.”

Finally, the positivists see not so much a decline, but a change in Jewish identity. Pew found that around one-half of Jewish American Millennials (ages 18-29) do not identify with the conventional denominations of Reform, Conservative and Orthodox. But some see this phenomena not as a rejection of Jewish identity, but a recognition that denominations are not Mi Sinai, i.e., not ordained, and that models of Jewish expression are changing, just as is the composition of Jews. The duel message is underscored by George Wielechowski, a student at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. A first generation Latino American, a convert and an agnostic, he “>Limmud and “>Oy Vey! Isn’t a Strategy is not about the Pew Portrait, but the clever title is apt. For all the ink spilled and electrons spun since the publication of the Pew Portrait, the ideas raised to address the issues discussed in the report have been few in number, less than original, small in focus, sometimes self-serving (or at least self-justifying) and often risk free. So, for instance:

·       A Federation official “>proposes shifting from a “synagogue-forced paradigm” to a “more authentic” model that “emphasizes the personal observance of mitzvot.” 

·       One writer “>wants synagogues to offer a broader “Jewish buffet” than they presently do.

·       A clinical professor of psychiatry also “>calls for more respect for rabbis and more pay for day school teachers, while another “>believing that a smaller Conservative movement will allow for a greater focus on quality, but his view may also just be another example of hope overcoming experience. Halakhically oriented Conservative Jews can find comfort in a vigorous, intellectually honest emerging Modern or Open Orthodox movement. Other Conservative Jews may be more comfortable in Reform or Reconstructionist settings or in one of the various independent and energetic traditional minyamim that have sprouted around the county.

Third, the Reform movement, even though its congregational affiliates and their membership have decreased, is still the movement with which the largest number of American Jews identify. Its leadership and membership seem in sync. And for all of its internal problems, and a closed and top-down management mentality, the Reform movement has the largest Jewish infrastructure with which to advance change in Jewish American life. Reform Judaism may not be the first to come up with an idea or the most nimble about implementing it, but it has the resources and the reach to make an impact across the nation.

At its recent biennial convention, Union of Reform Judaism president Rabbi Rick Jacobs spoke at length to 5,000 true believers in Reform Judaism. His Beyond Pew:

1.     What is the driving mission today for Jewish Americans, one which is both as distinctively Jewish and as compelling as establishing the State of Israel was two generations ago and saving Soviet Jewry was one generation ago?

2.     Is the Reform movement willing to disrupt what “>Rabbi Ed Feinstein envisions as places of relentless, innovative and radical experience, where failure is allowed?

3.     The Reform movement has been committed to individual autonomy in matters of religious belief and practice. In an age of the sovereign self and instant gratification, will the Reform movement be willing to teach the language of community and of a covenant among Jews?

4.     As it seeks to attract Millennials and non-affiliated Jews, will the Reform movement reinstate serious learning opportunities like its abandoned Summer Learning Institute for already affiliated, more mature Jews?

Conclusion

    We began with two true stories and a children’s fable. What have we learned?

(1)    To paraphrase a great admirer of the Jews, Mark Twain, the report of the death of American Jewry has been greatly exaggerated. Look Magazine was wrong fifty years ago and it is now gone. By contrast, Jews are still here, indeed more of them than ever. This time may be different, but American history suggests that the Jews in this country are as resilient and adaptive as the Jewish People has been in other countries and at other times. The Judaism of the future will not be like your father’s or mothers, much less like zayde’s or bubbe’s, but there will be a Jewish future.

(2)   Heschel was a wise man, but he was never asked to speak to the GA again. Jews love crises, and surveys, too. As Chicken Little learned, a bit too late, however, the imperfect collection of data and faulty analysis can lead to disastrous consequences. One of the problems about measuring the health of the Jewish American community based on the Pew study is that Pew asked questions about what it viewed as certain religious practices, as if Jews were like other socio-religious groups it had studied. But Jews have never really been purely or even primarily a faith community like Baptists or Mormons. There is no Baptist People, no Mormon Civilization. Jews are different.

(3)   To compound the problem, with certain conventional markers in mind, Pew sought to determine “How Jewish are Jews?” More interesting and more important questions are “How are Jews Jewish?”  and “Are Jews, as a community, still committed to anything unique?” In short, if the community wants to treat the Pew Portrait as evidence of crisis, fine, but the inquiry must go beyond the Pew data.

(4)   Reform Judaism, as the movement with which a plurality of American Jews identify, now has the greatest responsibility for the future of Judaism in America. As Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel teaches, one must be careful not to waste an opportunity created by a perceived crisis.  Consequently, a successful future for Jewish life in America depends on only two things: leadership and followship. Simple, huh?

A version of this article appeared previously at

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