Is There A Jewish Future?

Rabbi Irwin Wiener, D.D.

In a recent edition of the Jewish Voice and Opinion there is an article written by Catriel Sugarman, a researcher on Jewish issues, social critic and lecturer. The premise of his article titled “A Baker’s Dozen Predictions Based on Demographic Destiny”, is that Judaism, as practiced or not practiced in America, is doomed as is the Jewish People.

He then goes into the distinction between Orthodoxy, Conservatism, and Reform, occasionally injecting Recontructionism as well. His understanding of the demographics and their meaning is that in our lifetime it is conceivable that there will either remain Orthodoxy as the savior of the Jewish People because there would be a decrease in population and adherents by 2076, or at least very little growth. This means that whatever influence we have will also disappear and we will be a footnote in history.

He gives many reasons as to why this will happen. For example, the liberalism expressed by Reform Judaism will eventually dilute the essence of who we are. While Reform Judaism seems to be taking a turn to the right, it is not enough to stem the tide. Conservative Judaism has lost its meaning and with it the path as the middle man so to speak, thus the wedge between Orthodoxy and Reform. Orthodox Judaism, on the other hand, while it has some deficiencies, is the only answer to the salvation of the Jewish People because of its devotion to true observance.

This is most certainly a summary, as I understand the article, of his diatribe against anything and everything that does not contain complete observance of “pure” Judaism.

He writes some things that are worthy of discussion and concern. He alludes to a study made by Messrs Gordon and Horowitz (authors of “Will Your Grandchildren Be Jews’) that argues: “On the average, 100 Conservative Jews will have 29 Jewish great-grandchildren; 100 Reform Jews will have 10 Jewish great-grandchildren; and 100 “unaffiliated” Jews will have 7 great-grandchildren.” On the other hand, he continues, “100 ‘Modern Orthodox’ Jews will have, on average, 346 Jewish great-grandchildren and 100 ‘Orthodox’ will produce 2588 Jewish great-grandchildren.”

These are startling comments on the survival of the Jewish People in America. A professor of mine once said in class that figures never lie but liars figure. Not that I am calling Catriel Sugarman a liar, but the numbers game has been played throughout the history of the Jewish People. Each generation has announced doomsday and each generation has remained to give birth to the next.

Maimonides comes to mind and why he wrote his thirteen articles of faith. He wrote them for no other reason then to convince the authorities of his time that he was not a heretic or a disbeliever.

Spinoza was ostracized for his modern thinking, challenging everything and everyone. Anytime someone dared to stray from the accepted norm he was ridiculed and now we revere their thinking and their contributions to Jewish development.

I am reminded of a parable given by the Dubno Maggid in which he describes two types of people. One “attempts to clarify the reasons behind the mitzvot? That person truly fears Heaven and wishes to improve his performance of mitzvot by understanding their reasons. The second, however, wishes only to discover a flaw in the mitzvot. To such a person we do not respond, for he will only look for ways to discover new flaws.”

Perhaps the doomsday reference is meant to instill in us the need for stricter observance as only Modern Orthodoxy or Orthodoxy is capable of doing. Perhaps it is through fear that we are to subscribe to a mode of conduct that will be our saving grace. We know that fundamentalism, in any form, is designed to exact obedience through fear. Perhaps it is the fear, on the fundamentalists’ part, that continuity can remain strong without their tactics because one thing that Judaism teaches above all else is the understanding that we were given choice with the advent of Creation. Adam and Eve were exiled because they chose their destiny, the fear of repercussions not withstanding.

I, for one, am tired of reading and listening to those who would suggest our demise. Even the Talmud tells us as Rabbi Eleazar taught: “A person should bend like a reed, and not be hard like a cedar.” The essence of that teaching is that there is no single approach to survival or salvation but rather the insistence that we continue to search for answers that will have meaning in our lives. And if that means experimenting with our faith and traditions so that there will be continuity, then we will have fulfilled our inherited obligation.

We are not called Israel because it sounds good but because our lives are entwined with the Creator and this demands constant questioning and, yes, even arguing as did Abraham and Moses and the Prophets.

We are a resilient people. We have endured disasters and predictions of our impending demise, but we are here; we will always be here and not because we must or should adhere to a particular thought or concept but because our endurance is guaranteed by the highest authority. We may be tested time and again, but we are still able to walk tall, to witness rebirth after death.

On a particular holiday or Shabbat we may not always see baby carriages or young people congregating at the doors of our synagogues, but that doesn’t mean that they are not there. We are a unique people who may not be there every time, but we will be there when it counts.

Our influence will remain, contrary to the writer’s evaluation, because as Micah so aptly said, “What does the Lord require of you? To do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with God.” Perhaps that is what the unaffiliated are trying to tell us: Labels are meaningless because goodness needs no name.

Yes, there is a future. And from where I sit, it looks pretty good. And it does not depend on one method of observance or one thought or one person. It is all of us joining together to guarantee that future, Reform, Orthodox, Conservative, Reconstructionist, unaffiliated. Maybe, just maybe, if we joined together and learned together and respected each other, then our future will be secure because of diversity not sameness. That’s how we got here to begin with.