SPECIAL REPORT JUDAISM AND THE JEWS July 28th 2012
Alive and well
JUDAISM.indd 1 16/07/2012 15:35 SPECIAL REPORT JUDAISM AND THE JEWS
Alive and well
Judaism is enjoying an unexpected revival, says David Landau. But there are deep religious and political divisions, mostly centred on Israel JUDAISM IS FLOURISHING, both in Israel, where 43% of the world’s CONTENTS Jews now live, and throughout the Jewish diaspora. The Jews as a nation are ourishing too. Israelis, for all their problems, are the 14th-happiest 4 Judaism in the diaspora people in the world, happier than the British or the French, according to a A bu et to suit all tastes recent global happiness report commissioned by the UN. In the diaspora Jewish life has never been so free, so prosperous, so unthreatened. 6 Hospitality abroad In America an observant Jew, Senator Joseph Lieberman, ran for An open invitation vice-president in 2000. With Al Gore as candidate for president, 7 Judaism in Israel he nearly made it. His Jewish faith Talmud and cheesecake was no drawback, he says; rather, it appealed to many Christian 8 Israeli politics voters who take their own reli- More Jewish than thou gion seriously. Mr Lieberman and his wife, Hadassah, were dream- 10 Ideological divisions ing of a large suka (a rustic hut Who is a Jew? covered with branches in which 12 Looking ahead Jews eat and entertain during the A Jewish spring? Sukot harvest festival) in the grounds of the vice-president’s residence. We felt we could be ourselves. Had he had gone on to run for the White House, as he hoped, I’d have been observant there, too. Jewish is cool in America, says J.J. Goldberg, a writer. Ce- lebrities used to change their names to hide their Jewish identi- ty. Now they talk on television about how they try to instil Jew- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ish identity into their half-Jewish children. Take [the actress] Gwyneth Many people provided generous help Paltrow. Her father is a descendant of rabbis; her mother is a Protestant in the preparation of this report. In from middle America. She writes in her food blog about her favourite ko- addition to those mentioned in the sher recipes for the seder [the family prayer-dinner celebrating the Pass- text, the author’s sincere thanks go over spring festival]. Seders are popular with non-Jewish people. Bar- to: Marc Baker, Jonathan Boyd, Micha Brumlik, James Carroll, mitzva [the coming-of-age-ceremony] has become stylish, too. Kids see it Maurice Dahan, Noach Dear, Motti on television; they see their friends having it and they want it as well. Friedman, Malcolm Hoenlein, Shahar In the smaller diaspora communities, too, Jews are prospering, Ilan, Howard Jacobson, Laura though there is nowhere quite that same sense of complete, seamless be- Janner-Klausner, Anthony Julius, Matt King, Leya Landau, Orna longing as in America. In Russia and Ukraine, where Judaism and Zion- Landau, Jeremy Leigh, Gideon ism were repressed in communist times, Jews are prominent in business. Lich eld, Vernen Lieberman, Ruth Jewish philanthropy is rebuilding community life for those who opted to Liechtenstein, Michael Melchior, stay rather than emigrate to Israel or the West. Jeremy Newmark, Daniella Peled, George Rohr, Thierry Roos, Shmuel Israel and the Jewish diaspora, moreover, are in strong and loyal Rosner, Christian Schuler-Beigang, alignment. Diaspora Jews, broadly speaking, love and cherish Israel. Zalman Shmotkin, Barry Shrage, They support it against its enemies, real and perceived, they back its gov- Lindsay Simmonds, Iz Stein, Roz ernment and they resent its critics. Stein, Dov Waxman, Ra Zarum and Mort Zuckerman. Special thanks to None of this could have been predicted just a few decades ago. Hit- Assaf Uni. ler had wiped out one-third of the Jewish people. A thousand years of A list of sources is at Jewish civilisation in central and eastern Europe had been swept away. Economist.com/specialreports Fortunately for Jewish survival, the Nazis’ nal solution had been pre- An audio interview with ceded by a urry of pogroms across the then-tsarist empire that started the author is at 60 years earlier, sending waves of mass Jewish emigration westward. By Economist.com/audiovideo/ the time Hitler struck, some 6m Jews were safe in North and South Amer- 1 specialreports
2 The Economist July 28th 2012 SPECIAL REPORT JUDAISM AND THE JEWS
NETHERLANDS 30,000
GERMANY* BRITAIN UKRAINE 119,000 Jewish 292,000 71,500 RUSSIA FRANCE 205,000 population UNITED STATES CANADA 483,500 5,275,000 375,000 By country, 2010 BELGIUM ISRAEL 30,300 ITALY 5,703,700 28,400 HUNGARY 13,580,000 MEXICO 48,600 39,400 World total BRAZIL 95,600 % of whom live in Israel 81 and the United States SOUTH CHILE ARGENTINA AFRICA 20,500 182,300 70,800 *Jews registered with AUSTRALIA *Jewish communities 107,500 By country or region, m 18 16 Israel Asia (Palestine before 1948) 14 North Africa 12 Western Europe South Africa 10 8 Eastern Europe Oceania and Balkans 6 Latin America 4 Former USSR North America 2 Source: ”Jewish Demographic Policies”, by Sergio 0 DellaPergola, The Jewish People Policy Institute 1900 1939 1948 1970 2010
2 ica and in Britain, with 3m more living in the Soviet Union. Holocaust to get President Roosevelt to rescue Jews. Traditional religious learning and observance had been on Sociologists say that Israel and fundraising and lobbying the defensive in central and eastern Europe for 150 years, since on its behalf became American Jewry’s secular religion . A political emancipation in parts of the region opened the gates of vocal grassroots campaign to free emigration for Soviet Jewry ghettoes and tradition in the shtetls (small Jewish communities) also attracted wide support, especially among younger Jews. was shaken up. Now the old life was annihilated, along with By the turn of the 21st century, moreover, post-modernism much of modern, liberal Jewish culture. The Sephardic commu- was cocking an unexpected snook both at dogmatic Israeli God- nities of north Africa and the Levant, long a minority within Jew- lessness and at diaspora assimilationism. Post-modernism has ry, gained new numerical signi cance. Together with the pitiful- been kind to all religions, says Moshe Halbertal, a philosopher ly few survivors of Nazi-occupied Europe, they became the core living in Jerusalem. Reason was dethroned; there’s no large nar- population of the new state of Israel. rative out there any more. Hyphenated ethnicities and identi- ties encourage people to enjoy and display their diversities in- Ben-Gurion’s error stead of keeping them out of sight. Its founding fathers, socialist-Zionists in the main, thought Many diaspora Jews today still drift out of Judaism or out that the vestiges of the old religion would soon disappear. David of Jewishness, or choose to leave. But many others are con- Ben-Gurion, Israel’s rst prime minister, held that the 2,000 sciously deciding to stay in, choosing one of myriad new ways to years of diasporic Judaism were a deviation from the true ful l- express their commitment. Exactly what de nes Jewishness re- ment of the Jewish ethos. The Talmud (Judaism’s ancient body mains a matter of much debate. This special report will concen- of law and lore) was too casuistic, he felt; the new state must hark trate on those who formally identify with the faith (see table 1, back to the Bible. But he agreed to exempt a few hundred Talmud next page, for the main denominations), but in Israel even the students from army service, con dent they were a dying breed. non-religious are in uenced by Jewish culture and mores. Before the Holocaust, Zionism, the movement for Jewish Jewish Orthodoxy has come surging back. Early marriages independence in Palestine, had to struggle for Jewish popular and high birth rates have produced a demographic explosion support. Now it was vindicated, at least in its own eyes. But some among the ultra-Orthodox haredim (God-fearers). This has Jews, especially in America, were still not convinced. Israel, ght- pumped up their numbers, compensating for the steady out ow ing for its survival, ooded by destitute immigrants, looked pre- from active Judaism caused by assimilation. The overall total of carious to them. In America assimilation was the watchword. At- Jews worldwide is somewhat higher than it was 40 years ago tenuated forms of religious practice that originated in 19th- (see chart above). By conservative estimates, one in ten Jews is century Germany were embraced by the upwardly mobile now haredi. The modern-Orthodox account for another 10%. children and grandchildren of the immigrant generation. Many Israelis like to think of themselves as traditional . American Jews’ stando shness towards their Jewish na- But even the avowedly secular live Jewish lives, and indeed reli- tionhood shifted sharply after the six-day war in 1967. The collec- gious lives, in many subliminal ways; and Israel increasingly ra- tive experience of fear, and then relief and jubilation, produced diates its national, cultural and religious Jewishness into the an outpouring of solidarity with the beleaguered Jewish state. diaspora communities. Mixed in with these emotions was a sense of unease, even guilt, Following the collapse of the peace process with the Pales- over the ine ectiveness of American Jewish lobbying during the tinians in 2000 and the violent intifada (uprising) that followed, 1
The Economist July 28th 2012 3 SPECIAL REPORT JUDAISM AND THE JEWS
Articles of faith 1 Main Jewish denominations Source of Authority of religious the Torah* law (halacha) Ritual and practice Zionism and Israel Definition of Jewishness Ultra-Orthodox Dictated by God All God-inspired Minutely regulated by halacha Originally opposed to Zionism Jewish mother, or converted by (haredi) to Moses and thus immutable and therefore unchanging, but most now accept Israel. ritual immersion, circumcision (males), though emphasis may shift Significant immigration to Israel accepting the mitzvot† Modern- As above As above but As above, but some scholars See Zionism as a divine manifestation As above, but accepting the mitzvot Orthodox interpreted are pushing for change, and Israel as religiously significant. interpreted more flexibly more flexibly especially regarding women Substantial immigration Conservative Inspired by God Binding but being Halacha significantly modernised; Support Zionism and Israel. As above, but mitzvot commitment but interpreted continuously developed women and gay rabbis; ritual Not much immigration interpreted much more flexibly by humans by rabbis non-discriminatory Reform As Conservative No longer binding, Early radical changes but Originally opposed to Zionism. Jewish mother or father. For converts, except for its recent restoration of some Reversed position in mid-20th some rabbis require immersion and ethical aspects rituals and practices century. Not much immigration circumcision but not mitzvot acceptance
Source: The Economist *First five books of the Old Testament †Religious precepts
2 Israeli political attitudes have palpably hardened. In theory, all icism to anti-Semitism, which is rising again. Israeli mainstream parties are committed to a two-state sol- Arthur Green, a scholar of Jewish mysticism and a profes- ution ; in practice, the growing modern-Orthodox settler move- sor at a rabbinical school in Boston, blames Israel’s policy and ment in the West Bank spearheads a government policy of occu- American Jewry’s blanket support for it for the fact that lots and pation without end. To sustain and justify that policy, a stridently lots of thinking Jews are walking away. And then we say, well, nationalistic Zeitgeist is evolving. In the absence of progress to- they’re not committed Jews anyway, so who cares about them? wards peace, that may be inevitable. Perhaps it is inevitable, too, The accusation that Israeli hawkishness turns young dias- that it is winning the soul of diaspora Jewry. pora Jews o their Judaism and their Jewishness has been tren- chantly advanced by Peter Beinart, a journalist in Washington, Our kind of peace DC. It has caused huge controversy among American Jewry. But Doubtless most members of a non-Orthodox synagogue in many other experts deny the causal link. Jews, especially youn- suburban Connecticut, like most Israelis and diaspora Jews, ger ones, have been dropping out in large numbers for years, Mr would tell pollsters that they support peace and two states. The Eisen points out. As their attachment to Judaism weakens, so atmosphere there on a recent Sunday could hardly have been does their commitment to Israel. Those who criticise Israel and more civilised. Jews, Christians and Muslims munched hot dogs incur the community’s wrath care at least as much as those who and coleslaw together before setting out to clean up the neigh- try to silence them. Love has a voice, he insists. 7 bourhood park. The rabbi spoke words of appropriate interfaith inspiration. In the library the synagogue sta had spread carpets on the oor for the Muslims to pray. Judaism in the diaspora In the corridor outside this temporary mosque, two Mus- lim schoolboys read the Israeli declaration of independence: We extend our hand of peace and unity to all the neighbouring A bu et to suit all states and their peoples. It was displayed alongside a map of the region. No Gaza, one noted. No West Bank either, his brother tastes added. A synagogue warden explained later that the map was biblical, not political . The prevailing political sentiment in Jewry today is of ag- But please don’t leave the restaurant gressive defensiveness, a curious amalgam of victimhood and intolerance. Dissent about Israel is discouraged and often gagged THE OLD DEMARCATION lines that have long de ned Ju- outright. Among British Jewry, some 300,000 strong, a positive- daism are becoming obsolete. People rightly speak of today ly McCarthyite atmosphere has been created, says Jonathan as a golden age for Judaism in America, yet the two largest de- Freedland, a political columnist. People are frightened to say nominations, Conservative Judaism and Reform Judaism, both what they feel. In America honest discussion about Israel is relatively liberal, are shrinking. largely shut down, notes Arnold Eisen, a historian and chancel- The Conservatives, who accounted for more than half of lor of the Jewish Theological Seminary, a rabbinical school in all synagogue-a liated Jews only a few decades ago, do not New York. Some rabbis will speak their minds but people bother to deny it. An atmosphere of decline is palpable in some don’t want to ght and there is a disinclination to argue about Is- of their synagogues. The Reform, with some 1.1m fee-paying rael. The right says you’re giving aid and comfort to the enemy if members and another million-odd who they say identify them- you say anything critical about any Israeli policy. Given Israel’s selves as such, do deny it. They have tried hard to fudge the g- power and diaspora Jewry’s strength and in uence, that seems ures, changing the rules to accept those born of a Jewish father paradoxical. and a Gentile mother as full- edged Jews and welcoming mixed Resurgent religious faith is deeply caught up in this. Nation- Jewish-Gentile couples into their congregations. But Steven Co- alism, xenophobia and Judaism blur and merge. Jews nd them- hen, a professor of sociology at the Reform’s own Hebrew Un- selves out of step with most of world opinion, which heightens a ion College, thinks that both the big liberal movements are los- widespread sense of apprehensiveness. Iran’s threats and nuc- ing more than 1% of their members each year. lear pretensions provide a focus for these feelings. Diaspora Jew- Both had their roots in 19th-century Germany. In America ish leaders insist that Israel is misunderstood. They attribute crit- Conservatism became the bridge on which millions of immi- 1
4 The Economist July 28th 2012 SPECIAL REPORT JUDAISM AND THE JEWS
2 grants and their children moved from the traditional Orthodoxy members. But Mr Cohen insists 2 of eastern Europe to forms of worship more in tune with their Be fruitful that those are the exceptions. new homeland. Men and women prayed together. Liturgy was Mean number of children He’s looking at the cream of judiciously revised. References to the biblical cult of animal sac- per woman aged 35-44 the crop. In fact, only 15-20% of Jews in New York, 2011 ri ces were excised. In the 1950s, with the great Jewish exodus to intermarried families ever join the suburbs, the Conservative rabbis ruled that it was permissi- By denomination, % a synagogue. And most of ble to drive to synagogue on the Sabbath, though nowhere else. 0246 them are less actively Jewish. They insisted, and still insist, that Conservatism is governed by Ultra- 22 The none category in- Orthodox halacha, the system of Jewish law based on the Talmud. But they cludes many who don’t care, Modern- 10 insist, too, that halacha must change with the times. Orthodox but also some who do. In the The Conservatives are particularly vulnerable because newly chic London suburb of Non-Orthodox 68 they’re middle-of-the-road, says Samuel Heilman of City Uni- Willesden, for instance, a group All Jewish 100 versity of New York, so they’re hit by tra c from both direc- households of una liated young Jews re- tions. Some Conservatives move to Reform or drop out alto- cently spent Friday night and Source: Jewish Community gether. Others move to Orthodoxy. Still others join alternative Study of New York, 2011 Saturday together in a Cre- minyans