At every conference, convention, and plenary session of Jewish community organizations, there is much talk about the problems of Jewish continuity in the Diaspora. The soaring rates of intermarriage, assimilation, and disaffection within the Jewish community are alarming to say the least. Concerns of students in these areas as well as in regard to the safety of Jewish programs, and Jewish students on campuses are almost always raised in discussion. And yet, assimilation and intermarriage continue to be growing trends among the Jewish community, and there is less and less money devoted to student programming.
What is perhaps most telling about the growing problems faced by the Jewish community is the state in which Jewish students find themselves on university campuses. Very few of us identify strongly with Judaism, and those of us that do find that we are rarely heard by community officials. This illustrates a series of problems for the Jewish community.
First, the painfully small numbers of active Jewish students will necessarily lead to an even smaller number of Jewish community workers in the next few years. The many Jewish students who do not identify strongly with the community will find themselves leaving Judaism and joining the ranks of the assimilated and intermarried. So initially, the problem will have a disastrous effect on the future of the Jewish community.
The second factor is the community from which these students come. If so many of us are disenfranchised, what does that say about the education system for Jewish children -- specifically in middle and high school years? Evidently, parochial evening and sunday classes are not enough to stem the tide of assimilation in later years.
With all the help students can provide in advising the Jewish community how to solve these problems, one must wonder why there were only 16 delegates under the age of 25 at the last conference of the Canadian Jewish Congress.
As I read mainstream Jewish publications, I constantly read of how the ADL, Federation, Congress, and many other Jewish groups are working with youth to increase Jewish education and awareness. They speak about it, and form committee after committee. Yet from observing my own campus, and especially from speaking to people at other campuses across North America, I see that it is the grass-roots activists who are leading the fight. It is they who are "in the field" reaching out to disaffected Jewish students and disillusioned Jewish patriots.
But the problem is much more deep-rooted than a lack of understanding and willingness on the part of Jewish community officials. The Jewish Establishment is not, nor has it been for some time, something that students can or should be proud of. Neither is it something older members of our community should be proud of, and I include here the very officials who run that Establishment. While grass-roots activists and members of student and youth organizations are fighting for their very survival in the Diaspora world of anti-semitism, cults, and secularism, the Jewish Establishment in North America seems content to spend their money on financing a "police force" to grant legitimacy to Palestinian terrorists. So now, not only is the Diaspora community in danger, the Jewish community of Israel is also now in greater danger. The Jewish establishment sees fit to provide funds for Bosnia, and to help re-build black-owned homes in South Central Los Angeles. Yet these same Jewish organizations neglect Jews whose homes were burned down in the Crown Heights pogroms. These organizations support the United Negro College Fund, yet Jewish day schools and yeshivot are forced to charge exorbitantly high tuition fees for students whose families cannot afford to pay them. Many students therefore leave the Jewish school system, and others must be heavily subsidized by the school system itself, putting the Jewish community further into debt.
So what is to be done? A brief look at recent Jewish history ought to give us the obvious answer: Israel. For centuries, all that kept the Jews together was their yearning for a return to Israel. As that dream became reality, Jewish optimism was heightened. The Ba'al Teshuva movement grew in force so that it is now perhaps the most vibrant and dynamic movement within Judaism. Yet more people continue to leave Judaism than to return, and over the past fifteen years, that number has begun to swell dramatically.
The reason for this lies within the Jewish Establishment. While all the talk is going on, no emphasis is placed on encouraging aliyah. The concentration of the Establishment is on "Jewish continuity in the Diaspora". The impossibility of this proposition is beginning to grow increasingly obvious. But the problem goes deeper still. While the Establishment neglects to concentrate on Aliyah, Establishment organizations also pursue dramatically misguided policies with regard to the communities and government of Israel.
For years, no mainstream Jewish philanthropy has funded any project in Judea, Samaria, Gaza or Golan. As a result, nearly 200,000 Jewish people are actively discriminated against by Jewish philanthropies in the name of political expediency. Driving from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, one can see evidence of this discrimination. Mountains covered in lush forests along the route are interspersed with barren hills as the old border criss-crosses the highway. Anything in Judea and Samaria is barren because the JNF refuses to plant trees there. Synagogues in Bangkok and Stuttgart are financed by UJA contributions from North America, but thousands of people in Israel must survive with three ambulances in all of Samaria, yeshivot and synagogues with no sifrei torah, and no mikvaot for women.
A re-definition of Jewish priorities is a must. Without it, the Jewish nation will not survive outside of Israel. First, heavy emphasis must be placed upon aliyah. It must be encouraged, and Israel must be made a place to which Jews from the Diaspora are willing to go. This means a tremendous increase in the scope of philanthropic activity on the part of the Jewish Establishment in Israel -- including Judea, Samaria, and the Golan -- and a re-definition of the policies of these organizations toward Israel, and toward elements within the Jewish community that are opposed to segments of the adopted policies of the Israeli government or of Establishment organizations. Secondly, Jewish education must be made a priority. By this I mean not the education of Jews, but strong, Jewish Education. Capital J, Capital E. Third, the Jewish Establishment must cease to be worried about what the Blacks think, what the Christians think, or what anyone else thinks. They must be concerned first, foremost, and perhaps only, with helping Jews remain Jews and grow as Jews. And lastly, especially if the first three necessities are not sufficiently met, a change in the personnel within the Establishment, and in the method of choosing such personnel, is paramount. The continuity of the Jewish community depends to a large extent on the implementation and success of these measures.
Copyright 1994. Reproduction in electronic or print format by permission only.
