Virtually every issue of Jewish newspapers has an article about Jewish continuity, Jewish apathy, intermarriage, or some other topic regarding why Jews, especially young adults, seem to be losing interest in Judaism. Unfortunately, except for surveys, and a few programs here and there, virtually nothing is being done to combat this major problem.
I graduated from a state university in upstate New York in the early 1990's. Of the 5,000 Jews who attended my school at that time, about 120 ate food from the kosher kitchen during the average meal, fewer than 100 students were active in Jewish causes on campus, and we often had trouble making a minyan on Saturday mornings. I have been told that the situation was even worse a few years after I left.
The reason why so few Jews care is because we have been extremely self-destructive as a People. It is time that all of us do something about it, instead of only relying on our leaders to remedy everything.
We must stop all of our internal bickering and name-calling, whether it is between religious and non-religious, left-wing and right-wing, or whomever. A Jew should accept the level of religiousness of another Jew, whether more or less religious. That means that we should not flaunt things which are viewed as sins by other Jews, nor expect other Jews to live by our personal religious rules. Gatherings should be prepared so that any Jew can participate, such as by always offering kosher food. We must recognize that all of us are one People; nobody is so secular that he or she is not a Jew, nor so religious that we cannot relate to him or her. Most of the goyim realize this about us. All of us should have both religious and non-religious Jewish friends, but how many of us do?
Except for criticizing politicians, which is our duty in a democracy, we must stop calling each other names for our political beliefs. Terms like "war monger," "traitor," "radical," or "against the peace process," should be off-limits when referring to Jews, since these expressions are wrong and destructive. I have yet to meet a Jew who wants Israel to get involved in war, or who wants to see Israel destroyed. The only difference between us is how to achieve true peace. Furthermore, stereotyping leftists as secular and rightists as religious is inaccurate, since there are many exceptions. If somebody does not believe that the Jews are very serious about peace, ask that person if he or she knows that "shalom" is Hebrew for "peace", and "jihad" is Arabic for "holy war". Then, ask if the person knows what the Hebrew word for "war" and the Arabic word for "peace" are.
On a similar note, we must stop writing letters to the editor and taking out advertisements that slander other Jews or Jewish groups. If we want to show our differences, we should use recent, referenced, contextual quotes of those with whom we disagree, and let the readers decide. It would also be better if a group mentioned that it was the only one to protect Jewish interests in a certain case, rather than list the groups that did not get involved. Our personal or inter-group disputes should be kept private, especially since anti-Semites love to quote Jews who verbally attack each other.
Needless to say, violence among us must cease immediately. This includes threats of violence. There are enough anti-Semites in the world who supply us with plenty of hostility; we do not need to add any more to our burdens.
Many of us complain, justifiably, about intermarriage. However, what have we done about it? How often do we set up our Jewish friends and relatives with other Jews for dates? I know many Jews who are looking to date other Jews; however, after a while, some of them give up and settle for anybody. We should invite our "at-risk" Jewish friends to Jewish singles events. Likewise, we should set up our non-Jewish friends with other Gentiles so they do not intermarry with Jews. It would be very nice if Jewish singles events other than dances, volleyball, and weekend getaways, existed. It would also be good if support groups for the middle-aged were not considered singles events. If people truly wanted Jews to meet each other, there would be inexpensive places to go that are conducive to conversation and evenly attended by men and women.
Unfortunately, the media's extensive coverage of the Middle East is usually slanted against Israel. What is even worse is that the Jewish media has many of the same tendencies. It is time to stop saying "East" Jerusalem; nobody still says "East" Berlin or "East" Germany. Saying "Arab East" Jerusalem is even worse, since half of the Old City was the Jewish Quarter. Calling Jewish villages "settlements" and their residents "settlers" should be offensive to everybody. It implies that we Jews are still a wandering People, who are waiting to be kicked out of yet another country. Likewise, we must stop calling the west bank and Gaza "occupied" territories. There are disputed borders all over the world, yet nowhere else are lands called "occupied" territories. The west bank and Gaza should be called "disputed" or "administered" territories, since two sides lay claim to them. We should stop saying "returning" land since most of the disputed territories have never been widely recognized as belonging to anybody; instead, we should say "giving up" land or "giving away" land. We must never say that Arab terrorists attacked Jewish "targets," since Jews are not targets, and it is dehumanizing to call ourselves that.
Another way to make Judaism more popular is to show it off proudly. If Christians have elaborate Christmas displays on their lawns and houses, why can't Jews have elaborate Chanukah displays on ours? It is a mitzvah to publicize the miracles of Chanukah. If African-Americans wear shirts that say "Black by popular demand," why can't Jews have shirts that say "Being a Jew is the thing to do," or something similar?
When a Jewish group is in court debating a constitutional issue, other Jewish groups should not openly side against it.
In order to combat anti-Semitism, we should aid exactly what was attacked by the bigotry. Every time that we see or read about someone denying the Holocaust, we should conspicuously donate money to a Holocaust project. Whenever there is a terrorist attack in Israel, or if someone attacks it verbally or in writing, we should conspicuously donate money to Israel. If we see a missionary group that is trying to proselytize Jews, we should donate money to synagogues and Jewish schools, and tell the missionaries that we are donating because of them. No matter what part of us was harmed, or how it was harmed, we should try to strengthen it. If the anti-Semites start to realize that their actions are backfiring, they may start to curtail their bigotry.
If every Jew, especially the leaders, would abide by these ideas and courtesies, Judaism would appeal to a much wider range of people, and we would not have as much of a problem with Jewish apathy, intermarriage, or anti-Semitism.
I graduated from a state university in upstate New York in the early 1990's. Of the 5,000 Jews who attended my school at that time, about 120 ate food from the kosher kitchen during the average meal, fewer than 100 students were active in Jewish causes on campus, and we often had trouble making a minyan on Saturday mornings. I have been told that the situation was even worse a few years after I left.
The reason why so few Jews care is because we have been extremely self-destructive as a People. It is time that all of us do something about it, instead of only relying on our leaders to remedy everything.
We must stop all of our internal bickering and name-calling, whether it is between religious and non-religious, left-wing and right-wing, or whomever. A Jew should accept the level of religiousness of another Jew, whether more or less religious. That means that we should not flaunt things which are viewed as sins by other Jews, nor expect other Jews to live by our personal religious rules. Gatherings should be prepared so that any Jew can participate, such as by always offering kosher food. We must recognize that all of us are one People; nobody is so secular that he or she is not a Jew, nor so religious that we cannot relate to him or her. Most of the goyim realize this about us. All of us should have both religious and non-religious Jewish friends, but how many of us do?
Except for criticizing politicians, which is our duty in a democracy, we must stop calling each other names for our political beliefs. Terms like "war monger," "traitor," "radical," or "against the peace process," should be off-limits when referring to Jews, since these expressions are wrong and destructive. I have yet to meet a Jew who wants Israel to get involved in war, or who wants to see Israel destroyed. The only difference between us is how to achieve true peace. Furthermore, stereotyping leftists as secular and rightists as religious is inaccurate, since there are many exceptions. If somebody does not believe that the Jews are very serious about peace, ask that person if he or she knows that "shalom" is Hebrew for "peace", and "jihad" is Arabic for "holy war". Then, ask if the person knows what the Hebrew word for "war" and the Arabic word for "peace" are.
On a similar note, we must stop writing letters to the editor and taking out advertisements that slander other Jews or Jewish groups. If we want to show our differences, we should use recent, referenced, contextual quotes of those with whom we disagree, and let the readers decide. It would also be better if a group mentioned that it was the only one to protect Jewish interests in a certain case, rather than list the groups that did not get involved. Our personal or inter-group disputes should be kept private, especially since anti-Semites love to quote Jews who verbally attack each other.
Needless to say, violence among us must cease immediately. This includes threats of violence. There are enough anti-Semites in the world who supply us with plenty of hostility; we do not need to add any more to our burdens.
Many of us complain, justifiably, about intermarriage. However, what have we done about it? How often do we set up our Jewish friends and relatives with other Jews for dates? I know many Jews who are looking to date other Jews; however, after a while, some of them give up and settle for anybody. We should invite our "at-risk" Jewish friends to Jewish singles events. Likewise, we should set up our non-Jewish friends with other Gentiles so they do not intermarry with Jews. It would be very nice if Jewish singles events other than dances, volleyball, and weekend getaways, existed. It would also be good if support groups for the middle-aged were not considered singles events. If people truly wanted Jews to meet each other, there would be inexpensive places to go that are conducive to conversation and evenly attended by men and women.
Unfortunately, the media's extensive coverage of the Middle East is usually slanted against Israel. What is even worse is that the Jewish media has many of the same tendencies. It is time to stop saying "East" Jerusalem; nobody still says "East" Berlin or "East" Germany. Saying "Arab East" Jerusalem is even worse, since half of the Old City was the Jewish Quarter. Calling Jewish villages "settlements" and their residents "settlers" should be offensive to everybody. It implies that we Jews are still a wandering People, who are waiting to be kicked out of yet another country. Likewise, we must stop calling the west bank and Gaza "occupied" territories. There are disputed borders all over the world, yet nowhere else are lands called "occupied" territories. The west bank and Gaza should be called "disputed" or "administered" territories, since two sides lay claim to them. We should stop saying "returning" land since most of the disputed territories have never been widely recognized as belonging to anybody; instead, we should say "giving up" land or "giving away" land. We must never say that Arab terrorists attacked Jewish "targets," since Jews are not targets, and it is dehumanizing to call ourselves that.
Another way to make Judaism more popular is to show it off proudly. If Christians have elaborate Christmas displays on their lawns and houses, why can't Jews have elaborate Chanukah displays on ours? It is a mitzvah to publicize the miracles of Chanukah. If African-Americans wear shirts that say "Black by popular demand," why can't Jews have shirts that say "Being a Jew is the thing to do," or something similar?
When a Jewish group is in court debating a constitutional issue, other Jewish groups should not openly side against it.
In order to combat anti-Semitism, we should aid exactly what was attacked by the bigotry. Every time that we see or read about someone denying the Holocaust, we should conspicuously donate money to a Holocaust project. Whenever there is a terrorist attack in Israel, or if someone attacks it verbally or in writing, we should conspicuously donate money to Israel. If we see a missionary group that is trying to proselytize Jews, we should donate money to synagogues and Jewish schools, and tell the missionaries that we are donating because of them. No matter what part of us was harmed, or how it was harmed, we should try to strengthen it. If the anti-Semites start to realize that their actions are backfiring, they may start to curtail their bigotry.
If every Jew, especially the leaders, would abide by these ideas and courtesies, Judaism would appeal to a much wider range of people, and we would not have as much of a problem with Jewish apathy, intermarriage, or anti-Semitism.