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That “Old-Time Religion”?
According to the
 New York Times
article, “Challenging tradition, young Jews worship ontheir own terms,” as well as anecdotal evidence, religion appears to play a stronger role inconnecting American Jews in their 20’s and 30’s to Judaism than in previous generations.American Jews like me whose commitment to the Jewish people stems from acultural/nationalistic/ethical affiliation are a dying breed. I am concerned that this trendwill adversely affect secular Jewish organizations. Can any strategic action be taken to postpone, much less prevent, this inevitable shift, thereby preserving the tradition of Jewish political advocacy as an attractive affiliation option?Looking at the larger picture, demographic studies have shown that American Jews fromall denominations whose primary connection to Judaism is religious or spiritualassimilate at much lower rates than those who describe their connection as cultural or nationalistic.The Jewish community as a whole faces a parallel challenge: how to tie together the personal quest for Jewish meaning, as exemplified by the worshipping trend described inthe New York Times article, into the collective Jewish experience and the commonnarrative of the Jewish people.In his recent book 
The Jew Within: Self, Family, and Community in America
, co-authoredwith Arnold Eisen, Professor Steven M. Cohen of Hebrew University writes of thegrowing popularity of “private Judaism.” Unlike public Judaism, private Judaismemphasizes spirituality and family, and, Cohen and Eisen argue, is linked to the trend of “increased alienation” regarding Israel and other political affiliations.Decades before terms like public and private Judaism came into use, Rabbi MordecaiKaplan realized that the uniqueness of American society encouraged Jewish religiousexpression. In a 1939 article criticizing the legendary Zionist Ahad Ha’am for notcomprehending the special conditions of democracy, Kaplan wrote: “Secular culture initself is not capable of sustaining our people in a democratic environment, much asabstract religion could not do so. Only religious culture, which unites the positivequalities of both, can do so.”Kaplan then illustrated how American society, from its social practices to its veryConstitution, perfectly accommodates just such a religious culture. American Jews, wroteKaplan, should strive to emulate American Catholics as a religious denomination that isalso internationally-linked, especially in the then-hypothetical scenario of theestablishment of a Jewish State.These sentiments also recall Arthur Hertzberg’s landmark 1986 book, The Jews of America, which describes the uneasiness of the Jewish encounter with America as areligious country, the Jewish community’s poor, uncultured, and anti-religious roots, andthe development of “Jewishness” in place of traditional, more religious forms of Judaism.
 
Because, as Hertzberg writes, American Jews “made their spiritual life out of solvingtheir problems or other people’s problems, [making the community’s] inmost Jewishcontent activism (p. 333),” the “momentum of Jewish experience in America isessentially spent (p. 386).”I wouldn’t herald the demise of the American Jewish community on account of itssecularism, but Hertzberg’s claim that American Jewry can only survive by embracing itsreligion is noteworthy indeed.It is also interesting to examine the role of Israel in the decline of non-religious forms of affiliation among American Jews. In the following prophetic paragraph from his 1978masterpiece
World of Our Fathers
, Irving Howe predicted with astonishing accuracy theso-called “continuity crisis” which originated with the earth-shattering statistic of a near-50 percent rate of intermarriage as reported in the 1990 National Jewish PopulationSurvey, and continues to the present day.According to Howe, Israel’s peril might have postponed the crisis, but Jewishassimilation was rendered inevitable by the accepting (but religious) nature of Americansociety and the decline of secular forms of Jewish affiliation:
 For the majority of American Jews who regarded themselves as either  secular or indifferent, the question of what it meant to remain a Jew grewincreasingly difficult [with the emergence of the State of Israel]. Less and less could ‘Jewishness’ be described as a common culture, the substanceof shared immigrant life. With a fair display of logic, some Jewsconcluded that, since they were not religious and had passed beyond theboundaries of 
Yiddishkeit
 , their ‘Jewishness’ was not central to their lives, it was a mere accident of birth, and while they did not propose tocringe in shame, neither did they have much taste for parochial assertions. They preferred to see themselves as good Americans, or good liberals, or good human beings. . . Almost all Jews agreed that Israel had to be helped, nurtured, and kept alive. Some felt this with a kindled  passion, others with uncertainty, still others with embarrassment; but except for tiny sects of ideologues fringing the far right and far left, all believed that the survival of Israel was a necessity. Helping Israel therebybecame a major communal activity among American Jews, undertakenwith the usual range of styles from reflectiveness to busyness. But if onecould establish oneself as a Jew by ‘working for Israel’, then one might  put aside all these irksome spiritual and metaphysical problems life wasnow imposing on all nonreligious Jews. This was neither an unworthy nor a dishonorable evasion – first comes survival and then definition. But it left a growing mound of intellectual debts which sooner or later would have to be paid (p. 629-630).
 
Despite Howe’s Cassandran warning, when “these irksome spiritual and metaphysical problems” resurfaced in 1990, the American Jewish establishment was shocked to findthat assimilation finally demanded its pound of flesh.AJC, through its ACCESS Program, is one of the few Jewish advocacy organizationswhich has found new and creative ways to engage a new generation of potential Jewishleaders in their 20’s and 30’s and provides them with unique opportunities for organizational involvement. Although its very nature prevents AJC from tapping intoreligious affiliation, through ACCESS, AJC cultivates an intellectual interest in Judaism,which in many cases is linked to a spiritual interest and is present in the same individuals.ACCESS’s challenge, as I see it, is how to marry a social/political action agenda with aJewish continuity agenda.Is there any way that political advocacy organizations can tap into this religious fervor and use it in tandem with existing programming? How can these organizations retain their relevance in a changing landscape of affiliation both in the Jewish community and inAmerican society as a whole? And how much of this new religious affiliation is merely ayearning for spiritual self-realization rather than a true expression of Jewish peoplehood?
 Dylan Tatz is AJC’s executive assistant for strategic planning.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 4th, 2007 at 2:28 pm and is filed under  Judaism, Jewish identity, media coverage.You can follow any responses to this entry through theRSS 2.0feed. You can leave a response,or  trackback  from your own site.
7 Responses to “That “Old-Time Religion”?”
1.
 gweitz.ar 
Says:
December 4th, 2007 at 10:19 pm 
Really interesting post!! I’m an Argentinean Jew, and here most Jews relate to our Jewishness not through religion but through Jewish culture and Zionism. Maybethat’s because Argentinean society is extremly secular, while the US society ismore religious (here nobody asks a candidate if he/she goes to church!!).So maybe you can visit us and we’ll show you how we struggle to keep a vibrantnon-observant Jewish community…2.
 L Vieland 
Says:
December 5th, 2007 at 10:05 am 
We secular, but identified Jews of a certain age applaud young adults like Mr.Tatz. However, institutions alone cannot instill meaning in young Jewish lives.Parents must talk to their children, keep the holidays, tell the stories - both theholiday stories and each family’s stories. Holidays for secular Jews can be filled
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