Outrage over Israeli “come home” ads is a sad reflection on American Jewish life
In Israel, by contrast, the Jewish fertility rate stands at around 3 children per female, by far the highest in the industrial world. Aside from the ultra-Orthodox minority, which has seven or eight children, the non-Orthodox Jewish fertility rate is around 2.6 children per female.
From the Asia Times essay:
Most Israeli Jews are not secular, but are partially observant. In a Jewish state where everyone speaks Hebrew, public school students have 12 years of Bible study, and Jewish holidays also are official holidays, it is easy to maintain a loose affiliation to Jewish observance. In the United States, nothing but the comprehensive commitment of Orthodox life sustains the Jewish community over the long term. (SNIP)
Israelis grow up with sense of urgency for excellence; in their neighborhood, First Prize is the chance to compete for First Prize once again, and Second Prize is, you’re dead. American Jews live under no threat whatever; having made good in America, they have all the room in the world for indolence and self-deception.
Whatever the Jews are, they are not stupid, and American Jews knew perfectly well in 2008 that the Republican candidate, Senator John McCain, was a more reliable supporter of Israel’s security than Barack Obama. Yet 78% of American Jews voted for Obama, in part because the liberal social agenda mattered more to them, and in part because they continued to believe in the Rabin-Arafat handshake long after the Israelis had written it off. (Audience: If you believe in the Peace Process, clap your hands!)
Liberalism is a self-liquidating proposition, and there are no liberals like Jewish liberals, who are a soon-to-be-endangered species. The sad thing is not that the liberal leadership of American Jewish organizations is complaining about Israel, but that they won’t be around much longer to complain about anything.
Rather than remonstrate with the Israelis, American Jewish leaders should think long and hard about why Jewish life flourishes in Israel but — outside the Orthodox world — declines alarmingly in the United States.
In particular, they should think not only about what it means to be Jewish, but what it means to be American. Liberal American Jews get it wrong on both counts:
The tragedy is that Jews have stopped being Jews because America has stopped being America. The Pilgrim Fathers founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony in conscious emulation of the people of Israel, undertaking a new Mission in the Wilderness to found a new Chosen People in a New Promised Land. From this emerged what Abraham Lincoln called an “almost-chosen people”, a secular and democratic nation defined by the biblical concept of covenant.
Mainstream American culture holds in contempt the idea of a divine grantor of rights who has established individual freedom beyond the prerogative of any government to impinge. For the minority who understand the American founding as a continuation of the covenant of Mount Sinai, the survival of the Jewish people is proof that God’s promises never attenuate; for mainstream culture, the Jews are a curious remnant of antique superstition. That is how most American Jews see the matter, and that is why most of them do not much trouble to be Jewish.
In principle, Jewish life should flourish in the United States. As Eric Nelson of Harvard demonstrated in his 2010 book The Hebrew Republic, the political theory by which America was founded drew on post-biblical rabbinic sources. Nowhere (except in the State of Israel) should Jews feel more at home than in America, whose founding drew on their classical sources.
And they say America is not exceptional! Or perhaps, was not exceptional. We were the opportunity for the Chosen to join with the Elect to become another light unto the Glory of God.
Secularism, or more correctly, Anthrocentristic Humanism as expressed by Marx and various other socialist schemes, fails to recognize God. Theocentric thought has become the object of ridicule among those self described intellectuals who spend most of their time immersed in the ‘wonder’ of their own thinking; fully flawed as it is. “I think therefore I am right.”
God is. God wins. This too will pass; but at what price?
Jews, go home to the faith. Christians to yours too. Jews and Christians…talk, discuss, argue, disagree, and respect each other, and by so doing become ever stronger in the faith of your tradition. We all gain by faith. God will sort us out later.
Secular citizens just need to learn to love sexual promiscuity as much as you religious types do. I hear religious types bleating about pure they are on the whole sex front and, well you know, if you’re secular you’re just evil full stop so being bad on the old sex front is kinda redundant, no? But why the religious are having so many kids when the secular are supposed to be doing all the srewin’ is kind of a mystery.
This is confusing. Get married and have lots of children within marriage; what’s the problem? (By the way, religious Jews abstain for a part of the month; makes the rest more interesting.) And secular Jews in Israel don’t do too badly on the child front, either. But 41% of children born in the US are not born to married parents, and that is detroying the country.
That and the fact the government is strangling the economy. Maybe that has more to do with children born to unmarried parents (special welfare benefits much?) than the big bad secularists? Just sayin’.
For most left of center or assimilated Jews, Jewish identity is little more than a a bagel and the NYTIMES on Sunday mornings. Soft, comfortable, indolent (outside of their day jobs). Relativistc on almost everything, culturally and almost physically emasculated. Larry David/Woody Allen/Jerry Seinfeld tap into the zeitgiest, and also reflect it.
Ahistorical (in fact, actively disinterested in history), tending to view the world through the lens of conventional left of center precepts, and either ignorant of or not caring that the left has not only abandoned Jews, but made common cause with the Jew’s enemies.
As regards the Israeli ad campaign, it was probably not the best idea, but who can blame the Israelis?
Here is what they see when they look at American Jewry (I borrow from a posting I made elsewhere):
Court Jews Dennis Ross, Kurtzer, and multiple other US Ambassadors to Israel. Emanuel, Axelrod.Kissinger.
Loudmouths not only supporting the detested Obama like Wasserman-Shultz, but actually trying to prevent Republican politicos from voicing support for Israel during the election season.
Idiotic or agenda driven journalists like Friedman, Roger Cohen, Jeffrey Goldberg, and a thousand others.
J Street.
NGO machers who make careers of vilifying Israel. San Fransisco loudmouths who get on flotillas to Gaza.
Tikkun ‘Rabbi’ Lerner and his fellow travellers.
Polls showing Israel a generally low priority for American Jews. Israelis read them too, you know.
70% + of American Jews who voted for Obama, the majority continuing to look away as he trashes and undermines Israel. The knee jerk liberalism that allows them to share stages and causes with Israel’s enemies.
With the exception of the orthodox and ultra orthodox (non Satmar, non-Neturei Karta), and those who read ‘Commentary’, American Jews do not act in a brotherly fashion towards Israel. There is a palpable condescension from both the right and the left coming from American Jews who make their opinions known, left and right. Some find it appropriate to lecture Israel on how to be more right wing, A few of these make noisy, self important, blustery ‘aliya’. Those on the left lecture Israel on how on how to be more liberal, more in tune with ‘humane’ values. These almost never make aliya- it is done from the comfort and safety of the USA, without taking on the risks of these pushed ideas. It is noticed and felt in Israel, where these issues are life and death.
Canadian Jews are held in higher regard, as are South African Jews. UK Jews are viewed as ‘keep your head down, work quietly’ weaklings (Rabbi Sachs is the poster boy).
It’s the truth, unfortunately. Israeli and American Jews are diverging.
Yes, yes! The communities are diverging. So it must be according to the fractal theory of Mandelbrot. It is no different between parents and children. Each generation must find its own way back to the source. Why be Jewish? is the perennial question for Jews. It is so obvious to those of us who remain within the fold – Judaism provides content to life. It is the material with which we understand the world’s evolution. Chaos has its place, but it does not support life. Judaism chooses life for us.
Note too, that North American Aliyah is a dismal failure. Only 2% succeed; and the last information I saw, even with the Nefesh B’Nefesh involvement, with its substantial benefits and aids, has failed to increase this rate.
Yo
I find this hard to believe. While my Aliyah may indeed fail, most of my friends and relatives seem to be making it.
The ad was interesting, because it was not about a traditional Jewish observance per se, but about a partucalry Israeli tradition, Memorial Day, the very solemn morning proceding Independance Day. And more interesting was prominent on the site was the traditional term “Yizkor” (may He remember) rather than the secular term Nizkr (may we remember).
All in all, I don’t see the fuss. It was not aimed at American Jews per se, but at Israeli expatriates. From what I could figure, it was asking the spouse to help his wife come home, presumably together.
Sorry for the messed-up typing.
I had wanted to add something about how revolting “Fiddler on the Roof” is, but the eminent professor Yiddish, Ruth Wisse, had the last word on this in her excellent book The Modern Jewish Canon: A Journey Through Language and Culture.
Glad you mention it; I could never stand the Fiddler.
You are on to something. To most American Jews “Fiddler” represents their Jewish memory. The Israelis have one of military victory, quite a difference than being a perpetual victim. American Jews and Israelis Jews have evolved into two different peoples. Personally I prefer the Israeli attitude; I hope some day to see an Israeli version of “Fiddler”, probably entitled “Sniper on a Roof”, with an Israeli army general worrying about his daughters marrying into another branch of service.
Jews naturally have powerful feelings about the life of their ancestors over centuries in Eastern Europe, and in fact Eastern European Judaism produced a high culture of Torah learning, culminating in the Vilna Gaon and his students — a source of today’s Modern Orthodoxy, among other things. The Sholom Aleichem stores are not great literature, but they are witty and tough-minded, and “Fiddler” captures some of this — but being the kind of fellow I am, I can’t abide the betrayal of key principles, and come out on Prof. Wisse’s side.
That is so, but it did have its moments. I think the song “Do you love me” is very true, particularly from a traditional Jewish perspective. Of course, in the original, the intermarried girl didn’t ask for acceptance; she ran away from her husband (probably beat her) and asked for forgiveness, which he would not at first grant, as she was already dead and buried in his eyes. And a bunch of people died; but they were sob stories aimed at women, who read Yiddish.
The movie was a bit better; they were more respectful to religion and the rabbi. The mixed dancing bit really was a serious issue from about 1900 to 1960, when the religious community started moving away from the compromises; unlike what the Rabbi says in the play, it really is prohibited.
So how do you feel about the films “Yentl” and “The Chosen”?
I can’t stand Barbra Streisand, so missed “Yentl” (the original I.B. Singer story is worth reading). Potok’s book didn’t do a lot for me; I never saw the film.
The ad campaign in question is a very sad reflection on FM Lieberman’s gross incompetence.
Lieberman asked for $100s of millions for a huge PR re-branding Israel campaign.
The PR campaign is an unmitigated disaster –and the ” Brand ” of Israel has suffered very severe damage as a result
Lieberman must be held accountable for this–and he must be fired
Fired? Over an ad campaign? Not going to happen, nor should it.
Lieberman is the second most popular politician in Israel, I think.
Let Obama worry that he if he manages to oust Netanyahu (also not going to happen), he may end up not with the pliant and incompetent Livni, but with the bulldog Lieberman.
I’m also a fan of Lieberman. The smear campaigns against him have been quite similar to those waged against Sharon. Both are mostly baseless and often outrageous. I recommend that interested persons should read what Lieberman actually says, not what is said about him in the media. I share prof. Pipes assessment that he is a strong advocate for Israel, which arguably still exhibits a “dhimmi” political culture in many respects. I know that will not compute with all the minds conditioned to see Israel foremost as an overbearing goon. Suffice it to say, the power of the media to mold perceptions/preconceptions is alarming.
I’d also like to take a moment to note that many Russian Jews (e.g. Lieberman) are both quite proud of their Russian culture/identity and simultaneously identify Israel as “home”. It’s interesting that American Jews should find this problematic. Arguably, it says more about American Jewish problems with their identity than about Jewish or Israeli identity, which has recognized Israel as home for millennia.
Don’t forget the “Dual Loyalty” libel which is unleashed at the flick of a wrist.
That fear seems to pervade the lives of many American Jews who outwardly refuse to acknowledge it.
Just want to point out for the uninformed that “Victor” is an unhinged psychopathic antisemitic liar who in all probability is working for an intelligence agency from his native home country of Turkey.
Israel’s “Rebranding” campaign began under Netanyahu’s predecessor Ehud Olmert, and Lieberman’s predecessor Tzipi Livni.
Ah, good old Victor…
This post is about an ad campaign by the Israeli Ministry of Immigrant Absorption. The ads are in Hebrew and aimed solely at Israeli ex-pats. So tell us, Victor old chum, how do those ads (assuming there’s something wrong with them) possibly justify firing Foreign Minister Lieberman?
I’m eagerly awaiting your answer, as I would hate to assume that you’re (still) just a knee-jerk propagandist.
Danny Ayalon’s clips are some of the best stuff the government ever sent out.
In a recent poll, it appears that one-third of Lieberman’s voters are not Jewish – Gentile or patrilineal Russians, and perhaps Druze. Although it is possible this was simply undercounting.
The ad is aimed at Israelis, not American Jews per se. I fail to see anything offensive in it.
Thanks, Spengler, for once again telling the unpalatable truth to the people least willing to hear it – liberal Jews. They created a vast organizational superstructure around the idea that Jewish continuity could be maintained by promoting liberalism and secularism, voting for the Democratic Party, opposing anti-Semitism, and supporting Israel. None of these things were pillars of Jewish life for 3000 years except the last item, and that was intimately connected to Jewish religious life. That is to say – to the belief in and practice of Judaism.
People can be liberal, secular, devotees of the DP, and opposed to anti-Semitism without being Jewish, and that is exactly what most of the descendants of the American Jewish leadership are going to be. Love of the Land of Israel and its people is and always was central to Jewish life. Only the Orthodox and conservadox Jews of America have maintained that as the most important element of Jewish life, connected to study of Torah. The rest of the Jewish population should be condemned to reading the OpEd page of the NYTimes for the rest of their lives as their just punishment for abandoning something of value for something of very limited value indeed (and possibly about to go bankrupt).
What I find so heartening is that the evangelicals (to whom I’ve been talking about my book at dozens of radio stations) WANT me to be Jewish — they think that an observant Jewish community is a blessing for them, and they are curious in a friendly sort of way about why we do the things we do.
Evangelical respect for Judaism is part of a larger post-WWII Christian interest in how Jesus lived as a Jew, and revisiting the Jewish roots of their faith.
This is fueled by a combination of Holocaust guilt, and reaction to the return of the Jews to Zion (which is a strong theological challenge to Christian doctrine of previous eras).
The most extreme change yielded by this new attitude is obviously the Roman church’s “Nostre Aetate”. Despite pro-Israel sentiment by evangelicals and Baptists – Protestants have done little to officially change their positions on the Jews. Lutherans have yet to renounce the virulently anti-Semitic teachings of Luther’s later years, and Methodists and Presbyterians have jumped on the liberal Israel-bashing wagon.
Speaking as someone who attends a Presbyterian church, the only Presbyterian denomination that is anti-Israel is the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), which is the most theologically liberal branch of American Presbyterianism, and the fastest declining. Readers should not equate that with other, more Evangelical branches of Presbyterianism (e.g. PCA) which are typically strongly pro-Israel.
PCUSA recently allowed ordination of practicing homosexuals, which will force their most traditional (and vibrant) congregations out of the denomination. There is a link between lack of adherence to Nicene Christianity, anti-Israel sentiment, and positions on homosexuality. Some might say it is political.
Didn’t the PCUSA once elevate, as a Bishop, a woman who later admitted to being a practicing Muslim? I seem to recall something along those lines and how it mimicked almost to the letter a joke headline in The Onion nearly a year before.
What official position? While some of the theologically liberal denominations are hard to distinguish from leftist Jews in their enthusiasm for Palestinians as victims, the fundamentalist denominations are fiercely supportive of Israel and Judaism. Of course, we would not be at all upset about Jews accepting Jesus as Messiah, but we would much rather live in an America with religious Jews rather than secular Jews. (And for the same reason we would rather live in an America with Christian Gentiles instead of secular Gentiles.)
Not to mention among the Orthodox Churches of Eastern Europe.
This is a great article. Cardiologists would probably pay to place it in the NYT just to increase their business.
“Rather than remonstrate with the Israelis, American Jewish leaders should think long and hard about why Jewish life flourishes in Israel but–outside the Orthodox world–declines alarmingly in the United States” … secular/liberal Jews will do that “long and hard” thinking as soon as they stage a march on Washington to ask that the B2s be armed and positioned on the runways for a strike to hit the Iranian WMD sites.
I worked with the (chaotic) McCain For President campaign in the affluent and liberal Jewish suburbs to the West of Philadelphia in 2008 … talk about invincible ignorance…
David – I expect you are aware of the phenomena of older, affluent, liberal Jewish suburbanites protesting attempts by Orthodox Jews who have moved into their communities to erect eruvs (symbolic borders which allow freer movement for observant Jews w/in the community on the Sabbath, especially for mothers with young children in strollers) (http://www.jewishexponent.com/article/11236/AntiOrthodox_Bias_Inside_the_Eruv/ and http://www.jewishexponent.com/article/11433/Letters/))? How much more material for a follow-on Spengler column do you need?
It’s interesting that an Orthodox influx often saves and even raises the real estate values of older Jewish neighborhoods (ex. Oak Park, Michigan, following the establishment of a kollel (adult seminary)).
Ellen – I concur with everything you wrote, except for opposition to anti-Semites still being a core principal of the current Jewish establishment. If that were the case, then secular/Liberal US Jews would be leading the fight against Iran and also give a hard second look to folks who ask for their vote, but spend years in the pews listening to the likes of Rev. Wright.
Maine’s Michael – Bullseye, except I wouldn’t put Kissinger in with the likes of Rahm Emmanuel and David Axelrod
For myself, I can’t claim the honor of being a fully observant or very knowledgeable Orthodox Jew … just a kid who grew up Conservative and grabbed for the Orthodox community like it was a life preserver in a stormy sea … my wife and I are now the grateful and proud parents of four Jewish day school students.
Finally, better “Fiddler On The Roof” than “Angels Over America”.
Presumably you refer to “Angels in America” and the disgusting Tony Kushner, promoted by the likes of Steven Spielberg. Yes, better “Fiddler” than that, but “Fiddler” (as Ruth Wisse shows) was a betrayal.
Yes, “Angels IN America”, not “Angels OVER America”. As I’m not a Tony Kushner fan and have only read about it, that was an error due to quick Googling.
“Betrayal” is a strong word for “Fiddler On The Roof”. I’d call it, at worst, smaltzy. I’ll keep a look out for Ruth Wisse’s piece.
David,
I just read your post from 2010 at FT on Ruth Wisse (http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2010/02/18/re-defending-ruth-wisse/), with your comment explaining why you “hate (Fiddler) with a passion”. It’s an eloquent presentation of things missing from the show/movie, but I still object to tossing Fiddler on the dust heap.
Fiddler may not be true in some important ways to the Tevye stories, but it does,
1. Depict Tevye as Thellim Jew ( a traditional (frequently poor and less well educated) Jew who would recite all 150 psalms as he went about his day) ;
2. Depict Tevye davening mincha on Friday afternoon; and,
3. Depict the Jews being pushed out of Russia/E. Europe by intolerable treatment.
I would say that Fiddler was a small but not insignificant part of 20th century American Jewish pop culture. I’ve run across many non-Jews who find it an intriguing and sympathetic introduction to the Jews. With respect to Jews, I’d guess that for many, it served as a gateway to curiosity about further observance. It might be an interesting experiment to poll Chabad rabbis of your acquaintance and ask whether they believe that Fiddler brought some customers to their doors. If it did, then I’d say that it was part of a great mitzvah.
I don’t know about that – I mean, I love Fiddler on the Roof for the songs, not the atmosphere, which I regarded as largely foreign. On the other hand, I thought they were referring to the obvious: SHE GOT MARRIED IN A CHURCH. I repeat, SHE GOT MARRIED IN A CHURCH. If I got married in a church, I’d have to grovel for a million-million years before my parents forgave me. Pogrom comes through town? Yeah, still gotta make with the groveling and the conversion of husband.
Seriously, that was wrong. Don’t have to read the actual books to know that.
On other hand… it gives a nice view of Judaism, rather like how Oklahoma! makes the actual state look attractive, and Singing in the Rain makes Gene Kelly look like a good actor. So that’s not bad thing.
How does an Orthodox family afford seven kids? A few years back, I ended up at the NY Aquarium during a day it was full of Orthodox Jews. The wife and I counted one family that had fourteen children.
The Orthodox family that has seven kids affords it twice as easily as the family with fourteen.
It’s remarkable how inexpensive—relatively speaking—it can be to have a number of children when at least some of the clothing is made at home, or the clothing is bought cheaply and handed down from one child to the next; when meals are done in bulk and one is not looking to buy the most expensive cuts of meat; when expensive TVs, cable subscriptions, the latest electronic gadgets, new cars when one turns 18, etc., are not part of the plan; when day-care is provided by extended family, older children, and neighbors. Yes, there are expenses too, such as school fees—but there are economies of scale and savings due to different priorities which offset many of those expenses.
Affording the Orthodox Jewish lifestyle has become a personal hobby. It’s not just the number of kids, but tuition for day-schools ($20,000/year for high school), the cost of kosher food, the relatively higher cost to live in a neighborhood with Jewish religious resources, etc. Here a few observations about how it can work out:
1. Obviously, middle-class families make massive economies in other areas, no Disney-World, no sport-boat, no vacation home, no paying for Ivy League tuition;
2. There is an institution in the Orthodox community called a “gemach” (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/03/us/a-traditional-jewish-loan-program-helps-ease-pain-of-tough-economic-times.html ), which provides interest-free loans and/or used clothing and furniture; and,
3. There are wonderful people who provide extensive charitable support to Jewish schools and other institutions. Often these folks are not Orthodox, but are deeply committed to Jewish survival. In my estimate, that is incredibly commendable. They could certainly receive more public adulation by supporting a modern art museum or endowing a chair in LGBT studies at the local university.
Just to add, not disagree at all:
Part of the reason for the high tuitions is that a substantial fraction of the student body is on partial or full scholarship. Tuition is overstated (in some schools by more than 40%) so that the ‘haves’ can subsidize the ‘have-nots’. Even so, just about every Orthodox Jewish education institution is operating with a massive deficit that is funded primarily by donations (and debt).
The cost of tuition is a massive burden for many orthodox families, which is why private school vouchers are an extremely popular idea with the Orthodox, even though they are verboten with liberal Jews.
Additionally, every Orthodox Jewish community has a dense web of community support institutions, from food banks to mental health institutions to special education to small ‘gemachs’ specializing in the strangest things. The obligation to charity is taken very seriously by most Orthodox Jews, with many obeying the tithing traditions of giving away 10% of their income. And in Jewish law, local charities supporting local needs take the highest precedence.
As a side note: I’m old enough to remember and have been around enough evangelicals, or as one individual said,”I’m not Catholic just a careless Baptist(7 kids).” to realize that a lot of people have forgotten the tricks and tips for raising a large family.
More than a few figured out having both parent’s working was too expensive because of the tax penalties and the travel to work costs. It is hard to find an area with good public transportation and low housing costs. One guy from a large family told me, my Mom was not a good cook, but my older sister and brother got pretty good…..Thank God.
One of the funniest things was a guy with four daughters whose school grades started slipping. He got tired of arguing with them so he removed all of the televisions in the house. Oh the weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, and that was just him because he was missing his football. It worked though and everybody got used to reading more, playing board games together and generally talking to each other more.
Of course they were in the Semi-country and the kids would have had to walk at least 15 minutes to get to a neighbors house with a TV.
My kids were raised with TV. One set of grandchildren is being raised without. They are frightened by Scooby Doo CDs, even the nine-year old. They have not become inured to violence and death. But they are dedicated to each other. They pursue individual interests. One plays the piano. One just started violin. One has expressed an interest in playing the guitar. The baby has not yet expressed her interests, though she reached up for the piano from her seat in her saucer the other day. They read all the time and demand to be read to – all the time. They engage us when we visit, demanding hugs before we leave. Life passes pleasantly in their presence.
As an ad campaign, this was extremely ill advised. A large percentage of liberal Jews DO still feel very connected to Israel. And not all Jews are liberal, even when you exclude the Orthodox. There are still significant numbers of Zionists in both the Conservative and Reform movements who are active supporters of Israel. Participation in experiences like Birthright Israel is high and, from what I can tell, really does result in a feeling of connection to the land and its people. While the ads are pointing to a reality, it is a painful reality to many, and it is not helpful to anyone for the State of Israel to be associated with pointing it out.
Like it or not, the Liberal streams (Conservative, Reform & Reconstructionists) represent the Jewish experience for the vast majority of adult American Jews. Most of these people are sincere and this is the only form of Jewish experience they have ever known. They are not traitors to tradition – this is the tradition they have been raised in and it was true for their parents as well. While many drop out of affiliation entirely, most take their identity seriously and have a real concern for the greater Jewish community in Israel and out of it. The bigger issue, obviously, is Jewish continuity. This is a crisis for the non-Orthodox. The liberal streams of Judaism are well aware of the problem. Many I have spoken to are not optimistic. Let’s hope they find a solution soon, before we loose an entire generation. On this issue, the clock is truly ticking. That said, rubbing salt into open wounds is not a good way to keep a healthy relationship.
I’ve said elsewhere that though understandable, the ad was probably a bad idea. Some things are sometimes better left unsaid.
On the other hand, 600K of Israel’s best and brightest live in the USA. If 10 or 15% could be lured back, perhaps it’s worth risking offending a few Jews, with the added benefit one of shocking them into realizing how far from traditional Jewish concerns they have drifted . . .
I can agree with you that the right sort of visit to Israel can turn things around for people.
My three young boys do not attend Jewish school (there are none where we live), but a three week trip 2 years ago, where they interacted with family, saw the miracles of Israel, and climbed all over merkava tanks at Latrun (while soldiers there dressed them in helmets and flak jackets) did more to inculcate their heritage than years of Jewish day school some of my friends send their kids to. They beg to go back, and will go again this summer.
The liberal streams of Judaism have not served their communities well.
They have turned them into cultural castrati – useless for carrying on the Jewish fight to survive in the world, but singing the liberal songs so very sweetly.
“Like it or not, the Liberal streams (Conservative, Reform & Reconstructionists) represent the Jewish experience for the vast majority of adult American Jews. Most of these people are sincere and this is the only form of Jewish experience they have ever known.”
I have attended bar/bat mitzvah celebrations for my brothers’ kids at their respective C and R houses of worship. The level of ignorance of basic Torah concepts and even Biblical narrative betrayed by the Rabbis and lay leaders in these places is appalling. For example, the meme of kashrut emerging for hygenic reasons is especially common. It is easily refuted with a most basic understanding of the halacha and/or epidemiology. Similarly, the sequence of events in the Biblical text is frequently mixed up in the course of various sermons and publications. Certain events and concepts, perhaps not supportive of desired policy theses, are omitted entirely from heavily bowdlerized published texts. The resulting body of information is self-contradicting and even hostile to the very causes it purports to advance. If these are representative of the Jewish Experience that most of our “lantzmen” get then it is small wonder so many of them disappear within a generation. The only saving grace for these heterodox Rabbis is that their congregants are, for the most part, even more ignorant than they are.
CR,
My own experience parallels yours. When I encountered Orthodoxy — most of all the writing of Rav Joseph Soloveitchik — I was stunned. I mean, literally. Opening “And From There You Shall Seek” when the English translation appeared in 2009, I fell off my chair. Really. The progressive currents of Judaism deliberately obscure Jewish tradition because they don’t like it.
Now, in one sense to identify as a Jew in any way at all is a good thing. But it isn’t enough.
David, may I recommend to your attention “The Scholars’ Hagaddah” by Prof. Henry Guggenheimer. The author made his living as a professor of mathematics, but he is also a Judaic scholar, historian and linguist – a true polymath. His work is done in English, but is German-dense.
Jerry – With all due respect, I would definitely not recommend, “The Scholar’s Haggadah.” Professor Guggenheim’s knowledge of first century Judaism is abysmal and most of what he says about the Seder is unfounded.
“The level of ignorance of basic Torah concepts and even Biblical narrative betrayed by the Rabbis and lay leaders in these places is appalling.” I’ve attended the Bar and Bat Mizvahs of my nieces and nephews, and that’s been my experience. My brother’s first daughter was preparing for her BM at a Reform synagogue and she wasn’t learning anything. She managed to learn enough from a Conservative-affiliated teacher to get through the service, but she didn’t even know when to stand. The big thing of course was the Saturday night party. (It’s no wonder many young non-Jews want a “Bar Mitzvah”.) And the Rabbi could not have been more glib or lacking in substance in his sermon.
There was NOTHING in these ads that:
a) Has not already been agonized over quite publicly in American Jewry, and
b) Would be offensive to a Jew who has done something about being Jewish, and felt connected to Israel.
It’s the same hypersensitive PC whining about “pluralism” that is constantly cranked up by the “progressive” Jews to get The Rest of Us to move the goalposts of Jewish identity.
It’s basically an attempt at misdirection – to avoid the inconvenient truths portrayed in the ads – and corroborated by decades of surveys.
March,
I would agree with your nuanced point here, that the liberal Jewish community opposed anti-Semitism except when it comes from the left and their favorite political symbol Barack Obama. Then, all of a sudden, they find ways to excuse it. Read Jim Sleeper’s rationalization of black antiSemitism, and you can see why the moral bankruptcy of the left became too sickening for many ordinary folk to bear.
Shaulieh, you are right too that the liberal streams of Judaism do represent the Jewish experience for the great majority of adult Jews, and this is a testimony to the collapse of traditional Judaism in the early 20th century. No informed person disagrees with that assessment. Its collapse (or nonexistence) in many parts of America was so total that a Jewish person could grow up in these areas in the 1950′s-1970′s and never meet one partially observant Jew below the age of 70. And yet, for the 0-25 generation today, the experience is very different. The observant or partially observant population in that age groups is many multiples higher, hence the awareness of how hollow the liberal forms of Judaism are is much greater.
This is the fundamental problem of liberal religious movements generally. They are hollow and inauthentic, yet you can’t judge something to be authentic until you’ve seen the real thing. The disappearance of Orthodox Judaism in most of America until the last 30 years allowed the liberal movements to succeed with their charade of Judaism. But, that is no longer possible. Orthodox communities exist in most parts of America today, and Chabad is literally everywhere and then some. People know the real McCoy when they see it, including in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas, where the local Chabad is doing very well, thank you.
Ellen and Elena,
I have nothing but good feelings toward Chabad — I have spent some Shabbatot with Lubavitcher families and had a wonderful time. One Yom Kippur, stuck by misadventure in a strange city, I spent Yom Kippur at a tiny Chabad house with a minyan of barely more than a dozen. Chabad’s position is that American Jews are like “kidnapped children” who do not know what Judaism is, and should be instructed rather than blamed. As a rule, though, I daven with a Modern Orthodox congregation rather than the local Chabadniks. At heart I’m a Litvak, not a Hassid. But that doesn’t stop me from liking them to death.
Ellen,
Regarding Chabad in Arkansas, I concur that it is an impressive and wonderful movement.
I worked for a 1/2 year in Budapest in 2002 and prayed at the small Chabad synagogue/seminary off of Andrassy Avenue. The Rabbi was an incredible man who had been in Budapest since the 1990 and was so integrated that he opened and operated a day school for yuppie kids and lectured at the university. He also hosted a 1/2 dozen seminary students from the US, Canada, Australia, SA and Israel . In addition to learning with folks from the community (and oddballs like me), these brave young men would go on two week- long expeditions to the backwoods of Hungary and Slovakia to bring a bit of yiddishkeit to the few isolated and frequently elderly Jews who still lived there.
Still, I’m not a fan of the way the late Rebbe is often nearly idolized (as it seems to me) in Chabad communities.
Like any young Jew of my generation, I can attest to how insular and unthinkingly vicious mainstream American Judaism is. I was raised overseas, and my religious education came primarily by way of my father and adults of whatever small congregation we were able to attend. These were usually nondenominational, but skewed conservadox in practice. Imagine my culture shock when we returned to America and joined a Reform temple in my early teens.
A more parochial, unpleasant group of people i’ve never met. the services weren’t terrible – a little short and the sermons never seemed to relate to the reading, but I assumed that was more the fault of an uninspired rabbi more than anything else. No, what I truly dreaded was the religious school. It’s true that children can be cliquish and unkind in that time of life, but I had never thought that would be a problem among other Jews. Suffice it to say I was wrong.
I went to the wrong kind of school; I lived in the wrong side of town; I couldn’t speak Hebrew fluently, and anyway, I had the wrong kind of accent; and as the second intifada unwound parallel to the GWOT, I had the wrong opinions on Israel, terrorism, and domestic politics. After a few years, I was politely told I couldn’t join the confirmation classes because I wasn’t fluent in Hebrew. I couldn’t join the adult classes because I was too young, and I couldn’t join the kid classes because I was too old. It was a way to gracefully exit, an opportunity I gratefully took. I learned more about being a Jew at my father’s knee and in his library; I had better conversations about religion with my Christian classmates in public school. By the time I was 15, I had given up on non-family communal religious observance.
Luckily, my university’s local chapter of Chabad House was extremely welcoming to this poor refugee from Jewish-American religious life, and I currently attend my city’s orthodox temple. My middle brother is making much the same journey as me; I’m just hoping my youngest brother, actually raised knowing only that temple, will grow out of his supercilious liberal Jew stage as he grows older.
I still don’t understand my parents’ attachment to a synagogue they don’t even like that much. My father and my older relatives were horrified when they learned I was attending Chabad House in college; they still don’t understand why I insist on going to orthodox temples. I can only attribute it to some kind of leftover childhood antipathy on their part.
American mainstream religious leaders crying because Israel looks more attractive to Jews? They oughta be. I love America and my neighbors and friends, but it’s not the same as being around other Jews. I seriously considered immigrating simply because I was tired of being isolated I and I know I’m not the only person to feel that way. Non-observant Judaism has failed precipitously, and (after carefully listening to whatever my youngest brother parrots after religious class) instead of actually educating the youth, they inculcate a sense of Judaism as a tribal political identity opposed to any form of Christianity or religious Judaism. that’s that’s no way to keep the faith; appropriately, those of us who care are increasingly finding better, brighter communities to practice in. I’ll say this as a parting note: my current congregation doesn’t make me dread communal gatherings. I think that’s the least anybody can ask for from a people who should rightly be as class to you as your own family.
Elena,
As an Orthodox Jew I am not going to attempt a defense of the liberal Jewish denominations. In general, they seem to loose a significant portion of their children either to apathy and assimilation on the one hand and to more traditional practice on the other. And as David has pointed out, they are not having enough children to begin with to afford to loose any.
That said, for the most part, they are sincere people who are following what they have been raised to believe is a legitimate faith tradition. That this does not create a strongly committed and self-perpetuating community is a flaw in the design perhaps, not of the people per-se. Jews are Jews and they remain, for the most part, generous, interested and engaged in the welfare of the community and the greater world. I am sorry that the particular group you were involved with was so judgmental and cold, but I don’t think that is truly typical. (Although Chabad is a particularly difficult measuring stick to go up against. When compared with the “bren” of Chabad, nobody is ever going to look very warm. Everything Jewish to everyone Jewish is much more than just a slogan to them. They really live it.)
Regardless, you or I can feel free to criticize and bemoan the state of liberal Jewry in the US. It is not healthy, logical or helpful for the State of Israel to be doing it. It really does surprise me that such an ad was created at all. It speaks to an extreme level of disconnect between Israeli and US mindsets that this could even be allowed to happen.
I’ve had a quite a few Reform/Reconstructionist rabbis who were awesome; I have very fond memories of a particular Reform synagogue in El Paso where I spent a happy year. But these people and institutions were on the peripheral of Reform life. The individual rabbis were serving as military chaplains, and the sort of Jews who join the US military tend to more conservative (in many ways) than the general population of Jews. In that situation, a good rabbi (and they were good rabbis) has to bend to the prevailing winds. That synagogue in El Paso? Also really pleasant; I had a ton of friends there. But that temple was skewed by the high percentages of Mexican Jews who traveled across the border to worship. This was right after 9/11, when lines to get across the border were something like 3-5 hours depending on the alert that day.
However, the temple where I had such an unpleasant time was not a peripheral member of Reform Judaism. It’s a founding member of the URJ, one of the biggest synagogues in S. Texas, and has never had less than three rabbis in the time I’ve attended and since…Yeah, I think they’re pretty representative of what Reform Judaism wants to be, at least in terms of philosophy. I focused on the unpleasant quality of the people, but the poor education quality was also unpleasant, I’d go to class, and with the exception of Hebrew, I had learned the day’s lessons years ago, as a child. I took to bringing Judaica books from home to keep occupied; the teachers allowed it because otherwise, I was too disruptive in class (just to show it wasn’t all on their end; I wasn’t always a bowl of cherries at age 14 either).
A significant part of my aversion was those particular Jews at that particular time; in terms of socioeconomic background, I was far different from the other students, and as a group, they were regarded as rather unpleasant, not just by myself, but by other parents and the older students. My few friends were all transferred out to the Orthodox and Conservative temples by Thanksgiving – let me tell you, I really begged my father to let me join them! I just had bad luck to be with that generational cohort. I won’t lie, I had some great times hanging with these two old French Legionnaires at temple dinners, so I wasn’t totally without company…
My middle brother had an easier time of it, although he never really made any real ties there either. My youngest brother started in kindergarten, so he’s assimilated pretty well, although that didn’t stop well meaning children and their parents from pointing out scholarship available to their schools. A little oblivious to common social niceties, but not cruel. Sometime after I stopped attending, the synagogue had a schism, and a lot of the old guard left then; slowly but surely, people of my parent’s background – that is, ex-military – are filling up the leadership positions as they go. Supposedly, it’s different now. I’m not so sure, considering my beloved youngest brother comes back from his weekly religious class talking about a) how terrible those Christians are, trying to convert us non-violently and all and b) how weird and uneducated(!?) those other Jews are.
An additional note: my youngest brother got the best scores in Hebrew in his classes, and maybe he is some kind of linguistic genius. I know I’m not. But considering my youngest brother literally cannot follow along in a service in a non-reform temple, I’m not convinced. I can’t remember the last time I got lost in a service, and I know I’m no great shakes at hebrew. I suspect the issue is that he doesn’t go to services enough – I’m trying to convince him to come with me at least once a month.
As for the Israeli ads? Well, I haven’t seen them, so I can’t speak to it, but would Israel be Israel if they weren’t obnoxiously evangelical about how amazing Israel is for Jews? I know I’m pretty obnoxious about how amazing America is… Every Israeli I’ve ever known has been a bit tone-deaf on how it sounds to Americans, but we probably sound the same way to them. I just sort of ignore it, honestly, like I ignore my well-meaning evangelical friends who talk about how I should embrace Jesus as my lord and savior. They think I’m a little nutty for not needing to be saved; I think they’re a bitty nutty for…well, a couple of reasons we probably shouldn’t get into.
The only people who are going to pay attention to this is US JEWS – American Christians, well-meaning and interested as they are, aren’t going to get in the middle of a family fight. And the people who hate us are only going to see a family fight, if they see anything at all. So I figure, you just have to deal with it, sorta like dealing with Auntie Edna who always criticizes how you set up your house. She doesn’t live at your house, and you don’t live at hers, so just grin and bear it.
Lastly: maybe we should think a little about how we American Jews live. To choose another anecdote, my father is originally from NYC, and like Jews of a certain generation (like Spengler, actually… sorry, but it’s true) he didn’t really live in an observant manner. It was enough to just call himself a Jew and not actually live like one, because he was surrounded by other people who were doing the same thing, so as far as anyone knew, they were Jews. Then he joined the Army and went down to Fort Bragg, and suddenly, he wasn’t surrounded by that milieu any more. Suddenly, he was one of the only Jews in town, surrounded by lots of curious Christians, many of them his fellow soldiers. Even if people don’t know a lot about us, they still expect to see something…something special, I guess. Suddenly, it wasn’t enough for my father to just call himself a Jew; he had to act like one too. Otherwise, what’s the point? So he did.
As Jews, we’re an example to Gentiles; as Americans, I feel we should be example to the world – or at least to the part of it that’s like us, or yearns to be like us. We don’t have to do what the Israeli ads are saying (still don’t know, since I haven’t looked them up while I’m typing – move to Israel, I guess?). But sometimes, it’s good to look at yourself in another person’s eyes, whether it’s Jews in another country, or Gentiles here. You don’t always see what you like, but sometimes that’s the push you need to change for the better.
Thanks for letting this evangelical loiter in the vicinity of your back fence.
49er,
My Christian friends are always welcome in the front parlor.
Thank you, Mr. Goldman…..My feelings to you and any Jewish person….
A lifetime admirer of Jewish cultural and intellectual achievement, and a subscriber to Commentary, I have always been puzzled by the high percentage of jews who support the Democrat Party, even as it trends increasingly Socialist. I have felt that their spirit of enterprise, scientific curiosity and scholarly study was fostered by their studies of the Torah and Talmud, a practice unique to the Hebraic faith, that encourages doubt, questioning, debate and argument: a sort of boot camp in reasoning and acuity in decision making. How could individuals, schooled in reasoning, be attracted to the dogma of Marx, proponent of serfdom, an opiate comparable to Islam in its demand fpr unquestioning subservience?
I believe that Priesthoods, of any kind, have been the greatest curses of mankind, the root cause of most of our social problems and greatest generator ow Wars. So it is understandable that the questioning jew might reject some of the archaic ritualist elements of his faith, but surely not instruction in reasoning.? Could it be that, in becoming more secular, and rejecting Talmudic studies, American Jewry is abandoning the very element responsible for their record of achievement?
The archaic practices as you call them are the essence of Judaism. Reason over generations is far superior to local and current reason. Judaism is a historical religion, responding to the way the world developed or crumbled.
Just one example for you: Jews religiously light memorial candles on the anniversaries of their parents’ passings. They are called Yahrtzeit candles – “year time” candles. It became a custom in Europe first, then spread to Morocco under the influence of European Jewish scholars. How do we know? Because the Moroccans call them Yahrtzeit candles – Middle German, not Arabic. The candle custom is not found among Yeminite. Iranian or Iraqi Jews. Thus, the custom parallels the Christian custom of lighting candles for the dead and was taken on by the Jews. History speaks to the heart of the people. It has been a custom to recall one’s parents at the time of their deaths since the days of the Talmud, but the candle is a recent addition to Jewish practice – only about a thousand years old – young for a Jewish custom.
Stuart Williamson: You say: ” I have always been puzzled by the high percentage of jews who support the Democrat Party …” Join the crowd on that one. Norman Podhoretz wrote a book asking that question titled: Why Are Jews Liberal? I ask myself the same question every day, particularly, when some of them are Orthodox (including a close relative of mine).
On your last point, which is, “I believe that Priesthoods, of any kind, have been the greatest curses of mankind … So it is understandable that the questioning jew might reject some of the archaic ritualist elements” I would like to add a few thoughts. The first is, that the second sentence does not follow from the first. Yes, Judaism does have hereditary Priesthood, but the ‘archaic ritualist elements’ in Judaism are disconnected from the Priesthood. That’s because today, the Priesthood, being but a shadow of what it was when the Temple was standing, has no say in whether those ritual elements are or are not observed. (I might add further, that out of the great tragedy of the Destruction in 70 CE something remarkable happened: the Judaism that emerged was much more democratic and much more intellectual; the accident of birth was not determinative for a person’s communal stature.) Second, let me quote Jerry here: “The archaic practices as you call them are the essence of Judaism.” Indeed without Sabbath observance, Kosher dietary laws, Festival observance and daily prayer requiring the wearing of phylacteries (tefillin) and prayer shawl (talith with tcheleth), Judaism would have disappered, as it is for those who do not observe such ‘archaic’ practice.
“My current congregation doesn’t make me dread communal gatherings. I think that’s the least anybody can ask for from a people who should rightly be as class to you as your own family.”
Thanks, Elena, for that winning comment. I probably need to post that in some prominent communal gathering spot, including company offices. Yes, the least we should ask of our Jewish communal institutions is that they don’t make us dread going to them. And that, perhaps, explains the appeal of groups like Chabad, and Avi Weiss’ Hebrew Institute of Riverdale in the Bronx. When you go to celebrate and holiday or happy event with them, you not only don’t dread the prospect of arriving, you actually look forward to it.
The decay of Yiddishkeit and heimishkeit to the point that Reform and Conservative synagogues are ‘dread-inspiring’ institutions, rather than the life-giving institutions that are forefathers preserved for thousands of years, perhaps is the most damning comment one can make about liberal Judaism. Need anyone say anymore than that? Thank you, Elena.
For this politically conservative Reconstructionist Jew, the ads were a slap in the face, and I’m glad they were pulled.
When the Mavi Marmara incident occurred, and the usual suspects rallied in Times Square against Israel, I was there, hoping others would show up to counter-protest. I’ve always supported Israel, from a secular as well as religious perspective. I’ve been to Israel twice, not as a tourist but as an student in science (the first time as part of the Olimpiyeda competition for high schoolers, which I won, and the second as a summer research fellowship at the Technion). I’ve made it a point to stay informed about Israeli current events as well as Israel’s history, reading books like Michael Oren’s treatise on the Six Day War and “The Israel Test.”
So when I saw the ads, one of which portrays American Jews as entirely ignorant of their own religion (the “Christmas” ad), and one of which portrays us as insensitive jerks who think a Yom Hazikaron candle is supposed to be mood lighting, it kind of tells you what the Israeli Ultra-Orthodox establishment thinks of us. This wasn’t the sort of accepting ad that might be put out by Chabad, encouraging Orthodox Jews to get their spouses/significant others to become more religiously involved. This was exclusionary, flatly telling Israeli residents of the U.S. not to marry American Jews because they aren’t Jewish. It was the Israeli government excluding non-Orthodox Jews from Judaism, and from Israel. It was telling me that Israel apparently is not my homeland, and I would not be accepted there.
And Israel isn’t exactly so popular that it can afford to alienate its allies.
“It was telling me that Israel apparently is not my homeland, and I would not be accepted there.”
“And Israel isn’t exactly so popular that it can afford to alienate its allies.”
If one does not live at home, he cannot expect the home standing to his expectations. Either you are a family member, or you are an ally. Please choose.
If you are my brother, then it is not important are you secular or religious, left or right. I accept you as you are. You don’t like our home, neither I do. Come and change it, and don’t complain that other family members want to change it in another way. If you are an ally – I will appreciate your help. But stay outside.
It’s not that American Jews aren’t welcome in Israel, but that it takes some effort (and I would say self-improvement)to become an Israeli. How many American Jews serve in the armed forces? To an Israeli means to send your children into danger. A deeper commitment and a more elevated sort of concentration are required to live in Israel. Does that make the Israelis better people than us? Usually, yes.
David – This is a very busy thread, but I hope this comment by you doesn’t get lost in the shuffle:
“ A deeper commitment and a more elevated sort of concentration are required to live in Israel. Does that make the Israelis better people than us? Usually, yes.”
Although there are, of course, obnoxious, irritating and otherwise disappointing Israelis from secular to Haredi, this statement is rock-solid true. Some of the most consistently impressive people I know are members of the National-Religious community of Israel. I’d love it if you would someday find the time to develop this into a full column (perhaps at Tablet?).
which portrays us as insensitive jerks who think a Yom Hazikaron candle is supposed to be mood lighting,
but looking in from outside that’s what people have come to expect from the Michael Lerners of America.
You are, by definition, in the minority.
We know that the vast majority of non-covenantal Jews do not even bother to affiliate.
And Israelis know that many Reform, Recon, and unaffiliated Jews not only do not turn out as you did to support Israel – they may in fact be dismissive of pro-IDF sentiment.
So: the creators of the ad addressed the more likely reality: ignorance and apathy from American Jewish friends and lovers.
There is NOTHING in any of these ads that has not been chewed over by American Jewry for decades (can you say “Chanuka Bush”?) – and nothing that implies that Jews who DO bother to affiliate are rejected by Israelis.
I know I’m in the minority. What bothers me is that in a generation or two, I’ll be in the majority of a much smaller community of American Jews.
David,
For once, you are perhaps being both more optimistic and pessimistic than you should be. Your assumption (that the majority of US Jews will eventually be part of a relatively small Orthodox community) assumes 2 things:
1 – Orthodox communities will continue to retain the vast majority of their children.
2 – Liberal Jews are doomed to die out together with their communities, and they are the only source of non-Orthodox Jewish population.
As far as 1 is concerned, I am hopeful that it will be the case, but not at all confident. There are headwinds here, especially as the community grows and changes. Current institutions are not really built for large, anonymous populations and may break down. Already, in larger communities, many young people complain of a sense of alienation. Historically it seems that every few generations, large numbers of religious Jews will suddenly abandon traditional religion when the larger society allows them to. It is conceivable that large numbers of Orthodox Jews may at some point leave Orthodoxy for one of the current liberal streams, or more likely, something else entirely.
2 – On the positive side, many Jews raised with liberal or no affiliation, such as yourself, have found their way to traditional practice over the years. When they do so, their fertility profile does change. In the event of large scale ‘return’ to more traditional practice, the eventual Orthodox / traditional community could end up substantially larger than we currently expect. With more than a third of American Jewish children (defined as < 20 yrs old) now having been raised in Orthodox homes and with the vast expansion of Orthodox communities across the country, more and more liberal young people have the opportunity to experience traditional practice. More of them may adopt it, in whole or part, than you are currently expecting, resulting in a larger community than you currently forecast.
Actually, I meant that Brian – the committed, Zionist Reconstructionist – is in the minority.
Most American Jews to the left of the Conservative/Conservadox position are woefully ignorant of Judaism, and at best apathetic regarding Israel.
So the ads reflected the preponderant reality.
A couple of years ago I left a Conservadox congregation where I had davened for most of a decade to join an Orthodox shul, and the difference was remarkable. No doubt there are plenty of Orthodox shuls that are hostile and unwelcoming but I haven’t found one yet. Part of the problem in the Conservative world, I think, is that no-one is quite sure what they should be doing. At Shacharit there would be women wrapping tefillin, women not wrapping tefillin, women wearing kippot, women not wearing kippot, men not wrapping tefillin — everyone did whatever they wanted to do. That made everyone insecure. In the Orthodox world, we all know what’s expected of us. Now, I don’t agree with everything in the Orthodox world (the ban on playing piano on Shabbos is especially painful, and in my view plain wrong) — but I believe that we should agree on things rather than have every man do what is right in his own sight.
I have an admission to make.
I have a visceral negative reaction to a woman in talit, never mind kippah and teffilin.
Furthermore, a woman does herself no favours, in the attractiveness department, wearing these archetypically male acoutrements.
In general, part of the satifaction of immersing yourself in you culture is knowing how things are spposed to be. As soon as the culture is turned upside down in order to satisfy a political fad, it loses much of its meaning to the traditionalists.
WTF is Kwanza, anyway?
Same sort of thing. A clown show.
I’ll add to this comment; I’ve only had one female rabbi, and she was enough to put me off the whole thing entirely. I’ve had tons of awesome female lay leaders; I don’t understand why a yeshiva education turns a lady’s brains to mush.
Guys don’t get a pass, though. Part of the reason I switched to Orthodox services from Chabad is because I was sick of being one of something like 7 girls waiting for services to start for TWO HOURS when we still needed a minyan of 10 lazy college guys. I often wished that we could just count women as part of the minyan on those days, believe me…
Maine’s Michael – I feel your pain.
There’s an off-color but on-point joke which throws some light on matters of gender and denomination in Judaism:
How do you tell the difference between Jewish Orthodox, Conservative and Reform weddings?
1. At the Orthodox wedding, the bride’s mother is pregnant;
2. At the Conservative wedding, the bride is pregnant; and,
3. At the Reform wedding, the rabbi, and her lover, are pregnant.
And at the Reconstructionist wedding, the groom is pregnant.
David, I am finding the Jerusalem Talmud Pa’ah very interesting. In it there is a discussion of scholars who differed in opinion from their fellow scholars on this or that issue. The argument is had as to whether differing in opinion gave the individuals the right to behave according to their own opinions or whether they required of themselves to behave as the majority of scholars. It was a pivotal moment in the development of Jewish law, handled in usual unemotional terms.
Jerry – I’d be interested in looking at that. (BTW I assume you mean Pe’ah.) In any event, what perek and mishnah is that in?
Jack – source you requested
Talmud Yerushalmi
Seder Zera’im
Berachot
Mishnah bet
Halacha bet
FYI: I am learning it in its English translation (the Galallean Aramit being quite different from the Babylonian Talmud). The translation and commentary are the original work of Prof. Henry Guggenheimer. Unfortunately, his publisher is charging 140 euro for each volume. He is 3 fourths finished with his magnum opus.
Please leave a note in the blog so that I know that you received the requested information.
Berachoth? I thought you said Pe’ah. I’ll take a look and get back to you. BTW There is an equivalent to Jastrow for “Palestinian” Aramic. It is by Michael Sokoloff, titled, A Dictionary of Jewish Palestinian Aramaic (2nd Ed.), Ramat-Gan: Bar-Ilan University Press, 2002.
Jerry – What I found was in Ch. 2, Hal., 4 of Pe’ah. The Halakhah (Mishnah) starts: “Someone who sews his field with one kind of grain, then, even if he stored it in two grananries, he provides one pe’ah.” About a third of the way into the gemara (after the colon) there is augya that begins: “R. Zeira said in the name of R. Yochanan – If an halkhah comes into your possession and you do not know what it is good for …”
Is that the gemara to which you are referring?
“Because of our traditions, everyone knows who he is and what God expects him to do.”
/Kris walks away, whistling innocently.
I saw what you did there.
I am not a Jew but, like 49erDweet, I found the conversation interesting. Refreshing for a comments section.
It was a coincidence that I was wondering about a related subject this morning. Do Conservative or Reform Jews in the U.S. find the laws in Israel regarding religion (marriage, etc.) off-putting? Do they feel like they wouldn’t fit in? If so, does it affect the level of attachment that some of them feel for Israel?
If my questions are based on a wrong premise, don’t be afraid to say so.
As an aside, at least as a non-Jew, it seemed to me like the “ad” controversy may have gotten a little overblown? Clumsy maybe, but the intent seemed understandable.
Dikehopper,
A source of contention is Israel’s conversion law, which grants authority over conversion to the Orthodox Israeli rabbinate. The Israeli rabbinate sometimes acts with outrageous severity on this matter. But a lot of American Jews who have intermarried have sheep-dipped their new spouse as a Jewish convert without any real commitment; if the convert is the wife, then the children are not Jewish by the standards of the Orthodox. And that is a source of great pain for Reform and Conservative Jews who want Jewish grandchildren. There is blame on all sides, but I strongly support Orthodox conversion. To be included in the Covenant of Abraham is not a matter to be taken lightly.
I’m still confused. More dumb questions. By law, are Israeli Conservative and Reform rabbis allowed to perform marriage ceremonies (or any other such things)? Or is it only presiding over conversions to Judaism that is disallowed to them?
It’s my understanding that Israel recognizes all marriages performed outside Israel. Therefor, any marriage of any Jews of any Jewish denomination would be recognized by Israel (for a couple that emigrates to Israel). Is that correct?
I haven’t fully understood the issue from reading the Israeli newspapers.
Israel recognizes marriages of other countries. Some secular Israelis who refuse to be married by a rabbi go abroad for a civil ceremony.
“…a lot of American Jews who have intermarried have sheep-dipped their new spouse as a Jewish convert without any real commitment; if the convert is the wife, then the children are not Jewish by the standards of the Orthodox. And that is a source of great pain for Reform and Conservative Jews who want Jewish grandchildren.”
This is a brutal commentary on our current spiritual state and inferiority complex. On the one hand we want to be one and the same with the larger society in which we live; discarding our own traditions to make room for others. At the same time, when faced with our own individual and national mortality we demand cultural (and arguably racial) chauvanism. That our offspring must be “jewish” rather than merely righteous gentiles, despite our discarding Judaism nearly wholesale smacks of a ghetto mentality that would embarrass Tevya the milkman.
There is a logical flaw in your repulsively offensive argument, which I will point up after nothing that Tevye the Milkman — contrary to the reworking of his stories as “Fiddler on the Roof” — never sanctioned his daughter’s marriage to a Gentile; on the contrary, his daughter left her husband after he made jokes about blood in matzoh. The question is: where does righteousness come from? Where is it said that God loves the weak and helpless precisely because they are weak and helpless, if not in the Torah? This idea is laughable to the pagan world. Gentiles can be righteous, much more righteous in many cases than Jews — but the Jewish people has a special role as the congregation to whom the Torah was given. Without the living Jewish people, Franz Rosenzweig wrote, Christians would relativize the Bible within a oouple of generations. A world without Jews would be a miserable one indeed. Who the 20@#)$(*@#)*!! is going to state what righteousness is without the Torah? Immanuel Kant? Peter Singer? Richard Rorty (who famously said that nothing in philosophy tells us why we should not be wicked)?
David, your argument may not be too clear to a secular mind. But, if I may try to interpret it, i think maybe it can be restated in anthropological terms (though these may not be too clear either): if there is not a living Jewish people then we lose the living (and hence real) reminder of the (simultaneously religious and anthropological) discovery at Sinai that there is but one universal Being, one fundamental order of human existence, whether one thinks of its origin as human or divine or both. The discovery that we – all tribes and sundry worshipers – share in a common Being, even the least of us, had to be made and kept by one distinct community first of all (each living civilization must have those who go first in deepening its self-understanding). The fact that this “peculiar” role, this firstness as discoverers of the one God who is Israel’s and everyone’s God, the God who does not give a special name to Moses, has led to millennia of resentment of those who allegedly have a “privileged”, “tribal”, “expired”, “corrupted”, etc. etc. relationship to the discovery of God’s oneness, is perhaps the most important lesson we can have into human nature. It’s a lesson humanity must always replay and try to have an improved, more respectful outcome, since someone taking on the mantle of firstness in all aspects of human discovery and exchange remains a necessity for human creativity and hence survival, while always still creating a target for resentment, or for a necessary borrowing and changing and even forgetting without recompense. The survival of the Jews, as a distinct community, reminds us of the necessity and possibility that love for humanity, which, to be effective, always requires a particular (and not always loved in retrospect) historical expression, and not a vacant Utopian universalism, must find yet another (and forever another) peculiar way to surpass the next eroding situation from which survival demands we, at least someone, make Exodus.
No offense, but there seems to be a flaw in your repulsively offensive argument as well. Franz Rosenzweig can take a long walk off the end of a short pier. You don’t need to worry about Christians “relativizing” the Bible in a few generations. We are quite capable of separating the gravity of the Law and the redemption of the Gospel. Not to be insensitive but you guys blew off the Law on enough occasions that God opened up the franchise to Gentiles. The fundamentalist evangelicals figure you guys need to be around for the second coming but to those of us that realize that we achieve salvation by faith alone, by grace alone through scripture alone, don’t care how many of you move back to Palestine. You got enough problems with the Arabs and Muslims and anti-Zionists and truth be known you probably have greater support from the fudy/evangelical/gotta have Zion for the rapture crowd than you do your own kind.
David, you say, “Without the living Jewish people…Christians would relativize the Bible within a oouple of generations.” However, without the living Jewish people, the promises of God are meaningless, and both Judaism and Christianity are without foundation. It’s like saying, “…if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty.” It’s a non-starter.
Christians have been doing a fine job of relativising the Bible for, what, six or eight generations now, in spite of the living Jewish people, and causing increasing spiritual devastation. But the Church goes on, and the message of, for instance, John Paul II and Benedict counteracts these trends. The Church always finds its way back to the truth.
David,
I actually agree with you vis-a-vis the righteousness of gentiles. Surely G-d loves them no less as they are His children too.
My point was that our C and R bretheren are fine with interdating, intermarrying and completely assimilating. However, where their next generation is concerned they are absolutely indignant when told that their offspring may not be considered Jewish. For the life of me, however, I cannot understand the source of their objection given the boatloads of contempt and scorn they have heaped upon their religious and national affiliation up to that point. Having no connection to G-d and Torah and minimal cultural affiliation beyond “bagels and lox” this insistence on “jewish” offspring sounds chauvinistic, racist and not in keeping with their professed liberal values. When I have suggested to certain acquaintances that they might do better to raise their children as righeous gentiles I have been either laughed or shouted out of the room.
It begs the question; why do heterodox Jews despise the Goyim so much?
If my comment is going to stay suspended awaiting moderation I’ll post it again…
No offense, but there seems to be a flaw in your repulsively offensive argument as well. Franz Rosenzweig can take a long walk off the end of a short pier. You don’t need to worry about Christians “relativizing” the Bible in a few generations. We are quite capable of separating the gravity of the Law and the redemption of the Gospel. Not to be insensitive but you guys blew off the Law on enough occasions that God opened up the franchise to Gentiles. The fundamentalist evangelicals figure you guys need to be around for the second coming but to those of us that realize that we achieve salvation by faith alone, by grace alone through scripture alone, don’t care how many of you move back to Palestine. You got enough problems with the Arabs and Muslims and anti-Zionists and truth be known you probably have greater support from the fudy/evangelical/gotta have Zion for the rapture crowd than you do your own kind.
Hmmmmh…the line you are looking for is that we are being punished for rejecting Christ, which neither the Catholic Church nor any Protestant denomination of note still pushes. Rejected for blowing off the Law? All of us never blew off the Law, pal. No-one claims we did, except for you, right now. We’ve been reproached plenty by God, but the fact that we’re still around after 3,600 years ought to tell you something. If you believe in Sola Scriptora, then you should believe (with Calvin) that God’s promises are eternal and unbreakable, and that the Jews remain God’s people forever, because that is what Scripture says.
Don’t flatter yourself I’m not your pal. Calvin got it wrong but I’m not here to teach you the history of Christianity. If you have to advertise for religious pilgrims you have issues bigger than will be settled here. As a taxpayer I’m tired of subsidizing them.
bpete1969 – I’ll be honest, in the long history of the internet, crashing a thread to say “I don’t like you, the world doesn’t like you, and GOD DOESN’T LIKE YOU” has never worked, especially on Jews. We’ve heard it WAY too often – it lost it’s dramatic effect sometime in the third century. You might want to work on that a little.
I find 2 pages of commentary criticizing American Jews for not being Jewish enough as quite pathetic. Are all Jews supposed to want to be Israelis? Does the fact that some prefer to live in the United States make them less Jewish? Apparently so. There is post after post in the comments describing the bickering within the faith where this person is a Jew but that person isn’t because they converted blah blah blah. I never said God doesn’t love you or anyone and I didn’t crash any thread. I kept my comments to myself until the creator of this post made a very rude comments about the Christian faith so you can check your attitude. You expect the world to support you as a faith and you can’t even support each other. As a Native American (Cherokee) I certainly don’t need to be preached to by a group that has to advertise for occupants. I see every day the results of religious pilgrims screwing up the neighborhood.
HA! Sorry. But as soon as you said “You expect the world to support you as a faith”…
Eh, nevermind. You don’t seem like a laughing guy, anyway.
yes, I said as a faith…you wanna place the race card now?
Hi David, I’ve become a huge fan since I discovered you here on PJmedia . Please keep these enlightening articles coming!
I think you are completely correct in your analysis of the American Jewish condition, but believe me we have our challenges here in Israel also. In the last 20 years the institution of the Chief Rabbis have been pressured, maybe even black mailed, by the ultra orthodox. They, and too much of the ultra orthodox themselves, are slipping down the slope to extremism. Until now they have managed to be the example of what Judaism is for the majority of woefully uneducated “secular” Israelis, and a terrible negative example they are. I can’t tell you how many otherwise intelligent Israelis have told me they are disgusted by Judaism because of this bad example.
I’ve been a member of the Conservative movement here in Haifa for years, and basically we’ve haven’t been able to make a dent in the current trend towards extremism, but The good news is that the mainstream orthodox (one example is Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CC8QFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ohrtorahstone.org.il%2F&ei=ZLjdTpuOAoKP4gSxzuDOBg&usg=AFQjCNFwnkdiDiCuZuuwJNL9aw) and even some wonderful ultra orthodox scholars and rabbis (my current hero is Rabbi Chaim Amsellem, here is something about him http://www.jewishpress.com/tag/rabbi-chaim-amsellem/) have recently seen the writing on the wall and are now also trying to stand up to the extremists. These amazing people need all the support we can give them!
All marriages performed abroad are recognized. The problem is that if one spouse is a Reform convert that spouse isn’t recognized as Jewish, and if the mother isn’t recognized as a Jew the children aren’t recognized as Jewish either. For instance, my cousin, a Jewish man, married a Reform convert. Their eldest child wasn’t born in Israel, and was raised abroad as a Jew. Even as a child he had a strong Jewish identity and also wanted to move to Israel. But when they moved to Israel he and his mother were not recognized as Jews, which is a bit of a shock if you were born and raised Jewish and have always considered yourself a Jew. The same goes for people whose father is Jewish and whose mother isn’t – even if they were brought up as Jews and have a Jewish identity they’re not recognized as Jews. Though they may be seen as Jews by the community, it creates problems when it comes to religious matters such as marriage which is controled by the Orthodox. So indeed they will have a trip to Cyprus, where they will marry in a civil ceremony which will be recognized in Israel, but a lot of people feel this isn’t good enough as a permanent solution.
What most people don’t realize, though, is that the Orthodox establishment has become so powerful in this matters because of historical and political circumstances that could have changed if there were more Reform Jews moving to Israel, but that was never a part of the Reform platform.
Indeed a slim majority of Israeli Jews don’t define themselves as secularists, as David Goldman would have it, but that is misleading since it ignores the large group who define themselves as traditionalists. Close to a half of Israeli Jews define themselves as secualrists, which makes us the largest Jewish group in terms of faith, or lack thereof, a minority define themselves as religious, and the rest define themselves as traditionalists, i.e. observing some Jewish traditions as part of their indentity and respect for their forefathers and heritage. Indeed, most of them believe in god, but it’s usually a pretty flexible fuzzy idea of god that can be quite removed from the biblical one, and for most of them it isn’t a big part of their lives and thoughts.
Israel’s founders were mainly secular socialists, so there was a potential conflict with the religious Orthodox element, as well as with the Ultra-Orthodox who were anti-Zionist for theological reasons. So the Zionist secular leadership reached an agreement with Orthodoxy that would settle matters from the start to prevent future conflict and keep the communal peace. That agreement is known in Israel as The Status Quo. According to this agreement Israel would be a secular democracy, except for very few issues the Orthodox consider absolutely essential to them and to Jewish existence – these include marriage, that would be religious (and Orthodox, of course), and conversion. At the time there was little inter-religious marriage anywhere, and there were quite a few other countries that had no civil marriage, and who in their right mind would convert to Judaism anyway, considering Jews didn’t have the easiest existence? So matters like these seemed like a small price to pay to keep the internal peace. And the Ultra-Orthodox, who were a tiny minority, were seen by the secularists as fossilized remnants of a bygone era that will soon disappear as a school of faith anyway.
And the Reforms were not here to have a voice in the matter because they preferred living in the safety and affluence of America, while Israeli Jews, secularists and Orthodox and anything in between (not the Ultra-Orthodox though), were toiling to dry swamps and make the desert bloom, and sacrificing their lives in defense of the country. The Israelis are generally pragmatic and flexible people, so it was the people who actually lived here who reached an agreement, so they could live in peace with each other. Those who were not an active part of Israel, who simply weren’t here (and still aren’t), lost this chance to have a say in that innitial agreement that indeed kept the peace for a long time.
That was the history part, still relevant today because every attempt to change ot temper with the original agreement is seen by the Orthodox and Ultra-Orthodox as a breech of that agreement, and it is indeed a breach, whether we like it or not.
Then there’s an even more importnat political aspect. Israel has a multi-party political system with 2-3 big parties and many small ones. To form a government a party needs the support of a majority in the Knesset. The way for the (relatively) big parties to get a majority is to create a government coalition with small parties. The result is that usually they need at least one religious party to form a solid majority and therefore have to concede to their demands – that gives them a lot more political power than their actual share in the Israeli society. There were attempts to amend the political system since it gives too much power to sectorial parties in general, but so far with no success (there’s a new proposition now, but don’t know if anything will come out of it). If there was a large Reform community here they could form a party that could compete with the Orthodox and Ultra-Orthodox for inclusion in the government coalition – that is generally the way to change things in Israel because of the structure of the political system. But there are very few Reform Jews in Israel. Generally they feel at home in America, which is indeed their home. But they complain we are “univiting”. So secular, traditionalist and Orthodox Jews in Israel live here together, raise our children here, and sacrifice lives and limbs to defend the country, while the Reforms living in New York whine about the difficulties of conducting a political struggle to have a place here. That’s too much of an effort and a sacrifice for them. We build and protect this country with our sweat, tears and blood, and they sit in New York and bitch about not getting everything on a silver platter.
They may or may not support Israel, but they generally voted for Obama and will continue to support him. As far as my impression goes, most of them have little understanding of the regional realities or of Israeli realities – they seem to think Israel is a bad neighborhood in New York – yet they behave as if they know it all and we are primitive, stupid intolerant barbarians they need to teach and preach to. Like typical Westerners. And apparently some of them even run to daddy Obama in Washington to whine about those nasty Israelis that won’t recognize their conversion, seemingly believing such crucial theological matters can be resolved by an imperial decree from the White House.
I used to support the Reform movement, until I started reading online forums. Their naivety was astounding. Not all of them, but most. This kind of naivety in the Middle East is a death sentence. The Middle East is not New York! And the most they did re Israel was whine and complain. Indeed, their attitude was starkly opposed to the approach of Chabad and Breslave Hassids. Too many were militant and didn’t even try to understand where we’re coming from or how we are feeling. The Chabad and Breslav Hassids approach people with love and try to pull them in pleasant ways into their worldview. The Reforms are often anatgonistic, condescending, reproaching and want to have their own way with little understanding of the “primitive natives”, the environment, the internal politics, the existential fears, the composition, complexities and subtleties of the Israeli diverse society, and with little scarfice on their part, though Israelis sacrifice a lot. And they don’t seem to recognize many of the good things in Israel, its achievements and the many huge challanges it overcame. They don’t recognize the struggle and investment and love it takes to create and protect this country, to grow its economy, to absorb massive waves of Jewish immigrants and refugees – often penniless – from many different places and cultures, to perserve democracy while under constant attacks by neighbors, and various other pretty big challenges that they don’t face at home. Just whine, whine, whine. All this negativity allienates even supporters.
So yes, I definitely have probelms with the Orthodox, but I don’t see the Reforms as part of the solution anymore. And anyway these days it’s they who start becoming the fossilized remnants of a bygone era. Israeli Jewish population grows while theirs shrinks, and quite rapidly. They have a better chance of survival as a religious school in a majority Jewish society where Jewish identity is easily preserved, but they don’t really like Israel, so I’m not expecting much of a support either, but more like thinking how we can minimize the damage of their naive leftist politics at a time when Israel might have to fight for its surviavl again. Personally, as an Israeli secular Jew I feel more at home with American Christians.
And this too long post is, of course, addressed to Reform Jews and not just as a response to your question. If you want a say in something you should be a part of it. If you don’t want to be a part of it, then you can’t just dictate your demands to the people. There are ways of doing things. The last things Israelis need, or will appreciate, is more friction and strife and hate. You can still learn something about it from the Chabad and Breslav Hassids. And there might be one or two more things you can learn before taking an authoritative stand in matters of life and death.
I, for one, agree fully on all your points.
If the Reform movement was large enough to form a political party it is doubtful, going by the political ideology expressed by the American group, that it would stand up to the reality of the region and not submit to foreign demands.
Would they be less inclined to blackmail at the height of some security problem than the religious parties have demonstrated in the past?
Pnina:
Israeli Jews, secularists and Orthodox and anything in between (not the Ultra-Orthodox though), were toiling to dry swamps and make the desert bloom, and sacrificing their lives in defense of the country.
- – - – - – - – - –
This swipe at the religious mars an otherwise informative post.
In fact, resettlement of Zion began in the 19th century when the Vilna Gaon – the pre-eminent Rabbi of the generation – sent his students to the holy land.
Petach Tikvah (now a suburb of Tel-Aviv) was one of the first successful agricultural settlements – and like others, it was established by observant Jews.
The ultra-orthodox antagonism towards the Zionist enterprise is largely due to the Socialists’ high-handed contempt for tradition – and their heavy-handed attempts to stamp out religious practice and create a “new Jew”.
Pnina, et al
This is a great site for pictures from pre state Israel
http://www.israeldailypicture.com/
with respect to intraJewish relations, One helpful trend I see recently is more orthodox are serving in the IDF – both zionist orthodox who volunteer for combat (and are now the majority of noncom officers) and ultraorthodox who serve in the new units with kosher food and limited contact with women.
A continuing problem dividing us is that some leading ultraorthodox rabbis from 70 years ago voiced strong opposition to the secular state (some others said the opposite – eg Rav Kook). At that time it made sense since the leadership of Israel was very opposed to religious observance and totally unwilling to accomodate Jewish life. But now thigns are different and it doesn’t make sense to follow advice that was relevant 70 years ago. See Parashat Shoftim (Devarim 17:9) – we must follow the judge that is in our time.
Akiva,
Your point is well taken. The Haredi insistence on educating all young men as Torah scholars is a post-Holocaust stance. Back in Eastern Europe, very few studied Torah full time. The rest of us scratched out a living (in my family, I know only one scholar — the rest burned potash, fixed locks, hauled freight, ran taverns, etc.). After three generations of big families in which all the male children study Torah, something has to change. The flowering of national-religious (Modern) Orthodoxy in Israel, just as you say, creates a context in which the Haredi can be better integrated into national life.
You want reform? We have reform! One David Mivasair who concurrently combines being a “Rabbi” with being a Christian Priest. Don’t ask.
Then we have the Israel loathing Sid Shniad, whose nose is the color of a phallustinian’s external sphincter.
Only in Canada!
“Thinking themselves wise, they became fools.”
Jews are better off in Israel or why the Absorption Ministry should not have pulled those ads
http://israelmatzav.blogspot.com/2011/12/jews-are-better-off-in-israel-or-why.html#links
David – I daven at a chabad, in southern calif, that is predominantly expat Israelis their kids know very little about yiddishkeit, they presumed that because they, the adults, grew up with knowledge of the chagim and minhagim that their kids would too.
It is a sad sad thing to see a lost generation.
I’ll be honest, I’m not really sure what the excerpt at your blog was supposed to show. Some Jews who leave Israel are intolerant ninnies? Well, there’s one in every crowd… Alternately, you’re (inadvertedly?) proving Spengler’s point that to be a Jew in America takes a lot of work, whereas being a Jew in Israel doesn’t? I guess I could say something about marginal utility of work as it pertains to religious observance, but I’m sure everyone’s already thought of it already.
Going through your blog, you seem to be a proponent of aliyah; to be honest, I respect your dedication, but using a numbskull like her as an example of why Jews should stay in Israel doesn’t really reflect well on secular Israelis and certain isolated portions of American secular Jewry. But I’m open to differing interpretations of that post! I don’t know you very well, after all.
Elana – You say: “Some Jews who leave Israel are intolerant ninnies?” Although you seem to be asking a question, let me just add that I have found that some Jews I have who left Israel seem to be Hebrew speaking nothings. They know nothing about Judaism. It is quite regretful that some Israelis have become so secularized that they and I have nothing in common except our ancestry.
There are fools in any group, secular or observant, American or Israeli – or any other kind of Jew, for that matter. I just didn’t get why he was using a woman obviously suffering from a) a case of too much self-importance, exacerbated by b) culture shock, as an example for why Jews should stay/move to Israel. She’s not what I would call a great examplar of Israeli religious life. I guess I was just puzzled by the whole thing.
Elena,
FYI The blog linked does not belong to f47 but to an American Jew who already made aliyah
Hi David,
Thanks for your illuminating essays the last several years. As a Mormon, we’ll have to agree to disagree about your views on the Book of Mormon. I always try to defend Jews online when I get a chance, especially when Israel is defamed because of ‘Nakba’ and the 1948 war. As for liberal Jews, I don’t understand their (cyclical) behavior for the last 3,000 (or so) years.
Haven’t heard what’s wrong with Fiddler…one of my favorite all-time shows. More recently I’ve enjoyed Bashevis Singer’s “The Slave” and “Enemies”…but I guess he was a liberal Jew (or a Jew of his own sect). I thought he had a lot of wisdom, though.
It’s Talmudic wisdom distilled for the generation.
Declining demographics are our own fault because Judaism makes it so difficult to accept converts.
If this goy may butt in on a family argument – so what’s new?
As I understand it, assimilation is as old as Judaism itself. If everyone of Jewish descent were still Jewish, then Judaism would probably outnumber Islam and run Christianity close.
Five hundred years hence, there’ll probably be about as many practising Jews as there are now – but they’ll all be descended from today’s Orthodox. The other brands will have long since vanished down the memory hole. So it goes.
Hard to say where to begin.
First, my people came in the 1630s to Back Bay, and we consider the Puritan Fathers as hereditary enemies, believing the bloating coming out of that tradition has cause much suffering and murder. Mine ran off to Nantucket before the could be hung for witches. Net net, I have heard the concept, and only wish to stay as far as I can from such coercion.
I went to Hopkins in the 1960s and it was about 40% Jewish, mostly Reformed or less involved. As a leavening a local yeshiva used the library, and made them uneasy. I thought all the Shuckling made them nervous: I thought it was funny. As a note, my classmates were pro-Israel certainly and were not infected with the lefty touchy feely of the time.
Many many people came to America not to build a city on a hill, but rather to live according to their own lights and not some set rules imposed by church and state. America is a new start, and freedom rather than truckling to some self-important creature.
I don’t wonder at the reaction of American Jewry to these trashy presentations: other parts of American have their own versions. A friend from school who has made a national reputation in psychiatry said one day: “A my father, a very judgmental judge: I wish he would take his Jewish suffering and shove it up his suffering a**!”.
As to Israeli culture, it is just as Jew hating as the Obama voters. Read the stories in the Israel press. The stories all follow the same party line about negotiation and so forth. Many Jews see that the current situation has no long term potential so are making sure their dual-citizenship papers are in order.
America believes that it is the individuals that give dignity the group, the revealed religions believe that the group counts for more than the individual. Jew and Gentile alike in American do not like to be coerced in these ways and I don’t blame them.
Cadams,
In the original Sholom Aleichem stories on which “Fiddler” was based, Tevye stands up in front of a pogrom mob and talks them down, at risk of his life: if there’s a God in heaven, just maybe, says Tevye, he’s looking down at us right now, and will judge us for our actions. In the original stories his daughter abandons the anti-Semitic Ukrainian she married, and returns to her family; in “Fiddler,” as Ruth Wisse points out, it is the Ukrainian son-in-law who gives moral lessons on tolerance to Tevye. It is a recasting of the stories (and the reality of the old country) from the standpoint of liberal, non-judgmental 1960s American Judaism. For someone who doesn’t know the original stories, the musical brings a bit of their flavor; but I know the background, and “Fiddler” makes me feel cheated.
Denver Bob,
Like some very great men and women I know, the Puritan Fathers might best be appreciated at a safe distance…they weren’t perfect. But they were unique. As for the Israeli press — Ha’aretz is the New York Times of Israel, the last bastion of a liberal elite that has long since lost its influence in politics. Most of the Israeli press is not as revolting.
Of all the wonderful qualities found in Spengler humor I enjoy the most !
“The message that Jewish life in America is deficient is “outrageous” and “insulting”, to be sure, but it has a single redeeming quality, namely truth.”
You just don t see it coming
MarcH,
In fact, the long reporting piece for Tablet I wrote in July 2010
http://www.tabletmag.com/arts-and-culture/music/39787/pioneers/
says it all.
I wrote it in part to promote the America Israel Cultural Foundation, which (mainly) raises money in the US to fund arts in Israel. To my surprise, it made the Americans nervous. Jewish funders are more comfortable with Israeli jazz or films about Israeli boy meets Palestinian girl.
Seems to me God has closed the wombs of the unfaithful – those who do not love God. In both the Orthodox and Evangelical faiths children are plentiful and wanted.
The American Jewish community, as it’s name implies, has largely become first and foremost an American community and has lost much of it’s connection to Judaism and Israel. This was to be expected, Israel is now the spiritual, cultural, and emotional center of the Jewish World and the American Jewish community is just another Jewish community. Look, as a Viet Nam War veteran, me and my generation will always see Viet Nam as a war. For Americans nowadays, Viet Nam is just another country. For me Israel is Jerusalem of Gold, the brightest star in Heaven, the Jewish Homeland, but for a lot of American Jews, Israel has become just another country.
And for some Jewish groups like JStreet, Americans for Peace Now, and the American Reform Movement, Israel has become an enemy of America.
You wrote:
but neglect to mention that in the US faith based holidays are denigrated and reduced to “take-away” packaging.
One cannot wish people a Merry Christmas for example without bringing down the wrath of the ACLU (American Club of Liberal Umbrage?).
Most Israelis, not religious, are partially observant because their religious holidays, apart from the Day of Atonement, are akin to the celebrating the 4th of July with everybody cheerful and the children buoyant with excitement at the expected feasts and games.
There is also the historical connection at close view to magnify the roots of their tradition.
On the contrary, American Jewish religious holidays are almost dour in the perceived reticence of being observed.
What can one expect in a climate where social cohesion and individual responsibility for one’s choices are being destroyed, removing the desire to create in favour of being subservient to a Socialist entitlement program by pleasing the ringmasters and their norms for celebrities?
Well, I just saw two of the ads. The one with Hanukka-Christmass was taken off, so I don’t know what was in it. As for the other two, I don’t see what’s offensive about them. They are directed at Israelis living abroad and at Israelis who want to contribute (like money or something) to help them come back, make an easy transition, and they don’t say anything about remaining Jewish, but remaining Israeli. I can’t see what could possibly offend American Jews or anyone else.
In one ad there are a father and a son. The father is asleep on the sofa while the child is drawing a picture. The child wants to shaw the picture to his father and calls out loud again and again “Daddy! Daddy!”, but the father doesn’t wake up. Then the child whispers “Aba” (daddy in Hebrew) and he wakes up immediately (because that’s his native language to which he responds emotionally). Then a narrator says in Hebrew: “They will always remain Israelis. Their children won’t. Help them come back home.”
What’s wrong with that? The ad didn’t say their children won’t be Jewish. It said their children won’t be Israelis, which is perfectly true. A child that grows up in the US will be American, not Israeli. It also doesn’y say there’s anything wrong with being American. It’s well known that Israel wants Jews – and in this case Israeli expats, or Israelis living abroad, – to come back to Israel as their homeland, and not because there’s anything inherently wrong with other countries.
The other ad shows a city that looks like New York and a couple entering an appartment. There’s a memorial candle on the table. The woman has a solemn expression (which the guy can’t see most of the time bacuse it’s dark and he stands behind her). The guy (nothing about him says if he’s Jewish or not, so it doesn’t even refer to American Jews) giggles and says: “Now I understand why you didn’t want to go to the party. Music, candles… Why won’t we just stay home tonight?”. The woman, meanwhile, looks with a painful expression at an Hebrew website commemorating Memorial Day (he can’t see her expression because he’s standing behind her). And the guy, puzzled, says “Daphna? [common Israeli name] What, what is this?”. Then a narrator says in Hebrew: “They will always remain Israelis. Their spouses will not always understand what it means. Help them come home.”
The ad doesn’t at all suggest that the guy is insensitive like someone here said. It’s obvious the guy didn’t know it was Memorial Day, otherwise he wouldn’t have asked what is this – all Israelis know what that date means, but to a non-Israeli that date means nothing because it’s an Israeli date (it’s not a Jewish holiday, it’s an Israeli one). And he couldn’t interpret the signs and customs because he’s not an Israeli – the candle, the music, the Hebrew “Yizkor” (a prayer for the dead) sign on the Hebrew website he couldn’t read because it’s not his language. He misinterpreted the signs not because he’s insensitive, but because not being an Israeli, he didn’t recognize that Israeli experience. For Israelis this is a sad solemn day of grief, where you light a candle, quiet sad Hebrew songs are played on the radio, and there are TV programs about the lost lives of soldiers who died in wars, of victims of terrorist attacks, people who became handicapped, people who lost family members and friends. It’s an experienced broadly shared in Israeli society because many people were affected by war and terror for generations. But no Israeli will think a non-Israeli is insensitive for not knowing what that date means – it’s natural non-Israelis won’t, and that’s precisely the point of the ad.
The ads are simply saying that there are shared Israeli culture and experience which make Israel home and create a distinct Israeli identity, and they tap into that identity to attract Israelis back home and encourage people to donate or contribute for that purpose. They didn’t say anything about being Jewish at all, just about being an Israeli.
I didn’t see the Hanukkah-Christmass ad, but my bet is it was probably made in the same spirit since in Israel the common shared experienced is Hanukkah, and in the US the common shared experience is Christmass. It obviously is related to the ease of preserving the Jewish identity in Israel, or maybe just the ease of sharing the Jewish identity in Israel, but it doesn’t make sense to me that it was meant to offend American Jews. It maybe didn’t take into account religious sensitivities and the particular experience of Jews abroad who maybe read into it more than what it meant to say, so it probably was insensitive in this sense, but don’t think it was meant as an offense, it just doesn’t make sense to me. Certainly not after seeing the other ads that were perfectly non-offensive, yet for some reason were interpreted as outragesly offensive to American Jews.
In the Christmas ad:
A secular couple and their daughter are video-chatting via computer – in Hebrew – with Grandma and Grandpa in Israel.
There is a Chanukah menorah behind the grandparents.
Grandma motions to it and asks the girl – what holiday are we celebrating?
The girl answers – Christmas – to her parents’ consternation.
As with the others, there is nothing to imply American Jews are rejected… as if this issue hasn’t vexed American Jewry for decades!
Since part of the ad was in Hebrew, I assume the ad was aimed at expatriate Israelis, not necessarily at all Jews.
As for loss of faith among American Jews, the same thing is happening to American Christians, and probably among other third-and-fourth generational religious groups as well (except Muslims, who apparently are becoming “more” Muslim, thanks to the millions of dollars and hardcore prosetylizing of the Salafists). America is a secular nation, and it has to be that way to accommodate all, else we’ll have Europe all over again. That doesn’t mean there isn’t room for faith, as the nation was first founded on faith, after all, and faith (in something bigger than yourself) offers a fully realized life. This is something all Americans need to relearn.
“Since part of the ad was in Hebrew, I assume the ad was aimed at expatriate Israelis, not necessarily at all Jews.”
Exactly – expats, Israelis working abroad and particularly Israelis who would like to contribute to facilitate their return. Also the English parts had Hebrew subtitles. And it certainly didn’t discuss the loss of faith among American Jews, portray them in a negative light, or anything of that sort – it said nothing about American Jews. It was about Israeli identity, culture and shared experience that Israelis living abroad might miss and their children raised abroad will not be part of. Those who were outraged seem to have projected their own concerns on the ads. I have no other explanation for such a gross misinterpretation.
“the same thing is happening to American Christians”
As a previously cultural Christian who has converted to the Orthodox Church, I would observe that in America it is not so much the people who are leaving the churches, but the churches which are leaving the people. The Orthodox Church is both growing and full of children. It seems that people, Christians and Jews, are both seeking firmly based real faiths, rather than ‘popular’, liberal and politically correct social clubs. Lack of children is a harsh signifier of a failed society.
David,
I posted this earlier but think it’s worth a repost in light of the topic being Diasporas and assimilation. There are some interesting parallels in that the Russian Orthodox Church has a lot to do with whether or not a Russian living abroad, whether a green card holder or a citizen of another country, feels any connection to their Motherland.
The more secular a Russian in general, the less they give a damn about what is happening to Russia. And while some Russian Orthodox still believe the KGB are everywhere running around the former USSR as when they left during the 1970s-80s, there are others who take a more hopeful view.
And as for the Mormon commenter, my response as an Orthodox Christian is this: while I cannot propose the dual track salvation that some Baptists and well-meaning Evangelicals subscribe to, neither has God abandoned the Jewish people, as the Apostle Paul makes clear in the Romans 10-11 discourse (Spengler has quoted this passage often) they are preserved down through centuries of persecution for God’s purposes in the later days.
As for the Jewish state itself, the Orthodox Christians have never taken as much a position on the state of Israel as evangelicals or even Lutherans (I’m talking about in the U.S. the conservative Missouri Synod is generally pro-Israel, but the more liberal ELCA is a mixed bag). This issue came up (humorously) in Father Peter Gilquist’s book Becoming Orthodox when he and a large group of former evangelicals meet the Lebanese-born Archbishop Phillip Saliba of Los Angeles and he gives them a half hour discourse on the Orthodox Church fathers’ view of the eventual salvation of the Jews.
And of course, while the Russian Orthodox Christian nationalist Stanislav Mishin is an oddity in that he’s fiercely pro-Israel and believes there will eventually be an Israel-Russia alliance against Turkey (kinda turns the 19th century British Dispensationalist Evangelical interpretation of certain passages in Ezekiel on its head), his main reasoning is that Muslims down through the centuries have a poor track record of respecting Christian and specifically Orthodox Christian holy sites. This has never been a problem with the Israelis, while certain Palestinian fighters notoriously turned either an Eastern Catholic or Orthodox Church into an outhouse and held the monks at gunpoint just a few years ago.
Once again I wish there were more interfaith dialogue between the Orthodox Christians and the Jews, but perhaps Archbishop Hilarion Alifiyev (who has reached out to Evangelicals and was Patriarch Kirill’s envoy to the Vatican) may be a key figure in this.
Some American Jews took offense, whether the ads were intended as offensive or not. This is a subjective matter that can only be determined by each of us on the basis of whether they offended you, personally, or not. So the offense is a matter of sensitivity as much as a matter of intent. Listen to the Neapolitan song “Torno a Sorriento” or the Mexican song “Volver, volver” (and many other dramatic appeals to expats of any specific national identity), of course they appeal to nostalgia in the first place, but they also try to use guilt as a lever.
So, independently from the intent of the ad, I wonder whether those who took offense tended to be those inclined to deny their inner sense of guilt for being derelict in their Jewish duty?
For reasons that are not entirely clear to me, there never has been a formal Orthodox-Jewish dialogue. Part of the reason may be that Orthodox Christians in the Middle East try to identify as ethnic Arabs for self-protection (e.g., the founder of the Ba’ath Party).
See
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/KH11Ak02.html
Of course, I would enthusiastically welcome such a dialogue.
As for the Naakba, while it involved many Arab Christians losing their homes, particularly in and around Jaffa, but it remains a very small dislocation compared to the millions of Greek and Armenian Orthodox Christians either killed or displaced through terror during the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, mostly from Thrace but also cities like Thessolinika that had been Greek for almost 3,000 years.
David,
I’m afraid for precisely that reason the initiative will have to come from the Russians and Greeks, rather than my Arab Orthodox brothers. The developments in Syria do not bode well for the Antiochian Orthodox and even Melikite and Eastern Catholic-affiliated churches of Syria if the Muslim Brotherhood seizes power. Syria along with Lebanon is one of the few Arab countries where Christian women can drive about unveiled and you see such women on television (I’ve watched some Lebanese satellite TV here in the States — not the Al-Manar network but others).
I believe once again as with the Balkans conflicts of the Nineties certain elements in Washington and in Europe are siding with and arming Muslim radicals and do not realize that they are making an already bad situation WORSE rather than trying to defuse it on all sides. And ultimately Israel will suffer the consequences of its stated ‘best friends’ regime change hubris.
Never said the Israeli press is revolting, in fact, I know and like some of the people at Arutz Sheva. The problem is that their reports are disturbing. One today, a man who ran over a terrorist got community service rather than a metal.
I say again, my people knew the Pilgrim Fathers for what they were and ran for it as far and fast as they could. Most ended up as Quakers, which the total opposite.
I have no respect for them or what they did. They like all the revealed religious, want to shed blood (put whips to the Quaker’s hide and made him spring), at a bare minimum.
You can see the taint if you look, from hanging witches to the PC twaddle; it is all the same: bend people to your will, which is in no way Christian. I will be glad when all the revealed religions, including Marx and Mormanism die.
This has been a rather fascinating conversation to me.
I would first like to thank those who took the time to respond to my questions above.
A little background. Again, I am not a Jew and I don’t know many Jews. I have organized campaigns, mostly among non-Jews, to contact elected representatives in support of Israel. I have written letters to the editors to counter “peace groups” that are hostile to Israel. I am presently working with a blogger to write an overview of Israel’s decades-long efforts to make peace with its neighbors. I am rolling through my mind another possible article dealing with – how do I describe this? – Jewish childrens’ first realization that some people hate them merely because they exist.
I found some of the comments above disheartening. I realize that people who post comments on blogs and other Internet sites are usually not representative of broader groups as a whole (they are more passionate about subjects than “the average Joe”). I hope that is true in this case.
I guess it’s natural for people with differing politics (even within parties or ideologies), differing religious beliefs (even with different denominations within the same religion), etc. to engage in a certain amount of bickering with each other. That’s OK.
What troubles me is the level and tone of the disagreements, the scorn and contempt, that some of you have shown for each other.
As “outsiders”, we non-Jews who support Israel and have no tolerance for anti-Semitism (a rather sanitary term) have little or no understanding, have little or no care, about the differences among yourselves.
We also accept that anyone who identifies him/herself as a Jew *is*, in fact, a Jew. And just as importantly, so do those who despise Jews.
I guess that what I’m trying to suggest is that while you recognize your differences as Jews, you also don’t forget what ties you together, your common interests and common dangers.
Or let me put it more bluntly. There are large numbers of people and entities in this world that, to various degrees, dislike and even hate you. Want to do you serious harm. All of you. They don’t care if you are politically liberal or conservative, it doesn’t matter where you live, or what Jewish faction/denomination you belong to. So be careful about dividing yourselves.
Sheesh, I wrote this off the top of my head and I don’t have time to edit it, to make it better. I hope I made some sense, made my point.
I, and many, many like me, wish you all well.
It was a sensitive comment. But let’s make something clear – there are disagreements among Jews just like there are disagreements among Americans and among Christians. The conservative-liberal dialogue an outsider reads in American blogs and comments has a far more extreme tone than the inter-Jewish dialogue in this space, and it’s quite normal in these dividing times.
And one thing I’ve learned in recent years is that there’s nothing much I can do as a Jew against antisemitism. Or more precisely, I can argue with the antisemites using cold facts in the hope that some of the people reading the arguments will not be infected by the repetition of antisemitic myths and will employ critical thinking before adopting the myths themselves. However, there’s nothing I can do to dissuade the antisemites themselves because they want to believe what they believe and therefore are immune to reason. And I do want to live like a normal person, which includes saying what I want to say without thinking what will the antisemites make of it. Since it wouldn’t matter anyway – if I’ll do X it will be a proof for them that I’m evil, and if I’ll do the opposite of X it will also be a proof to them that I’m evil. If Jews won’t argue with other Jews it will be a “proof” that we are all united in a conspiracy to destroy everyone else. That’s how their minds work.
And as for us having to unite because so many others hate us – the thing is that we’re not united, never have been and never will be, and no amount of self censorship will change that. We may only unite when it’s clear enough to most people who is the aggressor and what is the threat. But until then we are not united like you are not united – because in free societies there is a diversity of opinions. And there are quite a few leftist Jews who cause enormous damage to Israel in this extremely dangerous times, which is something I might pay for with my country and my life. So I do want to speak my mind, I do want to shout it. When such issues come up – the article started, after all, from internal Jewish affairs. And I don’t care if non-Jews also read it. I’m tired of the situation where just one kind of Jews, those who say the things leftists want to hear, have a voice in academia and the mass media to bash and bash and bash, and other Jews just have to take it silently and wait for the rockets and missiles to drop on our heads. I’m tired of this naivety and egoism. I want them to know that I’m angry. I’m tired of bagging for my life. I’m tired of having to explain and apologize for nothing while nobody listens.
All this bizarre ad scandal is just another example. These outraged Jews misinterpreted the ads and that’s what gets in the media – no matter what the ads said in Hebrew, what they really were about or anything. Just their version which amounts to another Israel-bashing. At a time like this! When genocidally Jew-hating Islamists are taking over Egypt and threathening the peace, the cornerstone of Middle East stability. When the Islamists are taking over country after country. When the king of Jordan says Jordan is the last man standing in terms of peace with Israel. At a time like this, when my country might face war in a not too distant future, when it’s sure to face an increase of weapons and terrorist flow to Gaza and the Sinai, when I might die in the next round of rockets, all they can do is whine to the newspapers about some ads and how deeply their sensibilities were offended by their own misinterpretation, and how Israel is bad bad bad – and then accuse the Israelis of being insensitive… I might die! You’re whining about some ads?! Is that sensitive? Give me a break.
So maybe if I’ll talk enough, scream enough, punch enough, somehow, some time, some minds will be penetrated. Maybe a little doubt will eneter. Maybe someone somewhere will realize it’s not a one way street, and Israelis might have “sensibilities” too.
The real scandal is to make a scandal over some ads in a time like this. And I’m ANGRY. Yes, I am.
Both American and Israeli Jews ought to have been insulted by those ads.
The message was: “Adherence to our ancient rituals is more important than your personal choice, freedom to live as you wish and be who you wish, and love whom you wish. Your function is to have babies and train them in those same rituals.”
In America… wait… why are we here? What was it all about? Oh yes… life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. If a Jew wants to live without children, or marry an Confucianist Eskimo and raise the children that way, it’s America: STFU. THAT is what makes this a great and exceptional nation.
kill me and mine with kindness?
does parents have the right and responsibility to influence their children?
believe what you like, but you don’t have the right to force YOUR opinions on us.
those jews who threw there religious objects over the side of the boat when coming to America also threw their heritage away as well as their jewish identity.
they were cowards and now are offended when confronted with their cowardice.
the cohens [priests] who became pork eaters instead of a light unto the nations and married out and then insist that they know what’s best for jews?
You are correct that there is no reason why he should not do these things if he is so inclined. But that begs the question; why would he be so inclined if the values and teachings of his inherited traditions are instilled in him? If his parents failed to inculcate these values then others may very well take their place.
BTW, why are you so testy about these ads? Personally, I find them sentimental, sappy and unconvincing but not worthy of such anger. Did they touch a nerve? I sense a certain projection going on here.
Swami sez: The message was: “Adherence to our ancient rituals is more important than your personal choice, freedom to live as you wish and be who you wish, and love whom you wish. Your function is to have babies and train them in those same rituals.”
Without even looking at the ads and their message, I would have to say, “…And just what the hell is your problem with the message you describe?” Seriously. What the hell is your problem?
“Personal choice” is exalted as a false god all over the place these days. I’ve seen it pursued, and I can say without any reservation whatsoever that it is a road to misery. You appear to be advocating this road to misery as a road to…what? Abandonment of one’s heritage? Erasure of history? Self-betrayal? Just what, precisely, is the noble objective you are advocating?
The ads were not about ancient rituals and were not about religion at all. It’s sad the misinterpretation has become the “formal truth” and now there’s nothing we can do about it because pointing to the facts in some blog comment is no competition to the mass media.
And as for the rest – STFU yourself!
Pnina (@31) best explains the actual facts of the case. If I may repost a comment I posted in response to an excellent post by Walter Mead:
The ad campaign itself is aimed at Israeli ex-pats in the US, and advises them that they’ll have trouble passing on their Israeli identity to their children in the American melting pot. According to the ads, if they stay in America, their young children will speak English by default, they’ll get into the (secular) spirit of Christmas, and their non-Israeli boyfriends won’t be familiar with Israeli Memorial Day. How on earth could this possibly be upsetting to American Jews? How many American Jews don’t speak English principally, are immune to Christmas, or know the date of Israeli Memorial Day? American Jewish organizations themselves are constantly bemoaning Jewish assimilation and intermarriage! One can’t help but posit that the ads are not denigrating in themselves, but rather have unintentionally touched the exposed nerves of an insecure American Jewish identity.
One last thought for this thread, regarding the 1969 commenter, to whom David responded: “If you believe in Sola Scriptora, then you should believe (with Calvin) that God’s promises are eternal and unbreakable, and that the Jews remain God’s people forever, because that is what Scripture says.” I pointed to Romans 10-11 previously in this thread, which warns Gentile Christians against this behavior and reminds them that they are the wild sprout grafted onto the vine. Simply because we pray for the salvation of all Israel that is promised before the Return of Christ (indeed many Christians views the Nazi Holocaust as a Satanic attempt to negate this Scriptural promise) does not mean that we should be arrogant toward’s the Chosen People.
Sola Scriptura has never been the position of any Orthodox church, for the quite simple reason that the Church preceded the Christian Bible and it wasn’t until several centuries after Jesus that the Church codified what is and isn’t scripture in the Ecumenical Councils of the 4th, 5th and even early 6th centuries before Islam invaded the Byzantine Eastern Roman Empire. Revelation for example was a very late addition and for this reason is not included in the Divine Liturgy even though there are other passages taken from Isaiah (the trisagion prayer, ‘Holy, Holy, Holy’) etc.
So for the benefit of David’s Jewish readers who may be unfamiliar with the Orthodox Church, any Christian who comes up to you saying by faith alone and by scripture alone is NEITHER Orthodox nor Roman Catholic in their understanding, but Protestant.
And ultimately as a former Protestant I became Orthodox because I could not accept that the true Church of Christ disappeared after Constantine made Christianity an official religion of the Roman Empire until Tyndale and Luther rediscovered it in the 1400s-1500s. I also could not accept ‘once saved, always saved’ as some Baptists purportedly do as salvation is something that we cannot possibly earn, but nonetheless must be striven toward unto the last dying breath. This is why Catholics pray the Hail Mary “now and at the hour of our death” and why the Orthodox at every service pray for ‘a good defense before the dread judgement seat of Christ’.
Eh, Protestantism is always being discovered somewhere. See the Lollards, for instance.
I think the most important thing is by God’s grace alone.
The whole discussion about secular, religious, orthodox or atheist is futile, irrelevant and dangerously misleading. Non-jewish people see us, consciously or not, as a race and really don’t care if we are religious or not. Whenever I encounter anti-semitism, as a target or a witness, no one ever asked about my religion -being a Jew, in a racial sense- is enough. Being picked up at three in the morning and transported to an extermination camp was never a question of religious affiliation. Being a Jew and the “rich” butcher in a Polish town guaranteed the death sentence and had noting to do with not being a catholic. So, let us stop this nonsense and accept the fact that, in our relationship with non-jewish people we are seen as a race and it does not matter if we, among ourselves agree with that or not. Throughout the 2000 years of persecution the hatred for Jews had never anything to do with religion. Now, some will say that is not true because many Jews converted to escape from murder or have been forced to convert. But did it work? In reality, conversion, forced or not, has never put the Jews out of peril. The converts (Marranos) were treated with suspicion and never gained full recognition and being expelled or massacred was always only a question of time. I have read here, many times, comments from Jews saying: “I am an American, my ancestors came here several generations ago, I/we have made important contributions to the culture and science of this country…” They are ignorant fools. This is exactly what millions of Jews in Europe said, and it did not save their skins and this kind of reasoning has not given them immunity. Oh, but this can not happen in America, I hear them saying. Go and look at the reader-comments in the news-media of America (and Europe) dealing with middle-east issues and events and you will find that the vast majority is hostile, anti-semitic anti-israel anti-zionist. The expressed hostility towards Jews in America is rising because it has been tacitly legitimated by the comments and actions of high profile politicians and opinion forming journalists. Only wishful thinking and denial prevents most American Jews from realising that Israel may be the safer place.
Racial antisemitism is a modern (19th century) creation. Before that Judeophobia was certainly based in religious (“Christ killers”) rivalry whatever the awareness of physical traits common in the Jewish nation. But even in the modern world, the question remains, just what is it about Jewish identity that antisemites try to distill into or point to by inventing a “racial” theory that attempts to attribute cultural significance to an awareness that Jews descend from common ancestors. Racialism, whatever the theoretical pretensions that goes with it, is the search for some essence, some normative Jew. And I would say that essence, in the case of modern antisemitism, was not to be found by the phony biological theorizing, but remained a resentment of a Jewishness whose origin was in the religious event that made Jews the peculiar and still distinctive discoverers and carriers of monotheism and nationalism.
your comment:
pseudo intellectual party rote and inconsequential verbal masturbation….
The essence of Judaism is the discovery of the universality of God who, when asked by Moses for his name, replied, paradoxically, `I am that I am’.
In other words, this is not the God alone of some specific community that can invoke him with a distinct name, like any pagan tribe. In racializing Jews through eugenicist nonsense, in making them just a shitty little nation, modern antisemitism is attempting, resentfully, to reverse or deny this specifically Jewish link to the discovery of universality. A Polish thug doesn’t have to be aware of any of this and it can still motivate his violence. All he has to grasp is that the Jews actually are somehow different (whether better, worse, or both) than the other “shitty” races. And he can explain that with any conspiracy or racial theory he wants. Still, to a thinking person, “race” does not explain “the Jewish problem”.
Fred, truepeers’ second response was much more civil than you deserved. Since you see fit to lecture, could you please share with us your own theory of what explains (not justifies, of course) the exceptional phenomenon of anti-semitism? Do you think that non-Jews have a physical allergy to some specifically Jewish gene?
Fred makes an important point about how the non-Jew did/does perceive & thus treated/treats the “Jews” through history, irrespective of internal Jewish squabbling over “who is a Jew?” The Jewish community in Spain hounded/persecuted under Isabella and Ferdinand to “convert” still faced the gentile wrath because they were “Jews” as in a “race” not “religion.”
– had for CENTURIES passed down with pride their Israelite/Hebrew origins and certain traditions. Yet, when danger lurked –as it always does in the so-called “Middle East”– they covered up their Pushtunwali laws with the appearance of “Sharia” to survive. But they obsessed over their lineage which has always taken precedence over their latest religious identity (Islam). It was all about your lineage through your father (AND mother) as, until very recently, you just didn’t marry outside your tribe or the Pushtun race. But the Pushtuns know –and continue to experience– the “payback” for their stubborn adherence to this “Hebrew/Israelite” narrative. Even today, as the Pushtuns no longer publicly or even privately for that matter mention this “heritage” for good reason (who wants to be slaughtered), their wonderful “Umma” brothers and sisters call them with pure unadulterated hate “Jews.” And, are dealing with them accordingly all in the name of the “war on terror.” Funny thing is the Pushtuns –who HATE the Arabs, always have– take umbrage as they have never acknowledged being “Jews” who are only “relatives” but have proudly identified with an Israelite (Hebrew) lineage. Two different things in their minds as their folklore places their exodus with the first destruction (of the Temple). Apologize for this long unedited thread but its tragicomically humorous that even the Pushtuns –”devout Muslims all”– are hated/suspected for being “Jews!” There you have it in a nutshell. What a world we live in….
Personal knowledge of the Pushtuns of the so-called Af-Pak region –who until the dramatic spike in anti-Hebrew/Jewish intolerance with the creation of Israel within “Dar al Islam” (you can’t imagine how p—-d off this makes the “Umma” feel
Fascinating as usual, Mr. Goldman. As someone from a liberal Reform family, but one that has continued to support Israel (at least among the older generation–can’t say the same for my siblings), a lot of this analysis struck painfully close to the bone. It’s true that Reform Boomers have failed to instill support for Israel or even a strong Jewish identity in their progeny, despite holding such views themselves. I’m amazed at how many of my friends lack interest even in Birthright, or call themselves “half” Jewish, whatever that means.
But another news item came out of Israel this week. An ex-head of Mossad, Efraim Halevy, attacked the Haredi as one of Israel’s biggest threats. The IDF has been dealing with rabbis promoting insubordination over issues of religious law. The Judea and Samaria commander gets threatened by settlers, and the command routinely complains about “price tag” operations as being immoral and undermining the IDF’s operations.
Many patriotic Israelis, confident in their Jewishness without being overly religious, view some of these religious elements as a threat from within. These are people who have families, serve, and don’t read Ha’aretz. They have all the noble and productive characeristics that you identify in your columns that will ensure their future success. And yet this admirable society, with the IDF as its backbone, is felt to be under threat from some strands of the religious.
If I didn’t know better I’d think you were a consortium of shamanistic witch doctors arguing over whether to smear cat guts over a holy tree stump at the full or quarter moon.
I’m guessing full moon…better light.
I offer this same discussion at another site..
http://www.tabletmag.com/news-and-politics/84891/mixed-marriage/#comments
@Elena…I really had a laugh at the first comment…ta!
I’m not going to Israel cuz they won’t let me marry a Jewish woman and the Muslims are tight fisted in this regard as well.
Here in America I can marry a 1957 Dodge Pick Up truck if I want.
Mr. Katz, my understanding of New York’s marriage law is that it is forbidden to marry a 1957 Dodge pickup unless, of course, the truck is gay.
I am uncertain of the provenance of said pick up truck in this regard; however it is usually in a very good mood.
oh….. and I think the Intended Vehicle has to also meet certain admittedly stringent emission standards……..
This story and comments are fascinating to read. As a Catholic who has experienced both the conservative traditional and the ultra liberal wings of the Catholic Church in the US, I can say there is a direct parallel to this Jewish situation. There is even a “Catholics come home” marketing campaign ongoing. The arguments are similar, one sides says “we have all the tradition and you’re doing it wrong” and the other side says “no, everything was reformed in Vatican II and they’re is no going back this is how we do it now”
I thought of “Catholics Come Home” too, and the similarities between traditional and progressive Catholics (with identical demographic trends, too).
Liberal Jewish organizations are their own world and get offended for their own benefit. American liberal Jews have always been ambivalent about Israel because it created a means of personal success other than the right college, right contacts and a way of achieving a sense of self other than crude material striving. Just as Obama is important because he is an historic black figure and therefore important, liberal Jews have a myth that their own material gain
is a historic success for the greater society. When that false prestige is punctured they get uncomfortable and they yell a bit.
Jews are overrepresented in Congress but if we were far less well represented and stronger in who we are we would be much better off.
As for Swami Ofwhatexactly, freedom of speech, religion and assembly are communal as well as individual freedoms. Freedom of personal philosophy and shared religious values were what America was founded on and ads that ask the question about these values are quite appropriate. You are cordially extended to freely and without need for anyone’s permission to go screw yourself.
Take heart. All these so-called Jews will live to see their grandchildren become Muslims. I do not mean by this that Islam is going to sweep all before it. On the contrary. But many of the most committed antisemites of the Jewish variety are going to generate a virus within their own lives. Wish I could be here to see it.
David, If I were in L.A. on Dec. 14th I’d show up and introduce myself as Senor Equis. Alas I won’t be on the Left Coast.
WMC – David Goldman
Wednesday, December 14, 2011 from 11:30 AM to 2:00 PM (PT)
Beverly Hills, CA
Hello Mr. Goldman,
I’ve been a fan of your Spengler columns for several years and have been most impressed with your scholarly writing.
I’m an Australian and Christian by birth, don’t attend church but do my best to live by Christian principles. In other words I live my life the way I expect an ideal, good world to be.
Judaism and the Jewish people have a low profile here in Australia and consequently I’ve met very few Jews.
May I ask, if you ever have the spare time, if you could write something about what it means to you to be Jewish and, in particular, an American Jew and how this influences your thinking and your daily life.
Thank you for an always stimulating column.
Sensitive,compassionate people of whatever race would object to being fed a pitch to join a genocidal, racist corparchy. This ad would be the same as a Nazi ad directed at German-Americans to come work for them. The decendants of yesteryear’s victims of corporate genocide have exceeded the Nazi atrocities hundredfold. The West Bank and Gaza strip are the Auschwitz and Dachau of today’s world.
Loving, caring American Jews surely watch in horror as their Israeli brethren were co-opted by the American military industrial complex to begin a genocide against the Palestinians starting in 1967. It is such a shame too. There is still some compassion in Israel; it is the land of the Kibbutz. If the Israeli people would tell the American war machine to go Hell and embrace the values of the Kibbutzim, justice would prevail and peace would follow. Then many American Jews would love to come and live in equality.
“The West Bank and Gaza strip are the Auschwitz and Dachau of today’s world.”
Right. And this is why the non-jewish populations of these territories have increased several fold over the past 45 years. Troll fail! And it is the Kibbutz movement that has been largely told to “go to hell” by the Israeli people as the number of movement members has declined precipitously in the past few decades.
You can put down that Revolutionary Resource Reader now and go back to school. Or did college make you such a moron that you actually believe that garbage? Maybe you should demand a full refund of your tuition dollars.
Once I was entertaining a group of German clients for Credit Suisse, and a spiky-haired 30-year old banker told me that the Jews were acting just like the Nazis on the West Bank.
“Sie haben vollkommen Recht!,” I told him. “You’re absolutely right. The Palestinians you see in the news? They’re actors. We killed all the real Palestinians, just like the Nazis. We searched every attic and basement so that not a single one would survive, just like the Nazis. We threw the small children alive into the gas ovens to save the cost of poison gas, just like the Nazis…” I went on like this for a while. He threw up. The dinner ended a bit early, which was all right with me.
Thank you for such fine example of a direct response to that old canard. I always get stuck trying to speak to the idiot as if he was rational.