From: heb_roots_chr@mail.geocities.com
To: "Hebraic Heritage Newsgroup"<heb_roots_chr@geocities.com>
Date: Thu, 4 Dec 1997 00:02:38 +0000
Subject: Jewish Diaspora in the USA - #11
From: JUICE Administration <juice@virtual.co.il>
To: diaspora@virtual.co.il
Subject: JUICE Diaspora 11
==============================================================
World Zionist Organization
Student and Academics Department
Jewish University in CyberspacE
juice@wzo.org.il birnbaum@wzo.org.il
http://www.wzo.org.il
==============================================================
Course: Actors on the World's Stage: Jewish Life in the Diaspora
Lecture: 11/12
Lecturer: Rabbi Zvi Berger
Shalom "Diaspora" students! Today we're going to deal with a community
which should be quite familiar to many of you...American Jewry! It seems to
me that the largest Jewish community in the world today certainly merits a
lecture devoted to its history, present condition, and future. But as I so
often do, I begin with a "disclaimer". Specifically, I wish to make it
clear that the few pages to come do not represent an attempt to deal with
the American Jewish community in a comprehensive fashion. Rather, I choose
to focus in on selected issues and challenges which appear to me to be
fundamental.
Let's begin with an assumption, namely, AMERICA IS DIFFERENT. Certainly it
was viewed as such by its founders, by those who stood up to Great Britain
and fought for their independence. The United States, however, was more
than a newly independent nation. This was the "New World", with all the
implications that this phrase included. Here a country would be created
which would start from scratch, free from the prejudices and deeply
entrenched national traditions of European societies. It is interesting to
note that the concept of America's uniqueness found expression amongst the
Puritans of Massachusetts Bay Colony in a Biblical fashion. Here was the
new "Promised Land", and the Puritans viewed themselves as the New Israel,
chosen by God to create a model community. The strong identification with
Israel led them to study the Old Testament fervently, and it also led them
to extend a tolerant hand toward the small number of Jews who sought refuge
within the boundaries of the Massachusetts colony. Other groups of Jews
were permitted to settle in Connecticut, Rhode Island, in the city of
Philadelphia, as well as in the southern colonies of South Carolina and
Georgia. In Savannah, Georgia, the Jewish community, which consisted of
both Ashkenazim and Sephardim, actually reached the level of 1/6 of the
total city population! Still, Jewish settlement in the colonies was not
widespread. On the eve of the American Revolution the Jewish community as a
whole numbered some 2,600 persons. Most of the Jews engaged in commerce of
one form or another, consequently, a good number of them were wary of the
revolutionary movement against Great Britain, which appeared to threaten
their status. Despite this fact, approximately 100 Jews served in the
revolutionary forces, and others helped the revolutionary effort through
their commercial activity.
I return to my theme, AMERICA IS DIFFERENT! As is well known, the
Declaration of Independence, ratified by the Continental Congress on July 4,
1776, affirmed in a clear and unambiguous manner: "We hold these truths to
be self-evident, that all men are created equal...". These noble sentiments
found concrete expression in the New York state constitution of 1777, which
guaranteed equality to all, including Jews. It should be remembered that
Jewish emancipation in the United States preceded the emancipation of
European Jewry, (which commenced with the granting of equal rights of
citizenship to French Jewry by the French National Assembly in 1791). But
let's not paint too rosy of a picture! The process of granting equal rights
to the Jews of the original thirteen founding states took 100 years, the
last being New Hampshire which finally recognized Jewish rights in 1877. It
appears that old ways and prejudices die hard, even in the New World.
The small American Jewish community of the early 1800's was predominantly
Anglo-Saxon in origin. The expansion of the community occurred in the mid
19th Century, as a result of a significant immigration of German Jews,
(which in turn was part of the general large scale emigration of Germans to
the United States during this time). Many of the German Jews who arrived in
America became involved in commercial life, and some became very successful.
By 1870 the Jewish community numbered some 300,000, with approximately 2/3
of this number being German Jewish immigrants or their children. These
German Jews set up communities in many cities in the hinterland, including
for example, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Chicago. Many
of these Jews also brought with them a desire for religious reform. The
Reform movement, which had begun in Germany, was to develop significantly in
America, under the leadership of such rabbis as the renowned Isaac Mayer
Wise and David Einhorn. These rabbis, and others like them, insisted that
Judaism could only succeed in fulfilling its mission in the modern world by
undertaking a fundamental program of reform, both in the area of ritual
practice and in regard to basic matters of Jewish belief. A typical
expression of their sentiments was found in the declaration of principles of
the Pittsburgh Conference of 1885, an excerpt of which appears here:
1. We hold that Judaism presents the highest conception of the God-idea as
taught in our holy Scriptures and developed and spiritualized by the Jewish
teachers, in accordance with the moral and philosophical progress of their
respective ages...
3. We recognize in the Mosaic legislation a system of training the Jewish
people for its mission during its national life in Palestine, and today we
accept as binding only its moral laws, and maintain only such ceremonies as
elevate and sanctify our lives, but reject all such as are not adapted to
the views and habits of modern civilization.
4. We hold that all such Mosaic and rabbinical laws as regulate diet...and
dress originated in ages and under the influence of ideas entirely foreign
to our present mental and spiritual state. They fail to impress the modern
Jew with a spirit of priestly holiness, their observance in our days is apt
rather to obstruct than to further modern spiritual elevation.
5. We recognize in the modern era of universal culture of heart and
intellect, the approaching of the realization of Israel's great Messianic
hope for the establishment of the kingdom of truth, justice, and peace among
all men. We consider ourselves no longer a nation, but a religious
community, and therefore [no longer] expect...a return to Palestine...
6. We recognize in Judaism a progressive religion, ever striving to be in
accord with the postulates of reason...
It should be clear from this selection that the Reformers were motivated by
a deep desire to preserve what they saw as the eternal kernel of Jewish
faith and belief, while discarding those ceremonial and theological elements
of Judaism which went against the aesthetic and philosophical norms of
modern civilized culture as they saw it. I would suggest that the reforming
process received particular impetus in the United States not just because of
the large scale German Jewish immigration. Reform fit in nicely with a
basic American optimism, a belief in progress and experimentation. It was
the spirit of the frontier. And its acceptance of the principle of
individual autonomy certainly fit in well with American democracy.
The nature of Jewish life in America was to change dramatically, however,
with the emergence of a much larger wave of immigration. From 1882 to 1924
approximately two million Eastern European Jewish immigrants settled in the
United States. These Jews were by and large significantly more traditional
than their German Jewish brethren, but much less educated in the ways of
modern secular civilization. But these Jews were also attracted by the
opportunities that America offered, not only in terms of economic
advancement, but also as a haven from anti-Semitic pogroms, where religious
freedom would be legally guaranteed. Many of these Russian Jews settled in
heavily Jewish neighborhoods such as the Lower East Side of New York City,
where Yiddish was commonly spoken and read on the street, in labor union
meetings of the Workmen's Circle, in the theater, and in the pages of the
Jewish Daily Forward. By 1910 there were over 800 synagogues in New York
alone, and Jewish life seemed to be well established in its new environment.
Despite the heavily traditional background of this community, however, winds
of change were still in the air, and the rise of the Conservative movement
in America was based largely on the fact that it provided a framework for
traditional Eastern European Jews who wanted to retain their "Yiddishkeit"
and some level of commitment to traditional Jewish observance, while still
allowing for modernization of Jewish religious life.
To make a long story short, this community of Jews, many of whom began their
lives in America virtually penniless, worked their way to a better life, if
not for themselves at least for their children. To be sure, anti-Semitism
was never totally absent, and it expressed itself particularly strongly in
the radio talks of Father Charles E. Coughlin, a Catholic priest who became
known as the "champion of the common man" and a focus for popular discontent
in the exceedingly difficult years of the Great Depression of the 1930's.
As Coughlin became increasingly preoccupied with the Communist threat to the
American way of life, he also became openly anti-Semitic. Jews were a double
curse, being at one and the same time the leaders of the financial
establishment, as well as leading figures in the Communist revolution! Yet
despite the anti-Semitic expressions and incidents which were all too common
in the 20th Century, the Jews (by and large), continued to advance and
improve their financial situation and social standing.
Today, it can easily be argued that Jews have "made it" in America. The
American Jewish community is highly educated and inordinately represented in
prestigious professions such as law and medicine. Jews are well represented
in American political life on all levels, and numerous entertainment and
cultural celebrities are Jewish, (at least in origin), such as Leonard
Bernstein, Barbra Streisand, Bob Dylan, etc. Yet the real question was, and
still remains, can Judaism survive in America? Can Judaism thrive in such
an open environment? Are American Jews still Jewish in their identity,
outlook, commitment, and first and foremost, in their way of life?
Obviously, there are no clear cut answers to these questions. On the one
hand, one doesn't need to be a practicing sociologist or Jewish community
professional to know that there is a serious problem of assimilation and
intermarriage. Many statistical studies cite Jewish intermarriage rates to
be anywhere from 40% to over 50%. Clearly, a good number of the children of
such marriages are still raised as Jews, but this would appear to be the
exception rather than the rule. Assimilation, of course, goes well beyond
the phenomenon of intermarriage. The majority of American Jews have no
membership in a synagogue or other type of Jewish communal framework. It
seems to me that many (and perhaps most) Jewish children, including those
who grew up in affluent and highly educated households, have not been
exposed to a type of Jewish living which they find to be inspiring and
spiritually fulfilling. Is the price of "making it" in America the
relinquishing of the ties of Jewish identity and peoplehood?
What is to be the basis of a living American Jewish identity in these times?
There can be little doubt that as the ties of traditional Jewish religion
have become weakened, the two major events of 20th Century Jewish history
have begun to play an increasingly important role in Jewish identity
formation. Certainly the awareness of the horror of the Holocaust has led
many an American Jew to reaffirm and deepen their Jewish identity. Yet can
an identity which is rooted first and foremost in a horrible and cataclysmic
event of this nature provide a basis for a positive and inspiring Jewish
life? The influence of the State of Israel on American Jewish identity is
also well known. The tremendous sense of pride which was felt all over the
Jewish world after the victories of the Six Day War of June 1967 certainly
provided a major "shot in the arm" of Jewish awareness and identification to
Jews all over the Diaspora. Yet here too there is reason for concern. The
disillusionment and frustration which many American Jews feel concerning the
issue of the lack of official recognition of the non-Orthodox streams of
Judaism in Israel is well known. Similarly, as Israel's economy matures and
the country becomes more self-sufficient, the need for American Jewish
philanthropy diminishes.
It seems to me that the most important basis for continued Jewish life in
the American diaspora can only be Torat Yisrael; that is, the religious
teachings of the Jewish people. Certainly Eretz Yisrael plays a very
important part in Judaism as well, but I would claim that an American
Judaism which is "Israel-centered" is ultimately a Judaism which substitutes
an external focus for internal dynamism and expression. If the Torah is to
be our base, however, I would argue that the very essence of the American
experience demands that our understanding of Torah be a pluralistic one.
For some, Torah will continue to be the Divinely revealed word of God. For
others, it will serve as a Divinely inspired source of moral teaching and
ritual life, while others will view it as purely human creation, which
serves as a basis for Jewish historical consciousness and cultural
expression. Is there a basis for hope that a vibrant and living,
"Torah-centered" American Judaism will develop in the years and decades
ahead? I believe that there is grounds for a "guarded optimism". For as
worrisome as the trends toward assimilation are, there is ample evidence of
a commitment to Jewish education (as expressed in the increasingly popular
option of sending children to Jewish day schools), as well as a variety of
attempts to revitalize Jewish spiritual life. These attempts include not
only a return to Orthodoxy or the adoption of ultra-Orthodox and/or Hasidic
lifestyles, but also liberal trends expressed in the growing havura
movement, (composed primarily of young Jewish couples who seek a more
intimate and spontaneous type of religious experience, in which services are
held in people's homes in a casual and relaxed environment), and in the
Jewish Renewal movement. I'll have more to say about these new directions
in Jewish spiritual life in next week's concluding lecture.
*****************************************************************************