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| Reform Rabbi Andy Bachman (center) |
Liberal Judaism is dying. I don’t think that is even arguable. The reasons for that are abundantly clear. And no one expresses them better than Commentary online senior editor, Jonathan S. Tobin.
As has been discussed ad infinitum and ad nauseum - this is what that famous (or infamous depending on your point of view) Pew report showed.
There are those who have challenged Pew’s statistics. They have pointed out its flaws… or the presence of statistics within the Pew report that temper claims of Orthodox Jewry’s exponential growth. There are also those that point to different surveys that show different – perhaps opposite results. That Orthodox Jewry may in fact be shrinking. There are statistics that have shown that there are more people leaving Orthodoxy that there are people coming into it. There may be some truth to that. The OTD phenomenon is growing. By leaps and bounds it seems.
Even if that is so, I would posit that there is still growth. But that it is internal. While more Jews may be going OTD than becoming Baalei Teshuva, the typically very large families of Orthodox Jewry indicate to me that overall - it is growing.
Without getting into which statistics are more accurate or how to interpret them, Jonathan very clearly spells out what most Orthodox Jews already know. Something the New York Times actually makes note of.
The Times reports on a story about Reform Rabbi Andrew Bachman. He has decided to give up his very successful pulpit in favor of doing charity work. When asked about it, he said that since one of the fundamental tenets of Judaism is Tikun Oalm (repairing the world) he does not feel there is any contradiction between what he was preaching and doing as a rabbi and what he is about to embark upon. The Times notes that this ‘manifests a ‘challenge for Jews in America’. From the Times:
His decision was deeply personal, but also touched on vexing questions at the center of Judaism’s future in this country as modern Jews — the secular, the unaffiliated, the questioning — grapple with what it means to be Jewish and what role a synagogue should play in that identity. Nationally, synagogue affiliation is falling as American Jews increasingly decide they do not need to live out their Jewishness in a religious context.
Here is Jonathan’s reaction to that:
…it’s difficult to criticize the Times for assuming that there is a connection between the rapid decline in affiliation and synagogue attendance and the way many non-Orthodox Jews believe their faith is synonymous with liberal activism rather than a civilization and a people that transcends the particular political fashion of our own time.
As Jonathan notes, when Universalist ideals are used to define Judaism, it doesn’t make a Jew any different than their non Jewish counterpart. Why even bother identifying as a Jew, if your goal is simply to repair the world via charity work?! How are you any different than any human being that does charity work? Why not simply skip the middleman? If Judaism is only about Tikun Olam, - well you don’t have to be Jewish. Just go out and repair the world… as Rabbi Bachman will be doing. Judaism has no impact on the modality of doing that. There is nothing particularistic about it. As the Times notes about Rabbi Bachman’s decision:
His decision was deeply personal, but also touched on vexing questions at the center of Judaism’s future in this country as modern Jews — the secular, the unaffiliated, the questioning — grapple with what it means to be Jewish and what role a synagogue should play in that identity. Nationally, synagogue affiliation is falling as American Jews increasingly decide they do not need to live out their Jewishness in a religious context.
There are some who insist that cultural definitions of Judaism are just as valid religious definitions. Here is what Jonathan says about that:
More (Jews) think (Judaism) is a function of having a sense of humor than being connected to the State of Israel. When asked what defines Judaism and Jewish identity, most eschew all those elements that are the defining characteristics of Judaism and, instead, focus on those that apply equally to all faiths, such as a desire to promote social justice… As Cynthia Ozick memorably said, “universalism is the particularism of the Jews.”
The sad fact is that unless we accept as integral to our definition as Jews, those things that make us unique, saying we are Jewish is a meaningless statement. This is where heterodox movements have failed. And that failure is now spectacular as Heterodox leaders scramble to stop the hemorrhaging . They are beginning to realize (too late I think) that adopting or focusing only on a Universalist definition of Judaism was a mistake of existential proportion.
Most Jews that have been raised in the Orthodox world know this intuitively. It is now finally becoming evident among not only heterodox movements, even the New York Times recognizes it.
All this does not bode well for the future of the vast majority of Jews in the country. In a few generations, apathy and intermarriage will take its course. Not that we shouldn’t try and do something about it. We should. And we are. There are many fine Kiruv organizations out there doing wonderful work. But our success in trying to keep Jews Jewish is but a drop in the ocean.
The children of heterodox Jews do not have any reason to identify as Jews or to marry a Jew. This is a very sad fate for movements, whose agenda was ironically to save Judaism by making it more user friendly in a melting pot society by loosening (Conservative) or eliminating entirely (Reform) - the reins of Halacha. And now the chickens are now coming home to roost.