JEWELRY APPRAISALS
At Very Reasonable Prices Call For An Appointment
L
/i l attelle5T611
established 1919
A.
FINE JEWELERS
GEM/DIAMOND SPECIALIST
AWARDED CERTIFICATE BY GIA
IN GRADING AND EVALUATION
• •
• ■ • • • • • .....
30400 Telegraph Road
Suite 134
Birmingham, MI 48010
(313) 642-5575
Doily 10:00-5:30
Thurs. 10:00-8:30
Sot. 10:00-5:00
•
LEASE A 760 AT
LEASE A 780 AT
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825 WOODWARD
1 MILE NORTH OF SQUARE LAKE ROAD
332-8000
Optimism, Pessimism
About American Jews
New York — Is the cup of
American Jewry half empty,
half full, or running over?
Cautioning that no one has
the definitive answer to this
often sharply disputed ques-
tion, a booklet just published
by the American Jewish Com-
mittee, titled "The Quality of
American Jewish Life — Two
Views," lines up some of the
arguments on two of the
several sides in the debate,
and lets the reader decide.
Co-authors of the booklet
are Dr. Steven M. Cohen, pro-
fessor of sociology at Queens
College of the City Universi-
ty of New York, whose
chapter is titled "Reason for
Optimism"; and Dr. Charles
S. Liebman, professor of
political studies at Bar-Ilan
University in Ramat Gan,
Israel, who calls his section of
the booklet "A Grim
Outlook!'
Prof. Cohen, whose op-
timism is not euphoria,
disagrees with both the ex-
treme pessimists and the ex-
treme optimists, saying that
"one can reject the notion of
significant erosion in
American Jewish population
size and quality of life
without endorsing the notion
of a broad-based cultural
revival!' Among the points he
makes are these:
• Although intermarriage
cannot be considered "good
for the Jews," it is not
necessarily "all bad for the
Jews," inasmuch as a large
minority of born-Gentile
spouses convert, many mixed-
married couples (where no
conversion has taken place)
have at least some attach-
ment to Jewish life and some
mixed-married couples rear
their children as Jewish.
• Despite the widely held
perception that young Jewish
adults are "less Jewish" than
their elders, research has
shown that young Jews close-
ly resemble older ones in
ritual observance, belief in-
God, and the feeling that "all
Jews belong to one extended
family"; and become more
like their elders in still other
says (such as communal af-
filiation) when they form
their own families.
• In one survey after
another, vast majorities of
respondents report one or
another sort of ritual activi-
ty, formal affiliation or at-
tachment to other Jews.
Psychic and interpersonal
connections with Israel con-
stitute yet another dimension
of Jewish involvement
characterizing large ma-
jorities of American Jews.
Prof. Cohen notes also that
many of those who take a
pessimistic view of American
Jewry are members of a
highly involved "elite!' And,
he adds, "masses typically
fall short of the standards of
elites!'
Also, Prof. Cohen says, some
observers "utilize an outmod-
ed model" of what Jewish life
should be.
Concluding, Prof. Cohen
contends that the worst-case
scenario is not being played
out — "the Jewish population
is not shrinking dramatical-
ly due to assimilation" — but,
on the other hand, "the
highly touted cultural revival
of American Jews" is confin-
ed essentially to the small
"elite!'
Prof. Liebman — whose
pessimism, like Prof. Cohen's
optimism, is less than total —
points, on the one hand, to the
existence of "positive
developments in American
Jewish life," including the
"growing strength of Jewish
commitment among Jewish
leaders" and a revival of
Jewish life on college
campuses.
But, he argues, to believe
that American Jewry is
flourishing is to believe
something untrue, and those
joining in the "recent
celebratory mood of the
American Jewish communi-
ty" are "ignoring and even
denying the pathologies of
Jewish life?'
Among the signs that
"point to the erosion of
American Jewish life," says
Prof. Liebman, are these:
• The incidence of mixed
(non-conversionary) marriage
"has already reached high
levels and is rising," and
studies comparing the
behavior of mixed-married
and in-married couples "find
exactly what we would ex-
pect: dramatic differences in
their Jewish affiliations and
identities."
• Fewer than half of all
American Jewish youngsters
receive any Jewish education
at all; the overwhelming ma-
jority of these receive only a
few hours a week of Jewish
schooling, and usually only in
preparation for bar or bat
mitzvah; many teachers in
supplementary
Jewish
schools have no formal train-
ing in Jewish education, and
"the substance and content of
the Jewish educational ex-
perience that the majority of
American Jews undergo is
trivial, at best!"
• Fewer than half of all
adult American Jews are af-