By Bill Narvey

Assimilation is the greatest threat to the viability of the Jewish community worldwide and to Judaism itself.

Though Orthodox Jewry has managed to fairly well withstand the forces of assimilation, that has not been the case for non-Orthodox Jewry which comprises the substantial majority of world Jews.

The main consequence of assimilation for Jews is that Judaism and Jewish identity, culture and traditions have had declining relevance.

As with the Western Christian world, Jews are increasingly replacing their faith in God and the relevance of their religion, synagogue and Jewish culture with faith and relevance in logic, reason, objectivity, and universal humanistic values. This is being experienced within Israel as well, for Israelis have no special immunity to the forces of assimilation.

While Christianity can afford to lose millions of adherents and not be under any threat, Judaism does not have such security in vast numbers.

Assimilation has lead to increased intermarriage, which often tends to lessen the Jewish spouse’s connection to their Jewishness, and all too often deprives their children of a strong connection, who are either raised with mixed faith signals or no faith at all.

One of the most devastating effects of assimilation is that Jews have tended to adopt Western trends of planned parenthood and smaller families. Statistics abound on the internet showing the world Jewish population stands at just over 13 million. The Jewish world birthrate is 0 and in some nations, such as America, the Jewish population is significantly declining.

While Jewish leadership has attempted over the years to respond in some ways to this growing threat, the statistics speak the frightening truth that in spite of those efforts, more and more ground is being lost by Jews to assimilation. A much greater and smarter effort is needed if the force of assimilation can be reversed or at least halted.

For a great many Jewish leaders, “assimilation” has become a dirty word to be left unspoken or only whispered, lest feelings of those Jews impacted by assimilation are hurt. Influenced far too much by political correctness, rabbis and community leaders hold their tongues as they try to variously deal with the problem indirectly or worse, deny the magnitude of the problem or just complacently hope for the best.

Jewish leaders must ask themselves, what is more important? Is it to avoid mention of assimilation to spare the feelings of those Jews sensitive to such discussion or who have been hurt by assimilation? Alternatively, is it to ignore political correctness and multi-cultural influences to say what must be said and to do whatever must be done to combat assimilation? Put that way, one would hope that world Jewry would get their priorities straight and respond with a definite “no” to the first question and a resounding “yes” to the latter question.

To find a solution, one must first correctly define the problem. If Jewish leadership continues to avoid defining the problem in the context of assimilation and to devise a better game plan to meet assimilation head on, solutions will continue to be compromised and not yield the results hoped for.

Metaphorically, assimilation can be likened to an enemy of the Jews and Judaism or an insidious deadly disease infecting world Jewry. Either way, it has already taken its toll on Jews and Judaism and that toll is getting worse, putting the very survival of Jews and Judaism at risk.

Jews cannot afford to be the least bit complacent as regards assimilation. The need for the world Jewish community to unite and declare war on assimilation has never been more urgent and it will only be in the context of such resolute war that a solution will be found.

The underlying objective of that war must be to restore meaning and relevance in Judaism to Jews in a modern world. That includes convincing Jews of the relevance of the interdependence between Israel and Diaspora Jewry and that each depends on the strength of other for their mutual survival. A secondary goal is to restore relevance and pride in being a part of Jewish culture which has made some of the most significant contributions to the world we live in; thirdly is to inculcate within all Jews a deep sense of personal obligation felt in hearts and minds to see to it that Judaism, Jewish culture and Israel survives and thrives.

Jewish community leaders and rabbis have a solemn duty to now take the lead to make the entire world Jewish community aware of the clear, present and growing danger they face and the necessity for devising new and more effective strategies and tactics to combat assimilation directly.

These leaders must be inspired and trained in motivational speaking and, if not so naturally gifted, to move world Jewry to want to become proactive and be part of that battle, for all Jews must play an integral part in the war against assimilation if new solutions are to have any chance of success.

To supplement measures now being taken, there are a number of fundamental approaches that the Jewish community leaders should consider taking that are aimed at the grass roots level of Jewish communities:

1. Rabbis and Jewish leaders, to be inspirational, must learn to become dynamic speakers in raising community awareness to the threat of assimilation and draw all Jews together to stand against it. The relevance of marrying within the faith, having a non-Jewish spouse convert to Judaism, and young Jewish couples having larger families should be topics openly discussed and actively promoted and encouraged.
2. Jewish culture and Judaic education, be it in the classroom or from the pulpit, should be taught within the context of relevancy to the modern world and the issues of the day, and addressed to the day-to-day lives of Jews regardless of the level of their observance.
3. Synagogues and Jewish organizations must become more relevant, meaningful, and fulfilling to the everyday lives of Jews. To do that, Jewish leaders must become much more in tune with what needs, interests and concerns Jews have, whether young or old, and connected or not. With such knowledge, measures both within synagogues and the community at large could be better developed that are more responsive to the needs, interests and wishes of the entire Jewish community.
4. Synagogues, Jewish organizations and community leaders must make even greater efforts to reach out to Jews detaching or already detached from their Judaism and Jewish identity. Attracting them back into the fold, even part-way, can be done if they can be made to see the relevance Judaism and Jewish culture can have for them.
5. The synagogue and Jewish organizations must become far more pro-active in putting on various events, from sponsoring electrifying, dynamic and inspirational speakers to musical, artistic or theatrical events that appeal to the broadest spectrum of the Jewish community, with special emphasis paid to drawing the younger generations to such events which must be made exciting and interesting to both the minds and hearts of those who participate. Further, various good works volunteer projects should be organized and carried out, all of which would be geared to getting as many Jews involved as possible in activities that benefit Jewish society and society as a whole.

   Such specific activities would in very tangible ways prove by word and deed, that synagogue can be much more than a house of worship and that it can be a very positive and dynamic, integral and relevant part of Jewish life for all Jews regardless of their level of observance.

These suggestions are just some of the strategies and tactics that might be employed to counter assimilation by instilling in all Jews, whether religious, secular or in between, a new or greater sense of Jewish identity and Jewish pride. Other activities and initiatives to stimulate interest and demonstrate to all Jews the relevancy of Judaism and Jewish culture in this modern world, are limited only by the limits of imagination.

The bottom line is however, that unless the world Jewish community unites to declare war on assimilation, this trend will ultimately achieve what the Jews’ ancient enemies, the Greeks, the Romans and all the Jew haters over the last 5,000 years could not, which is the death of Judaism and end of Jewish life in this world.

---

---

Related: Israel, Society, Judaism

---