CONTENTS Melbourne Jewry: a Diaspora Community with a Vigorous Jewish Identity W

VOLUME XXXVII NUMBER 2 DECEMBER 1995 CONTENTS Melbourne Jewry: A Diaspora Community with a Vigorous Jewish Identity W. D. RUBINSTEIN Jews in the British Army in the First World War HAROLD POLLINS Filial Responsibility injudaism DAVID J. SCHNALL When Prophecy Is Not Validated: Explaining the Unexpected in a Messianic Campaign WILLIAM SHAFFIR Book Reviews Chronicle Editor: J udith Freedman OBJECTS AND SPONSORSHIP OF THE JEWISH JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY The Jewish journal ofSociology was sponsored by the Cultural Department of the World Jewish Congress from its inception in I959 until the end of I98o. Thereafter, from the first issue of I 98 I (volume 23, no. I), the Journal has been sponsored by Maurice Freedman Research Trust Limited, which is registered as an educational charity and has as its main purposes the encouragement of research in the sociology of the Jews and the publication ofTheJewishJournal of Sociology. The objects oftheJournal remain as stated in the Editorial of the first issue in I959' . 'This Journal has been brought into being in order to provide an international vehicle for serious writing on Jewish social affairs ... Academically we address ourselves not only to sociologists, but to social scientists in general, to historians, to philosophers, and to students of comparative religion .... We should like to stress both that the Journal is editorially independent and that the opinions expressed by authors are their own responsibility.' The founding Editor of the JJS was Morris Ginsberg, and the founding Managing Editor was Maurice Freedman. Morris Ginsberg, who had been Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics, died in I970. Maurice Freedman, who had been Professor of Social Anthropology at the London School of Economics and later at the University of Oxford, succeeded to the title of Editor in I97I, when Dr Judith Freedman (who had been Assistant Editor since I963) became Managing Editor. Maurice Freedman died in I975; since then the Journal has been edited by Dr Judith Freedman. Applications for subscriptions and enquiries regarding back numbers should be addressed to: THE JEWISH JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY 187 GLOUCESTER PLACE LONDON NW I 6BU ENGLAND TELEPHONE: 07I 262 8939 THE JEWISH JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY Volume XXXVII Number2 December 1995 CONTENTS l\1clbournc Jewry: A Diaspora Community with a Vigorous Jewish Identity W. D. RUBINSTEIN 81 Jews in the British Army in the First World War HAROLD POLLINS 100 Filial Responsibility inJudaism DAVID J. SCHNALL 112 When Prophecy Is Not Validated: Explaining the Unexpected m a Messianic Qampaign WILL lAM SHAFFIR I 19 Book Reviews 1 37 Chronicle '49 Books Received 153 Notes on Contributors 154 PUBLISHED TWICE YEARLY, IN JUNE AND DECEMBER by Maurice Freedman Research Trust Ltd (Published by the World Jewish Congress 1gsg-8o) ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION INSTITUTIONS: £20.00 (u .S. $35.00) INDIVIDUALS: £15.00 (u.s. $26.00) SINGLE COPIES: £IO.OO(U.S. $18.00) Applications for subscriptions should be sent to Thejewishjournal of Sociology, •117 Gloucester Place, London NWr 6BU, England. Telephone: 0171-262 8g39 EDITOR Judith Freedman ADVISORY BOARD R. BACH! (Israel LLOYD P. GARTNER (lsrae0 LORD BELOFF (Britain) NATHAN GLAZER (USA) PERCY S. CoHEN (Britain) ]ACQUES GuTWIRTH (France) MosHE DAvrs (lsrae0 S.J. PRAIS (Britain) S. N. ErsENSTADT (lsrae0 NoRMAN SoLOMON (Britain) © MAURICE FREEDMAN RESEARCH TRUST L TD 1995 PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY W. S. MANEY & SON LTD, LEEDS BOOKS REVIEWED Author Title Reviewer Page Belcovc-Shalin,J S., New World Hasidism: Ethnographic J. Gutwirth 137 ed. Studies of HasUlic]ews in America Dan,J., ed. Bl}IAH. Studies in Jewish History, L.Jacobs 140 Thought and Culture Schreiber,J .-P. Politique et Religion. Le Consistoire J. Freedman 145 Centrallsrailite de Belgique au XIX' Sitcle Winawer, H. M., ed. The Winawer Saga Max Beloff 142 79 NOTICE TO CONTRIBUTORS Papers submitted to The Jewish Journal rif Sociology should be addressed to the Editor at 187 Gloucester Place, London NWI 6BU, England. The papers must be original. They should not have been published previously, or be committed to publication elsewhere, in any language. \'\'hen a paper has been accepted for publication, the author may not publish it elsewhere in any language, without the written consent of the Editor oftheJSS. Articles (please send at least two copies) should be typewritten on one side only and double-spaced with ample margins. Pages (including those containing illustrations, diagrams, or tables) should be numbered consecutively. All quotations should be within single inverted commas; quotation marks within quotations should be double inverted commas. Notes should follow the style of this Journal and should be given at the end of the article in numerical sequence according to the order of their citation in the text. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS A. Books Give author, title, place of publication, year, and page reference. Underline all titles of books. B. Articles Place titles of articles within single inverted commas. Underline the title of the book or journal in which the article appears. In the case of a journal, cite numbers of volume and part, and year of publication. PROOFS. An author making major revisions in proof will be required to bear the cost. Unless proofs are returned to the Editor promptly, authors' corrections will not be incorporated. oFFPRINTS. Each contributor receives twenty free ofiPrints of his article. If there are two or more authors, the twenty ofiPrints are shared between them. So MELBOURNE JEWRY: A DIASPORA COMMUNITY WITH A VIGOROUS JEWISH IDENTITY W. D. Rubinstein HERE has been mounting concern about the survival ofJewish identity in the Diaspora, especially in countries with a great T degree of religious tolerance and a decline in religiosity of the wider society, so that intermarriage is also increasingly tolerated. Furthermore, fertility rates have decreased below replacement levels, and secularisation or indifference to religious values have had a marked effect- apart from conversion to other religions or cults. On the other hand, a few positive trends have been identified: among some sections of the younger generation in the Diaspora, there has been a greater interest in Jewish history and identity and blatant antisemitism and discrimina tion have greatly diminished, while ultra-Orthodox Jewish groups have high birth rates and negligible intermarriage. 1 Until the mid-198os, some sociologists- notably Calvin Golscheider and Steven M. Cohen- were markedly optimistic about the long-term effects of intermarriage on American Jewry: they argued that the result was frequently demographic gain, when the Gentile spouse converted to Judaism and the children of the union were brought up as members of the Jewish faith. However, by the early 1990s, reports of recent surveys have shown rising rates of intermarriage and of assimilation to the Gentile life-style of Diaspora countries and they have alarmed even the most sanguine Jewish demographers.' The 1990 National Jewish Population Survey in the United States reported that 590,000 individuals who were born or raised as Jews now either adhered to another religion or had no religion. 3 Moreover, more than half of those who had married in 1985-1990 had taken a non:Jewish spouse.< In Canada, where Census reports give data on religion and ethnic affiliation, it is clear that Jewish intermarriage rates have risen sharply 5 from only five per cent in 1951 to 22 per cent in 1984. There are no The]ewish]oumal if Sociology, vol. 37, no. 2, December 1995 81 W. D. RUBINSTEIN comparable data on the intermarriage rates of Anglo:Jewry, but statistics presented by the Community Research Unit of the Board of Deputies of British Jews have shown that there is some cause for concern: male synagogue membership declined from 88,438 in 1970 to 79,388 in 1990, a decrease of more than ten per cent;6 there has been an excess of deaths over births for at least three decades (deaths rose from an annual average of 817 in 1965-69 to 1,519 in 1990); 7 and the number of synagogue marriages has shown a sharp decrease from an annual average of 1, 742 in 1971-75 to 1,098 in 1990, 1,082 in 1991, and 1,031 in 1992.8 The number ofJews in the United Kingdom was for several years after the end of the Second World War estimated to be 450,000 in scholarly publications; but by the mid-198os the revised total was only 330,000. Many have asserted that the decline is largely the result of a very high intermarriage rate, but such statements must be cautiously considered to be only informed guesses." It is likely that studies of other Jewish groups in Western democracies would reveal in most cases significant increases in intermarriage rates, especially in the yo.unger age cohorts, as well as fertility rates below replacement levels. The ultra-Orthoi:lox segments are too small for their high fertility, coupled with a negligible rate of intermarriage, to have a marked countervailing effect. · The aim of the present paper is to report on a Diaspora community which exhibits an obvious Jewish dynamism and pride in Jewish identity: the Jews of Melbourne in Australia who number about 5o,ooo and who constitute the country's largest Jewish group. The Jews of Sydney rank second, with about 35,000, followed by about 6,ooo in Perth (in Western Australia), and by smaller communities in other cities. The Federal Census of 1991 recorded 75,ooo Jews in the country, but it is important to note that Australians may lawfully abstain from answering the question about religious affiliation. 10 Demographers have estimated the actual number ofJews to be nearer IOo,ooo. In I966-67, the Melbourne Jewish community sponsored a survey of the city's Jewry, it was directed by Professor Ronald Taft and was based on a random sample of640 households drawn from the Welfare Society's communal register.

Load more