DROWNING IN THE MAINSTREAM BY SY
SCHECHTMAN
An eminent Jewish theologian, Emil
Fackenheim, during the sad holocaust years,
in his book “After Aushwitz”
stated categorically that the
614th commandment was “Do not give Hitler any posthumous victory. One must stand in place in his Jewish
heritage.” All other speculation about the meaning of this most cataclysmic event in human history was nebulous and a mysterium
tremendum, perhaps beyond our
present limited understanding of the
Deity in our evolving and expanding universe, and our limited
anthropomorphic current knowledge of
the infinity about us. Slowly and
gradually, however, we are sinking
below the level of commitment in this
very crucial area of Jewish survival in this earthly
environment. One noted demographer
just several weeks ago stated that
the the number of people who identify
as Jews fell to 1.2 percent, compared to 2% ten years ago. The National Jewish Population Survey, which does a ten year survey every
decade stated that 19 years ago the
Jewish population in the United States was 1.8% of the overall population in
the world and in the 2001 survey it had
slipped to 1.4%. That still is about 5,000,000 people, but somewhat less than we had about about two
thousand years ago!
At that time, just at the millennial calendar
time of anno domini, the so called
Christian Calendar, our western time mode instituted two thousand years ago, the estimated Jewish population was about
six million people and the very
large Christian (2.1 billion), Moslem(1.5 billion) and Hindu(900 million)
were either just nascent or
hardly on the civilized horizon. The total Jewish population today is a mere 14 million world wide, and the reason for its’ rather
minuscule growth is a complex of
items, some of which will be evident as we go forth here. Most disturbing, from a longer range
standpoint, is the Jewish/Arab ratio
today both in this country and in Israel,
for the explicit biblical injunction “be fruitful and multiply” is mostly honored in the breach by most of
God’s original Chosen People—the
Jews--- and the Moslem population here is starting to approach that of American Jews. So far the Jews have a preponderance of visibility and power here with significant representation both in the Senate and House
of Representatives and in the prominent
print media, and the Moslem minority
here is not publicly evident, except
in the important upper echelon debate
at our higher elite institutions of learning, where free speech perimeters are stretched perhaps to uncomfortable or unrealistc limits. Most exchanges in debate and discussion seem to forget that the
underlying but only quietly avowed basic premise is the Arab wish to
ultimately destroy Israel and “drive
them into the sea”. It is regrettably
true that Israel has some settlements in what was formerly Arab territory, but it is very hard to surrender all prime defensive areas
to an
avowed enemy that has started
three wars against Israel and refuses to remove from its
foundational documents the complete annihilation
of the country as a precondition to negotiation. And teaches children in early
public school grades how to remove the pin from a live grenade and throw it
before the count of ten—when it will explode-- at a Israeli soldier. (Very
crucial counting lesson indeed!)
The example of the irrevocable Hitler
pledge to make the world “Judenrein”
and its chilling resonance today with Ahmadinejad’s strong avowal to crush
Israel makes for very tentative and perhaps only temporary progress in any current peace talks. Indeed, the unsuccessful negotiations when Clinton spearheaded the abortive Oslo Accords, when after years of talks
Israel had agreed to return at
least 90 percent of occupied territory, the then Arab leader, Arafat, demurred and
insisted that the right of return of the displaced Palestinians must be
included in the settlement---something
that had not even been on the table of talk until then---convinced many of the pro Israel advocates of the of the stalling and intransigence of the
Arab position. Indeed, as of now, most
ironic is the millennial old the Jewish toast “Next Year in Jeruasalem!” The Jews are there now, almost on the
providential and miraculous end of many persecutions and dead ends, including
the 6 million slaughter of the Holocaust. But the goal of a secure and proud Jewish State is almost as elusive as ever. And --crowning irony of all!-- despite
having the most well equipped and valiant army in the area!
One prime problem has been Zionism’s
failure to account for the indigenous Arabs,
who have now acquired the mantle of Palestinians, although never before
the new Jewish state was created in 1948 was there ever such an entity existing, merely an inchoate Arab
group of meager means and organization.
Many of them drawn to that area by the pioneer Jewish Zionists who had bought tracts of land from Arab
landlords and employed many prior nomad
Arabs, happy to have steady work for the first time. A group that has been carefully kept homeless
and semi impoverished after the l948 war by their relatively affluent millions
of Arab and other Moslem kinsmen, and
trumpeted world wide to be an Israeli atrocity
although there was a superfluity of Arab acres empty and able to easily be
occupied and financed by burgeoning Moslem oil weath. There was only a relative paucity of arable Israeli land altogether, and mostly Negev desert,
but the Jews have repatriated over a million Jews worldwide in the
ensuing years and employed them most productively to create a prime industrial state with no assist from oil
revenue of any kind. The original
homeless displaced Arab group, most of whom were urged to stay in place by the
defending Israelis during the war were
estimated to be about 750,000 and now
has an estimated number of about 4.5
million, many still living in refugee
camps 65 years later!
The resettlement of these people and also the fate of the Arab citizens
of the state of Israel are prime problems. While the fate of the Palestinian
refugees may not be an Israeli
problem directly, most certainly the
fact that over 20 percent of Israeli
citizens are Arab and not too enthralled in what most of them consider
“second class” status, seems like a ticking time bomb, endangering the concept of the “Jewish
State”. Arab fertility in Israel is
still significantly higher than Jewish fertility, even though it is also declining. But in 20 years or so the
Arab minority may well approach 40%
and have a significant influence in the
deliberations of the Knesset and
perhaps even in higher level
cabinet decisions. And, as we shall discuss again below, intermarriage and
assimilation may significantly alter
attitudes. Remember what a bracing,
or noxious tonic democratic free elections can be----the AfroAmerican vote was
only about 12% of the total in America just the day before yesterday..and most of us
voted for Obama, although one year
before that Hilary Clinton had the Democratic nomination most
certainly! While my heart still belongs
to the democratic ideal one must have the strength and courage to follow where
it sometimes leads you. The world is still a hot bed of anti
Semitism and Judaism is still the scape coat of choice
world wide and Israel must
survive somehow as a beacon unifying Judaism’s diminishing reserves!
The United States is, of course, the last bastion of
substantial Jewish strength.
The place where the Jew has had the freedom to prosper and
achieve his potential in many
ways----and made inestimable contributions to the growth and strength of this
most welcoming country. ( A
country, too, that flouted much anti Semitism, too, in bygone years, but not now. Not uncommon years ago in
relatively fine sites, but in small type,
was the declaration that “no Jews or dogs” were allowed!) It is not good news that this last bastion
of Jewish strength understands in general the slow disintegration in numbers
of Jews in this country. Only an indifferent shrug when we
comfortable Jews here consider Israel’s almost chronic Arab dilemma in the
middle east, or even the slow demise of
our numbers and ultimate power
here. It is as if we are numb and inert from eons of pushing the
Jewish cause upwards against the indifference or outright enmity of the
many, and while we here, as of old, do not exactly yearn for “the
fleshpots of Egypt” but are sunk in the inertia of our own comfort and
assimilation. Our semi sarcastic
answer being that at least the diligent and persistent
Orthodox will still be around.
Too much success and acceptance!! Especially in the last 50 years. Intermarriage is a most common “affliction”
if you are, perhaps, looking through the wrong end of the telescope. The positive answer being that this
was a golden opportunity for spreading
Jewishness around to the previous
unaffiliated mate. The resounding and frightening retort proper in
the 2000 year ten year survey of the NJPS-was that the intermarriage was at about 50% and only 28% of the
intermarrieds were raising their children Jewishly. This was as of the 1990
National Jewish Population Survey,
the 10 year survey mentioned
above. Every one waited expectantly
for the 2000 year survey, but it was somewhat mysteriously waylaid or
delayed. When finally released the population figure was reported as
5.2 million, “stable” but still
down from 5.5 million ten years prior.
If this was stable it was the crowning euphemism of the century, for in that decade the population of the
country grew by almost 14%, over 32.7 million people! The survey did not mention
the Jewish children per se, but enough evidence exists to fear that this
dismal rate has only minimally been corrected.
Literally a shock wave of great
proportions greeted the Jewish community
almost 20 years ago on the news
of this survey, but it has
simmered down to the “stable” level of losing just a few percent per ten year
time frame!!.But in the Reform movement at that time, when I was still quite
active, almost overnight a drastic
change occurred. The most obvious mitzvah then was helping thy brother, Jew or Gentile, in the field of social action.
Love your neighbor as your self, do unto others as to yourself……etc. But now the updated thrust was Torah
Study, and learning the true
complicity of God in all this and the agony and joy of rendering the Torah and allied documents of Jewish history, besides the emphasis on the Prophets who
stressed only the fashionable modes of social action. That God, the ruler of
history, had a somewhat more
complicated path for his initially Chosen people, but its holy path was discernible by more study of the basic
texts. The rest of the Hebrew Bible,
select midrash, and ongoing
Jewish history and, of course, the
Holocaust. But not to wallow in
it!
Let us have less of the present cultural
morass we are trapped in. Too much
mourning over the 6 million dead still
leaves us confronting, now, the slow inexorable
posthumous victory of the Hitler Nazi Judenrein nightmare.We must
realize, before it is too late, that we
are drowning in the mainstream of
our welcoming American culture. The Orthodox and even more conservative Chassidim have the most separation from it, with rigid food requirements (Kashruth), very modest, discreet apparel, and less mingling of the sexes before marriage. And more frequent religious requirements by
far, such as prayer 3 times daily and
more meticulous holiday services. But the majority of affiliated
Jews,----Reform, Conservative, and Reconstructionist---find this regimen too
demanding. I spoke above about the
somewhat radical Reform move more to the center of religious study and away from just skimming for social action, but the odds still seem to favor this slow downward drift of Jews if left to interact
essentially
with an ever larger mass of non
Jews. There are no large pools
of “captive” Jews, as in the Soviet
Union, who in the last few decades were finally allowed to emigrate, finally allowed to emigrate ----to Brighton
Beach,Brooklyn(!) as well as Israel and other places. And the fertility rate of Jewish women in this country is below replacement level. The
majority female non orthodox groups are mostly college and career
bound, postponing motherhood until only one or two children at most are
feasible, and at a much later age. The average age of Jewish parents is above
the mean, since marriage is usually delayed
until the career is underway,
unless subsidized by grandma and grandpa. In traditional Orthodoxy family growth comes first and then
the maternal careers start flourishing. (Fertility replacement stability is about 2.3 children)
Considering intermarriage rates of 50%
and many lapses in crucial rearing of
the children jewishly we seem to be going somewhat ignominiously into
the sunset of our once priceless Jewish
heritage. But this country is still
the goldene medina of our 2500 year diaspora existence, and we Jews have always had a significant
“finger in the pot” helping to stir the
crucial elements that make our heritage more vibrant and meaningful. From the degradation of biblical slavery and
Reed Sea miracle to the dissolution of the strong Jewish disapora community of
ancient Alexandria, and the various flowerings and dissolutions of our sites in Spain and Northern Europe
and finally here in America, where the Jewish diaspora experience has been the most fruitful ever. Indeed,
necessity has made for a oblique but necessary healing between the
normally disparate and somewhat fractious Jewish dimensions. Indeed I find myself a Reconservadox
practicing Jew, with strong family ties
in the four major Jewish sects,---Reform,
Orthodox, Conservative and Reconstruction-- with many children, grandchildren even a few great
grandchildren. Certainly it has been a
roller coaster up and down with some angst along the way as our very
progressive progeny pulled the
parental reins hither and yon. But all one relatively strong, caring and
united group, very proud of each other
even though our differences are always a
factor we most seriously tolerate,
respect, and even admire many
times!
May this be one saving example
of the way upward and outward of
our current declining phase. From my hopeful prayer to God’s holy playbook!!