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| 2016 photo of Chabad Shiluchim at their annual meeting in New York (Hamodia) |
Is there anything we can do about it? Is there some way to turn the tide? As I have mentioned in the past, we must do everything we can and redouble our efforts to reach out to as many of that 90% that we can try to try and convince them of the beauty of Judaism as practiced by Orthodoxy. And that Orthodoxy may be the only way that they will be able to perpetuate their Judaism into the future.
That raises some obvious questions. How do we do it? And who do we reach out to that has any chance of success?
Obviously the ideal should be to reach out to every Jew, no matter how far removed they might be. That is in essence what Chabad does. They have spread out to all corners of the world where no other outreach groups would even consider going. And in the process have brought Judaism to Jews with little connection to it. Doing it in non threatening non confrontational ways. Using their love of fellow Jews as their primary modus operandi.
Whatever issues anyone might have with Chabad, this cannot be taken away from them. And they should be honored by all segments of Orthodoxy for doing so. Despite their great success though - as a matter making a dent in in the percentage of non Orthodox Jews that are abandoning their faith, it hardly registers a blip on the ‘perpetuation of Judaism’ radar screen. Nor do any of the other successful outreach groups.
In my view there are quite a number of non Orthodox Jews that do care about their Judaism. They want to live Jewish lives and even perform many Mitzvos. How many there are is a good question. But they do exist.
Last night as I was channel surfing before watching the nightly 10 pm news broadcast here in Chicago, I happened onto one of our many public television stations that was broadcasting a program about the dying synagogues in small town America. In every case, what was once a thriving synagogue was about to become extinct. And in every case it was a non Orthodox synagogue. The reasons for this is exactly what recent polls have been telling us. And those that did care about their Judaism ended up leaving for a larger Jewish community.
But I want to focus on the people that did care and wanted to maintain their Shul. They were all what I would call religious Jews but not observant by Orthodox standards. These are people who cared about having a Minyan for Davening; built a Sukkah for their homes, wnet to synagogue every Shabbos; made Kiddush on Friday night and Havdalah after Shabbos; put Mezuzas on their doors...
In one case even there was a Hachnasas Sefer Torah with all the trapping one would find in an Orthodox version of that. It was occasioned by the purchase by one synagogue of Sifrei Torah from a dying one. These were people that obviously cared about their Judaism. What I also noticed that in most cases those lamenting the demise of their synagogues were probably in their sixties or older..
But not everyone was. There were 2 young couples (different cities)that were quite young. And they too were religious in that way. In both cases they took pride when their children learned Hebrew well enough to recite the Haftorah on the Shabbos of their Bar or Bat Mitzvah. As did the young Bar or Bat Mitzvah celebrant themselves. There were clearly not Jews running away for their Judaism. And in every case they had a rabbi of their particular denomination guiding their Mitzvah observance m in ways very familiar to Orthodox Jews.
There was a young couple where the wife was raised as a religious Catholic and had gone through all the Catholic rites of passage. When she met her Jewish husband she had never even met a Jew before - let alone dated one.
They fell in love and he proposed and told her that he would not force her to convert to Judaism - but that he would not convert to Catholicism. Her parents were very devout and obviously very upset by this coupling. (Although they later came to accept him they at first tried to talk their daughter out of it.)
Not knowing what to do the young woman consulted her priest about marrying out of the faith and raising their child in both faith traditions. To his credit he told her she should not do it. That it would be confusing to the children. She then converted (albeit probably not Halachcily). She is now hungry to learn more about Judaism and they are raising their children Jewishly. Their Judaism is so important to them now that they moved out of their small town to a larger one with a larger Jewish community and joined a what seems like a Conservative synagogue there.
These are exactly the people that we should make every effort to reach out to. These are not the Jews abandoning their Judaism. They are embracing it the way they understand it. And with the help of their rabbis they are finding ways to do that.
The question is whether their rabbis will be a hindrance or a help in that regard. Do they believe that their denomination is the real expression of Judaism? Or do they believe that it is only one expression of it, while Orthodoxy is another.
I don’t know if there is any consensus about it among heterodox rabbis. But I believe that those that are serious about Judaism are of the latter mindset and see becoming Orthodox as a victory. I base this on the fact that I know of Conservative rabbis that actually steer their youth into NCSY. And I am also aware the one of their most successful camps is Camp Ramah. If I recall correctly they too consider it a success if one of their campers finds their way to Orthodoxy.
It is with this in mind that I believe that I believe that we should find ways to work with those that are willing to work with us.
We need not compromise our beliefs about what is and isn’t authentic Judaism. Nor do we need to stand together with them publicly in religious matters which would appear to legitimize them. Or compromise in any of our goals (such as giving in to demands for official recognition in Israel).
What we do need is respectful dialogue with them about the shared purpose of keeping Jews Jewish. The sincere rabbis among them realize that the surest way to do that is through an intensive Jewish education which as been proven successful mostly in Orthodoxy. And as noted, there are many heterodox rabbis that will allow us to reach out to their congregants. We just need to do our due diligence to find out which ones will. Chabad is pretty good at doing that. I think it’s more than time that we follow their lead.