Cultural Change and Judaism

CULTURAL CHANGE AND JUDAISM

Identity

The quest to maintain individual identity in the ever-growing pluralist society was a struggle that constantly plagued Jewish culture and increased in the 1980s because of several cultural and demographic factors. The Jewish population had remained steady at less than 6 million since the early 1970s, but with increasingly low birth rates and growths in intermarriage the future of Judaism was in question in the 1980s. In November 1983 a conference on Jewish Population Growth was held in New York to look at these trends and consider ways to reverse them. Jewish intermarriage reached a rate of 30 percent and had tripled in the last three decades. Most traditional faiths frowned on intermarriage, but in Jewish culture this issue was a matter of premier importance, All four divisions of American Judaism viewed intermarriage as a crisis, and all found different ways to cope with this latest threat to the integrity of the culture. Conversion, the process by which a Gentile converts to Judaism, had increased dramatically, easing some tensions in the process of intermarriage, but it was accepted with reservations by some, particularly Orthodox Jews. A major issue to spin off from the intermarriage debate was the question of what religion to consider children born of that union. The Reformed Jewish Church, the second largest division of American Judaism, declared that a child born of a Jewish parent, mother or father, was Jewish. Prior to this historic ruling, only children born to Jewish mothers were considered Jewish. The three other remaining Jewish divisions—Conservative, Reconstructionist, and Orthodox—stood by the traditional definition of Jewish children.

Anti-Semitism

According to surveys taken in the mid 1980s many Jews believed that any outward support of the state of Israel, particularly in Arab-Israel relations, could provoke domestic anti-Semitism. Tensions over the rights of Palestinians split liberal and conservative Jews. The most controversial anti-Semitic statements came from blacks, Jews' once-strong allies in the civil rights era. In 1984 Rev. Jesse Jackson, Democratic presidential candidate and black Baptist minister, in an off the-record conversation with a reporter referred to New York Jews as "Hymies" and New York City as "Hymie-town." These remarks angered many Jews throughout the nation who were shocked that Jackson, preaching a message of unity, could utter such remarks, even in private conversation. Jackson quickly apologized for his remarks, yet substantial damage had been done. Adding to black-Jewish tensions, minister Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam, a strong supporter of Jackson, issued several controversial statements about Judaism, questioning the religion's merit, the integrity of its leaders, and the historical accuracy of the Holocaust. Tensions between blacks and Jews were mended toward the end of the decade as conferences and lectures were held to better inform both groups about each other's history and culture. President Ronald Reagan angered many Jews with his 1985 visit to a West German cemetery at Bitburg, the burial site of two thousand German soldiers, many of them part of Adolf Hitler's Nazi SS. Jews saw Reagan's appearance as a demonstration of his failure to understand the importance of symbolism and the depth of the scars that still remained from the Holocaust.

Changing Philosophy

Judaism saw changes in both its secular and theological beliefs. Jews, once overwhelmingly Democrats in their political identification, began to switch allegiances to the Republican Party; by 1986, 16 percent of Jews were Republicans. New Jewish organizations, such as the American Jewish Forum, were created in an attempt to integrate some traditional Jewish concepts with more conservative political beliefs. Some Jews began to veer away from their liberal civil rights positions of the 1960s and sought a more conservative approach to the social issues of the day. On the religious front Conservative Judaism broke a long-standing tradition in 1984 when the Jewish Theological Seminary of America allowed women to be ordained rabbis. Amy Eilberg in May 1985 became the first woman to be ordained in Conservative Judaism. Factional tension continued between the four divisions of American Judaism, as each vied for precious limited membership and definition as the true Judaism.

Israel

United States foreign policy focused heavily on Israel in the 1980s. As one of the few allies in the turbulent Middle East, Israel was supported heartily by the Reagan administration, the New Right, and conservative Jews. Radical advocates for Israel's supremacy in the region, such as Meir Kahane, irritated many moderate to liberal Jews because of his harsh rhetoric. Orthodox and Conservative Jews supported Israel and all of its policies without reservation. Acts of terrorism on both sides of the Arab-Israeli conflict deepened divisions in the American Jewish population. The question of whether Israel should be seen as simply a nation-state or the biblical Jewish homeland raged on. Zionist advocates pushed for Jewish nationalism at any cost. Many American Jews preferred a compromise where they were allowed to support Israel without being fanatical Zionists.

Apathy

American Jews showed a distressing lack of interest in religious participation. Synagogue affiliation and attendance steadily declined in the 1980s. Orthodox Jews had the highest rate of synagogue affiliation. Religious observance of ritual and ritual events, such as Pass-over Seder and Yom Kippur fasting, were highest among Orthodox Jews, followed by Conservatives and members of the Reformed Church. Over the last generation more and more Jews were changing denominational identification and moved toward Reformed Judaism and Conservative Judaism, if they chose a denomination at all. Many Jews have chosen simply to remain secular in religious beliefs while maintaining cultural ties. According to a 1986 Gallup poll, 35 percent of American Jews said that religion was "not very important" in their lives.

Sources:

George Gallup Jr. and Jim Castelli, The People's Religion: American Faith in the 90's (New York: Macmillan, 1989);

Marshall Sklare, Observing America's Jews (Hanover, N.H. & London: University Press of New England, 1993);

Jack Wertheimer, A People Divided: Judaism in Contemporary America (New York: Basic Books, 1993).