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26 Friday, July 4, 1986

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

J

erusalem — Last week, the
Israeli Cabinet met to dis-
cuss a shocking report. Ac-
cording to Professor Roberto
Bracchi, head of the Hebrew Uni-
versity's Department of Statis-
tics, there are 9.5 million Jews liv-
ing outside Israel today. Accord-
ing to Professor Bacchi, if present
trends continue, there will be 8
million in the year 2000. Or, to
put it another way, 1.5 million
Jews will disappear (at least as
Jews) within the next 15 years.
The reasons for this mass de-
fection are no secret. Jews abroad
have a low birthrate and, increas-
ingly, they marry non-Jews. Pro-
fessor Bracchi told the Cabinet
that inter-marriage in the Dias .-
pora averages 40 percent, and in
some countries has reached 50
percent. Some of these couples
raise their children as Jews, but
most do not.
Some Jewish activists in the
United States have challenged
Prof. Bracchi's findings. They
produce all sorts of arguments
about the vitality of the Dias-
pora, the number of converts to
Judaism and so forth. These
arguments are pure sophistry.
Jews in America are disappear-
ing at an alarming rate. If you
don't believe it, just look around.
Why have so many American
Jews decided to break their
millenia-old chain and abandon
the Jewish people? Like all good
mysteries, the answer lis in mo-
tive and opportunity.
The Jewish baby boom genera-
tion is the first to be raised — in
the post-Holocaust period. Con-
sciously or not, they are aware
that in recent history much of
Europe considered being Jewish
a crime punishable by death.
They know that their own coun-
try preferred to send Jews to a
certain death in Europe than
grant them asylum in America.
Not even the most assimilated
American Jew has escaped the
message that the Jews have been
a persecuted and despised people.
This realization has inevitably
affected the contemporary Jewish
self-image. We all remember the
experiment in Psychology 101, in
which little black girls are of-
fered a choice of black and white
dolls to play with — and invari-
ably choose the white - ones.
American Jews, so superficially
secure and well adjusted, have a
great deal in common with those
little girls. A generation of
American Jewish writers turned
their mothers into ugly
stereotypes. American Jewish
screenwriters have given the
public a dozen variations on the
theme of the Jew as nerd. And
JAP jokes, told mostly by Jewish
men, are an unmistakable state-
ment of disrespect and dislike of
their own women.

Ze'ev Chafets, a regular contributor
from Jerusalem, is former director of
the Israel Governmeqt Press Office,
and author of a new book about life in
Israel, 'Heroes, Hustlers, Hardhats
and Holymen."

The American Jewish commu-
nity has failed to counteract the
trauma of the Holocaust by pro-
viding Jews with positive reasons
for remaining Jewish. Instead, it
has trivialized the Jewish experi-
ence by portraying Judaism as
simply another American reli-
gion. At the same time, an obses-
sion with Israel has drained
Jewish resources and cast Ameri-
can Jews in the role of spectators.
Indeed, fundraising for Israel has
become, for many Jews, a substi-
tute for Jewish life.
Worst of all, the hyper-
organized Jewish community has
failed to provide its children with

The American
Jewish community
has failed to
counteract the
trauma of the
Holocaust by
providing Jews with
positive reasons for
remaining Jewish.

any real Jewish education. Since
Jews in America take education
very seriously, the message of
this failure is clear: Judaism is
irrelevant and unimportant. Bet-
ter you should study for your col-
lege boards.
So much for motive. The oppor-
tunity is obvious. America has
been wonderful for individual
Jews — and a disaster for the
Jewish people. Jews have become
so thoroughly accepted that they
can- simply blend in, live where
they choose, work in virtually
every profession — and marry
whom they wish. After all, if
Judaism is simply a Protestant
religion without Jesus, why
should young Jews restrict them-
selves to a Jewish partner or a
Jewish lifestyle? Increasingly
American Jewish parents,
educators and leaders have no
answer for that question.
The plain truth is that Ameri-
can Jewish life has become a
holding operation. A minority
has sought refuge from
Americanization in Orthodoxy,
but the majority is simply mark-
ing time. Not even the most pious
rabbi, zealous Zionist or active
Temple member can be certain
that his or her grandchildren will
be Jews.
Only in Israel is there a near
certainty that future generations
will be Jewish. Europe's Jews
paid a terrible price for rejecting
Zionism as the answer to anti-
Semitism; American Jewry is
now paying a similar (if more be-
nign) price for rejecting it as the
salvation from philo-Semitism
and assimilation.
Most Jewish leaders of our
generation — both in America
and Israel — pay lip service to
the ideal of aliyah, but do nothing
to bring it about. They have
allowed the wealth and content-
ment of American Jews to over-
whelm their sense of responsibil-
ity to the Jewish people and col-