Overheard at the Leadership Conference of the North American Association of Affiliated Jews
Jewschool’s own Eli Valley has a piece in the Jerusalem Post on the most critical agenda of the continuity conferences.
Sort of.
– Before we begin, has everybody had a chance to review our latest anti-intermarriage publicity effort?
– I think it’s too subtle. The slogan “Don’t Finish What The Nazis Started” is vague.
– I agree. How about a simple “Intermarriage is Suicide”? That should welcome more Jews into the community.
– We should add something emphatic about how the children of intermarriage are not Jews.
– How about “Intermarriage is Suicide and Children of Intermarriage Are Akin to Zombies”?
– That could work.
– It’s punchy, it strikes a nerve, it says what’s important.
– It could bring thousands of Jews back into the fold!
That’s a great piece
It’s been a pet peeve of mine that people will at the same time complain about people being alienated from the Jewish community, while simultaneously they reject as many as 25% of the children of Jewish people ( 50% intermarriage rate, 50% of those must be men, therefore as many as 25% of children have only a Jewish father )
We have blood tests and DNA tests now, so there’s no reason for it.
“The corruption of Judaism, as a religion of universal values, through its politicization by Zionism and by the replacement of dedication to Israel for dedication to God and the moral law, is what has alienated so many young Americans who, searching for spiritual meaning in life, have found little in the organized Jewish community.”
— Allan Brownfield, “Issues of the American Council for Judaism”, Spring 1997
Knee-jerk anti-Zionism is hardly a reasonable response to panicky intermarriage rhetoric. Children of mixed marriages are considered “more Jewish,” under Israel’s Law of Return, than they are under halacha. What is more “spiritual” than the sense that we’re all in this together? There is a real potential antidote for alienation in the more liberal attributes of Zionism than in the panic over intermarriage. (Go inside the numbers, by the way, and you’ll see that American Jewish rate of intermarriage is significantly lower as compared to the intermarriage rates of other ethnic communities).
Zionista – why are you comparing Jewish intermarriage to other “trans-ethnic” intermarriage? The proper comparison is to other rates of inter-RELIGIOUS marriage. How many Buddhists/Muslims/etc. marry out of their faith?
At this point some bright bulb pipes up and says “but most American Jews view their Jewishness as ethnic rather than religious”.
Which is the equivalent of finding the end of the ball of thread…
Yeah, Zionista, patrilinial Jews can “Return” but they can’t do anything else Jewish in the Jewish State, like get married or be buried in a Jewish cemetery if they get blowed up. That’s not a very persuasive argument that “we’re all in this together” — especially considering that the rationale behind the Law of Return is only half-altruistic (save Jewish in peril), the other half being quite self-serving (boost “Jewish” versus Arab population).
Also, if YOU “go inside the numbers” you’ll find that if you remove the Orthodox and the Jews of New York (who can’t help but trip over each other) from the intermarriage equation, the rate is closer to 70% or higher, and that IS comparable to other ethnic communities. So what’s your point?
But what I REALLY wanted to say is that this piece is BRILLIANT, E-to-the-V. Anyone who works inside the Jewish community knows exactly how much you nailed it.
PSL: “patrilinial Jews can ‘Return’ but they can’t do anything else Jewish in the Jewish State, like get married or be buried in a Jewish cemetery if they get blowed up. That’s not a very persuasive argument that ‘we’re all in this together’ — especially considering that the rationale behind the Law of Return is only half-altruistic (save Jewish in peril), the other half being quite self-serving (boost ‘Jewish’ versus Arab population).”
Israel is a representative government with a fully functioning electorate. Register, vote, and change it. Just because you have to schnor, doesn’t mean it still isn’t an important part of being all in it together too.
Ben-David,
Given that Judaism is the religion and Jews are the people, please explain how Jews are not an ethnicity (TIA).
Great job, E-Vizzle. I actually started working on a similar post after the last JewCon I was at, but then I decided not to post it…maybe I’ll dig it up now…
Thanks Zionista, I have no problem with changing the laws but I stopped schnorring after they fixed my deviated septum. 🙂
How in the hell could Jews be an ethnic group? Last time I checked there were African Jews, Spanish Jews, Indian Jews, Asian Jews. What ethnicity are they?
Judaism is a religion, period. Jews are adherents to that religion or their descendents. I also never heard of anyone being excommunicated from an ethnic group.
zionista: if someone were “born jewish” – born to “a jewish” mother, or whatever you think the criteria is – is that an inalienable quality? if that person renounces the notion that they are jewish, etc., do you still think they are jewish?
if someone were “not born jewish”, but then converts to judaism later in life – are they now inalienably jewish in the same sense as someone who was born jewish?
There is certainly a historical gray area, but being Jewish has definite national qualities. Jews are the people, and Judaism is the religion. For examle, atheist Jews are still Jews, even as Judaism is the only religious orientation legitimately available to them (meanwhile, other religious apostates don’t require “conversion” to make t’shuvah). Further, this is the standard set by the accepted authority of the Jewish people. Call it extreme irony, but as soon as Jews lost their statehood, the rabbinate was able to establish itself as government-in-exile because it was accepted as such by the people (as opposed to challengers to rabbinic authority, like the B’nai Mikra–or Karaites). While the religious component of Jewish identity remains vital, by now the components of Jewish identity that are rooted in religious traditions are beside the point.