Numbers seem to be an important thing when we are talking about the Jewish population. Numbers of practicing Jews. Numbers of Orthodox Jews. Numbers of Jewish people who participate after bar/bat mitzvah age. All these numbers are important.
I read an article about the fate of the Jewish people and how American Jews seem to be facing a "demographic catastrophe". This is dealing with the fact that in modern times Jews seem to be less involved and some even completely withdrawn. In the article it talked about the solution to the problem being education. Not just any education obviously, Jewish education. It speaks of a need for more Jewish schools in America. One reason America doesn't have many Jewish schools is funding.
It does bother me that the numbers of the Jewish people seem to be greatly declining but at the same time it is all a matter of personal belief. I am concerned that we as a whole could become desperate and start to shove our religion down others throats. If someone just doesn't have a belief or interest in the Jewish lifestyle who are we to say that they should anyways for the betterment of the Jewish community surviving. I am all for keeping the Jewish people alive but it is hard to do this without pushing our beliefs and views on others. Another factor to consider is that trying to keep the belief alive and spreading this Judaism could make some feel pressured or forced. These people could then do the opposite of what our aim was and be completely turned off to Judaism.
We should try to keep the religion alive. We just need to be wise about our approach.
I know the study you speak of. Many American Jews are worried about the existence of the Jewish people due to this study. This trend is nothing new. The rate of intermarriage has been climbing. Jews are not interested to raise their children as Jews. Jews do not proselytize to non Jews to be Jewish. We call on our own people to live their religion and their faith. We don't need to force others into our faith, it is not our way. That is why when someone joins our people by free will, we celebrate that person's choice to be a Jew and we never call them a convert. They are now a Jew.
ReplyDeleteJews who don't associate themselves with their religion and culture are missing out. What a rich heritage we have. How many of our martyrs will killed to defend our right to live a Jewish life. And these short sighted people throw away our heritage. You will soon be going to Poland to see these sacrifices first hand. We were Jews and will always be Jews. Those that did not care about their Judiasm were still killed as Jews because outsiders saw them as Jews even if they themselves did not.
Israel is so important because when the sh*t comes down, Jews have a place to come home. No matter how comfortable we think we are and how assimilated, we are still Jews.
One thing that is overlooked by those that predict the end of the Jewish faith is the fact that there are MILLIONs of Sepharidic Jews who were exiled from Spain and Portugal during the Inquisition and ended up in North and South America. We know them here in NM. These people are rediscovering their Jewish roots and they ARE returning. The Ashkenazi mainstream Jew does not see this. There may be millions who are turning away but there are tens of millions who are starting to wake up to their ancestry and who WILL be returning. People do not realize the immense numbers of these Conversos or Anusim. We are in the middle of a revolution of return. Just watch!
Education is great, but you need people motivated who want that education. Remember how hard you tried to get your youth group off the ground. There was very little interest and very little community support. Apathy. But not you. You went to Israel and you are seeing first hand the vibrancy of our people.
Believe me, we are NOT going away. We are here to stay. So many ancient cultures flourished and died. But the Jewish people live. Am Yisrael Chai. Thats what that means.
Love forever, Your Jewish mama (proud of it)