One great crisis of Judaism today is the increasing assimilation and intermarriage of a vast share of the Jewish people. The Jewish people is hemorrhaging from within, losing large numbers. And it is also making connections and identifications with which the traditional world and literature does not know how to deal. The clear distinction between Jew and non-Jew, which was so apparent for many generations, is today blurred by those who assume multiple identities and traditions. Simple answers such as extending the definition and meaning of being Jewish to anyone who wants to call themselves a Jew, or to anyone who has a Jewish father, do not satisfy, as they are not accepted by the bulk of those most solidly within the tradition. Here, the crisis of Judaism is both a question of defining and understanding who we are as a people, and defining and understanding the bounds of tolerance, and the guidelines for future Jewish action.
This question, and this crisis, also relates to larger crises that mankind as a whole is facing. The very definition and meaning of ?human? is today being challenged by developments in biotechnology and artificial intelligence studies. Crises of society, such as globalization and the gap between the developed world and the poorer worlds, also raise the question of whether the Jewish people have a unique role as a light to the nations. The crisis of mankind as a whole is also a crisis for Judaism, but the question for Jewish thought is whether it can provide for mankind some unique contribution, understanding and help. And this, in a time when there is a greater intermingling, and communication between traditions. One thing is clear, the closed self-righteous view of Judaism, which is held by an increasingly larger number of Jews, is an essential part of the crisis. The crisis, at least on one side of the spectrum, is that the Jewish people are producing more and more people who are ignorant of the wider world, who are smugly self?satisfied and feel superior when looking at worlds they know nothing about and have no understanding of.
This touches upon another major crisis. The Jewish world is seeing an increase at the extremes, of those on the one hand assimilated and wholly ignorant of the Jewish tradition, and those on the other hand confined strictly within a closed Jewish world. There is a loss of those in the center, those who are both learned in the Jewish tradition, and capable of understanding and contributing to the wider world. This loss of the center is one of the great Jewish demographic problems of the day. And it also relates to another major crisis, the crisis of the shrinking and aging of the Jewish people throughout the Diaspora. This phenomenon threatens to diminish Jewish influence in the future outside Israel, even in the one place where it arguably has existential importance for the survival of Israel - the United States of America.
This decline of the Jewish world is accompanied by an increasing growth and influence in all parts of the Western world of a Muslim minority, which has unfortunately written on its banner that its chief enemy is Israel and the Jewish people.
This brings me to Israel, and what I take to be the central crisis facing the Jewish people today - the survival of Israel as a Jewish state. This may seem absurd to many who point to Israel?s great military power and to the fact of its having survived and grown despite many wars with its Arab neighbors. Yet, the threats to Israel?s survival are very great indeed. The first of these is one that most Jews can have little influence upon, and that is the non-conventional weapons that enemies of Israel either have obtained or are planning to obtain. The smallness of Israel make it, G-d forbid, a potential target for fanatics who can reckon they can destroy Israel and use their vast landmass and population to nonetheless survive an Israeli counter?blow.
There is also, of course, the threat to Israel from conventional armies and from terror. And nowadays, there is the general economic and social crisis within Israel, which, if it is not properly addressed, can lead to serious weakening of the society in the future.
Moreover, the Jewish identity crisis is great within Israeli society itself. The over four- hundred thousand non-Jews who came from the Soviet Union, and who have either not wanted to, or been deterred from conversion, the growing numbers of foreign workers within the society, and the much higher Arab birthrate within Israel, mean Jews are becoming a smaller majority within the Israeli society itself. Israel?s demographic crisis vis-a-vis the Arab minority alone has serious implications as to the quality and meaning of the Jewish state in the future. And this also leads to the question of how a Jewish state can be a democratic one in the future, as well.
Israel has a crisis of continuing to be, and a crisis of what it should continue to be. And there are those Jews also who would undermine its Jewish character completely, and others who would strengthen it. But the meaning of such strengthening, demographically and religiously, is also a question.
Israel now faces the problem of conflicting Jewish groups within the society. The secular-religious divide is the most notorious here. And it seems to me that mutual ignorance and stereotyping abound, creating a crisis in communication and understanding that has long existed and yet deepened with time. As one who is within the religious world, I have found it difficult to see how by parochialism, selfishness, lack of concern for the other, and failure to take responsibility for defense of the nation physically, religious groups have alienated many moderate, traditional Jews once friendly to them.
When I think of the crises of the Jewish people today, I understand how easy it is to think and think, to write and write. But to do something, really do something, to help, to contribute is far more difficult. Each of us has only his own life and situation, his own limited abilities and opportunities. Yet, if each of us remembers that he is a part of the whole, and that by his or her own small action, the world might be improved, we can walk in the ways of the Avot (forefathers) - undertaking the work while understanding that we will not have the power to finish it. The many crises of the Jewish people require, today, the involvement of each of us, and of course the help of those extraordinary few who can truly inspire and lead.
And this leads me to the final crisis.
There is a crisis in Jewish leadership today. There are some outstanding leaders, but there is no one who has the authority, the vision and the intellectual strength and integrity to reach the people as a whole. We have no leaders of such stature and vision as to unite and inspire the people as a whole toward the future. The Jewish people needs revitalization, needs a new vision of what it can be for itself and for mankind. This must come through rereading the tradition in a way that addresses the world we live in today, and will live in tomorrow. The Jewish people today needs an idea and vision of what its meaning is to be for itself and for mankind as a whole. And this, in accordance with the fundamental idea that the Jewish people have not been placed on this earth to serve themselves alone, but to serve God, when the service of God means the bringing of all of mankind into greater harmony with each other and closer to God.
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Shalom Freedman is a freelance writer in Jerusalem whose work has appeared in a wide variety of Jewish publications.
This question, and this crisis, also relates to larger crises that mankind as a whole is facing. The very definition and meaning of ?human? is today being challenged by developments in biotechnology and artificial intelligence studies. Crises of society, such as globalization and the gap between the developed world and the poorer worlds, also raise the question of whether the Jewish people have a unique role as a light to the nations. The crisis of mankind as a whole is also a crisis for Judaism, but the question for Jewish thought is whether it can provide for mankind some unique contribution, understanding and help. And this, in a time when there is a greater intermingling, and communication between traditions. One thing is clear, the closed self-righteous view of Judaism, which is held by an increasingly larger number of Jews, is an essential part of the crisis. The crisis, at least on one side of the spectrum, is that the Jewish people are producing more and more people who are ignorant of the wider world, who are smugly self?satisfied and feel superior when looking at worlds they know nothing about and have no understanding of.
This touches upon another major crisis. The Jewish world is seeing an increase at the extremes, of those on the one hand assimilated and wholly ignorant of the Jewish tradition, and those on the other hand confined strictly within a closed Jewish world. There is a loss of those in the center, those who are both learned in the Jewish tradition, and capable of understanding and contributing to the wider world. This loss of the center is one of the great Jewish demographic problems of the day. And it also relates to another major crisis, the crisis of the shrinking and aging of the Jewish people throughout the Diaspora. This phenomenon threatens to diminish Jewish influence in the future outside Israel, even in the one place where it arguably has existential importance for the survival of Israel - the United States of America.
This decline of the Jewish world is accompanied by an increasing growth and influence in all parts of the Western world of a Muslim minority, which has unfortunately written on its banner that its chief enemy is Israel and the Jewish people.
This brings me to Israel, and what I take to be the central crisis facing the Jewish people today - the survival of Israel as a Jewish state. This may seem absurd to many who point to Israel?s great military power and to the fact of its having survived and grown despite many wars with its Arab neighbors. Yet, the threats to Israel?s survival are very great indeed. The first of these is one that most Jews can have little influence upon, and that is the non-conventional weapons that enemies of Israel either have obtained or are planning to obtain. The smallness of Israel make it, G-d forbid, a potential target for fanatics who can reckon they can destroy Israel and use their vast landmass and population to nonetheless survive an Israeli counter?blow.
There is also, of course, the threat to Israel from conventional armies and from terror. And nowadays, there is the general economic and social crisis within Israel, which, if it is not properly addressed, can lead to serious weakening of the society in the future.
Moreover, the Jewish identity crisis is great within Israeli society itself. The over four- hundred thousand non-Jews who came from the Soviet Union, and who have either not wanted to, or been deterred from conversion, the growing numbers of foreign workers within the society, and the much higher Arab birthrate within Israel, mean Jews are becoming a smaller majority within the Israeli society itself. Israel?s demographic crisis vis-a-vis the Arab minority alone has serious implications as to the quality and meaning of the Jewish state in the future. And this also leads to the question of how a Jewish state can be a democratic one in the future, as well.
Israel has a crisis of continuing to be, and a crisis of what it should continue to be. And there are those Jews also who would undermine its Jewish character completely, and others who would strengthen it. But the meaning of such strengthening, demographically and religiously, is also a question.
Israel now faces the problem of conflicting Jewish groups within the society. The secular-religious divide is the most notorious here. And it seems to me that mutual ignorance and stereotyping abound, creating a crisis in communication and understanding that has long existed and yet deepened with time. As one who is within the religious world, I have found it difficult to see how by parochialism, selfishness, lack of concern for the other, and failure to take responsibility for defense of the nation physically, religious groups have alienated many moderate, traditional Jews once friendly to them.
When I think of the crises of the Jewish people today, I understand how easy it is to think and think, to write and write. But to do something, really do something, to help, to contribute is far more difficult. Each of us has only his own life and situation, his own limited abilities and opportunities. Yet, if each of us remembers that he is a part of the whole, and that by his or her own small action, the world might be improved, we can walk in the ways of the Avot (forefathers) - undertaking the work while understanding that we will not have the power to finish it. The many crises of the Jewish people require, today, the involvement of each of us, and of course the help of those extraordinary few who can truly inspire and lead.
And this leads me to the final crisis.
There is a crisis in Jewish leadership today. There are some outstanding leaders, but there is no one who has the authority, the vision and the intellectual strength and integrity to reach the people as a whole. We have no leaders of such stature and vision as to unite and inspire the people as a whole toward the future. The Jewish people needs revitalization, needs a new vision of what it can be for itself and for mankind. This must come through rereading the tradition in a way that addresses the world we live in today, and will live in tomorrow. The Jewish people today needs an idea and vision of what its meaning is to be for itself and for mankind as a whole. And this, in accordance with the fundamental idea that the Jewish people have not been placed on this earth to serve themselves alone, but to serve God, when the service of God means the bringing of all of mankind into greater harmony with each other and closer to God.
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Shalom Freedman is a freelance writer in Jerusalem whose work has appeared in a wide variety of Jewish publications.