LETTERS
RAMON
LOMBARTE
Lithographs
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for the purpose of electing officers
on June 20, 1991 from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm
at THE SOMERSET INN
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12
FRIDAY, JUNE 14, 1991
ND ff
IN THE
Lessons From
Population Study
The article on the 1990
National Jewish population
Survey (June 7) discussed a
number of social trends
within the Jewish communi-
ty. However, the trends were
evident decades before the
study's publication.
American Jewry is becom-
ing ever more secularized and
assimilated, with fewer
delineations between Jew and
gentile. The consequence of
the accelerating movement
toward assimilation is ap-
parent in the marked growth
of intermarriage and the drift
away from the conversion of
the non-Jewish spouse in the
situation of mixed marriages.
At the same time, the
survey showed that Jewish
adults usually define
themselves in terms of
membership in a cult _ ural or
ethnic group rather than a
faith community. Yet, this
means of self-identification
runs counter to assimilation
and the great American
"melting pot."
The result of the struggle
between the forces of
assimilation and ethnic iden-
tification is clear from just
one of the study's findings.
Less than 50 percent of
children with one or more
Jewish parents are being rais-
ed as Jews, with the figure
decreasing to 28 percent in
the case of mixed marriages.
The same issue of The
Jewish News contained a
story about a mother whose
child attends a local middle
school. The woman supported
the school's multi-cultural
programs as well as teaching
her son respect for the
cultural, ethnic, and religious
traditions of others. This
woman's support for such a
position, I believe, is one com-
monly found in the Jewish
community.
By placing everyone on an
equal footing, the theory is
that inter-group hostilities
should decrease. The unin-
tended consequence, however,
of this cultural relativism is
that many Jews feel uncom-
fortable telling their children
to marry within the faith, to
suggest conversion in the
situation of a mixed mar-
riage, or even to strongly
voice the conviction that their
grandchildren should be rais-
ed as Jews.
A question Jewish leader-
ship should have been
debating is the institutional
response to the problem of
maintaining the integrity of
the Jewish community in a
country where Jews travel
where they want, work where
they want, live where they
Distribution of All Household Members
by Region and Jewish Identity
(Total Percent = 100.0)
Total Population = 8,100,000
W- E-
L - 113
_ Midwest
5.8% t8% 2.6% 2.3%
want, attend the schools they
want, and marry whom they
want.
But what has consumed the
energies of the community?
Such issues as: who is a Jew;
patrilineal descent and the
indicia of conversion; internal
Israeli politics; and the
relative portion of fund-
raising dollars going to Israel.
While the aforementioned are
important questions, without
a healthy Jewish community,
the other questions become
largely irrelevant.
Jewish leadership has not
addressed the converse ques-
tion of what brings us
together. What made a group
of Jews in Grosse Pointe feel
the need to form a communi-
ty organization or another
group of Jews in Troy to
establish a congregation?
Nor has Jewish lay leader-
ship meaningfully examined
the painful question of why so
many Jews feel alienated
from the Jewish community.
We must begin to both ask
the right questions and to ex-
amine those unintended con-
sequences before it is too late.
Laurence R. Imerman
Birmingham
Black-Jewish
Relations
I read with interest your
editorial entitled "Reality
Check Needed in Communi-
ty" (May 31). While it is clear
that the Jewish community
and the black community
need to work harder to re-
build the relationship that we
once enjoyed, it is misleading
to suggest that the Jewish
Community Council is doing
nothing to improve black-
Jewish relations.
For well over a year I have
enjoyed and benefited from
the lively discussions that oc-
cur monthly among a group of
black and Jewish attorneys.
The group was organized by
David Gad-Harf of the Jewish
Community Council and
Winston Lang of the City of
Detroit Human Rights
Department.
We certainly don't agree on
everything and there is a lot
of work to be done, but we are
sharing ideas and we are
treating each other as fellow
human beings.
Reuben A. Munday
Detroit