American Jewry: Rapid Decline Or Renaissance?
Your outlook may well depend on your age, faith, politics and sense of community.
Anti-Semitism is on the rise in the U.S. It’s unclear how much of it can be attributed to controversy over Israeli policies.
What are we to make of a recent survey’s finding that a growing percentage of younger American Jews view Israel as an apartheid state that commits genocide and is not deserving of the right to exist?
According to the research sponsored by the Jewish Electorate Institute, an independent group promoting democratic values, 34 percent (of the 800 U.S. Jews polled) agreed with a statement that “Israel’s treatment of Palestinians is similar to racism in the United States”; 25 percent agreed that “Israel is an apartheid state”; and 22 percent agreed that “Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians.”
Among those polled under 40, one-third agreed that Israel is committing genocide, and 20 percent agreed that “Israel doesn’t have a right to exist.”
Most disturbing is that the poll was taken of Jews. But the findings shouldn’t be too surprising to those who have been following other similar surveys and news headlines of late, including:
. data from the latest Pew Center Report on American Jews found the most growth among younger Jews who distance themselves from Israel -- and Jewish life;
.during and after the latest Israel-Hamas clash, social media was filled with vitriol toward the Mideast democracy that is America’s most loyal ally rather than the terror organization that launched the fighting and whose stated mission is to annihilate Israel and Jews.
. anti-Semitism in the U.S. is rising sharply, including violent incidents against innocent Jews. The timing of this latest spike indicates that anti-Israel sentiment is fueled by the Mideast hostilities;
. a new study by two academics, Eitan Hersh of Tufts University and Laura Royden of Harvard, found that young conservative Americans are more likely to have anti-Semitic views than liberals, that young people on the far left are more critical of Israel than young conservatives, and that Blacks and Latinos are more likely to have anti-Semitic views than whites.
A high-ranking official of a prominent Jewish organization told me the other day that “the Jewish establishment is in trauma,” sensing that the next generation of American Jews is far less interested in affiliating with and supporting the forms of Jewish organizational life, from synagogues to federations, that have been the bulwark of the community for more than a century.
But does that mean the American Jewish future is in jeopardy?
Not if you speak to some of the brightest and most thoughtful young people engaged in Jewish life today.
Four of The Jewish Week’s latest crop of “36 Under 36” -- emerging Jewish changemakers who add energy and new paths to Jewish life -- participated in a webinar last week on their contributions to the community. At one point they were asked by moderator Andrew Silow-Carroll, The Jewish Week’s editor-in-chief, if they were hopeful about the Jewish future.
Each of them -- an Orthodox rabbi/educator, a Reconstructionist pulpit rabbi, a doctoral student in Jewish philosophy and a Sephardic communal professional -- expressed great optimism looking ahead.
How does one understand the sharp contrast between those who see a decline in traditional forms of affiliation and others heartened by a modernity allowing for expanding Jewish expression?
Clearly, there is a generational divide, with two different ways of seeing the place of Jews in society. And that is based, at least in part, on whether one views Israel from a Boomer’s perspective as a modern miracle, a state that overcame great odds and Arab armies and has not known a day of peace. Or, from a younger person’s view, as a powerful country that has been around all of one’s life, and is largely responsible for the lack of a solution to the Arab-Israel conflict.
I recognize that I’m old-school. I am of a generation that views Jewish life and religious tradition anchored in community, with an obligation first to family, extended to include the Jewish People. I identify with the quintessential Jewish telegram: “Start worrying. Details to follow.”
But those who came of age in this century (and may not know what a telegram is) tend to relate to a society that is more about “me” than “we,” with an emphasis on personal growth. That is combined, the “36ers” say, with a more universal outlook. Those committed to tikkun olam, repairing the world, see themselves as global citizens with an interest in connecting like-minded people everywhere to address people in need around the world.
Granted, I am over-simplifying here, and the tensions between commitment to one’s own and to the larger community are ever-present, and not unhealthy.
It makes sense, then, that younger Jews resist having their Jewishness defined by religious practices and commitment to Zionism. Some are calling for new approaches that are more relevant to how Jews express their Jewishness today.
Rachel Gross, a professor of American Jewish Studies and author of “Beyond The Synagogue: Jewish Nostalgia as Religious Practice,” contends that sociological surveys on Jewish identity often ask the wrong questions. Equating ritual practice and synagogue attendance does not reflect the “innovative and ever-changing ways Jewish religion is practiced,” she writes.
She calls for a broader definition of religion that includes what Jews do -- eating Jewish foods, reading books of Jewish interest, visiting Jewish museums, watching TV and movies with Jewish themes, etc. -- rather than “what they name as ‘essential’ to their identity.”
According to Gross, “expanding our definition of ‘religion’ can help us better recognize the ways … American Jews continue to find meaning in emotional connections to their families, communities and histories.”
Personally, I find it depressing to expand our definition of religion in a way that makes “bagel-and-lox Judaism” a positive trait rather than a description of shallowness.
In the end, though, however one looks at the American Jewish glass, half full or half empty, the fact remains that Judaism has survived these thousands of years because it is constantly evolving. That is our history, that is our reality -- and that is our hope for the future: “Am Yisrael chai.”
"Personally, I find it depressing to expand our definition of religion in a way that makes “bagel-and-lox Judaism” a positive trait rather than a description of shallowness."
My thoughts exactly... and frightening.
Good one, Gary. Depressing as hell, but articulated as it needs to be. Shabbat Shalom.