Opinion
A MIX OF IDEAS
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George Cantor's Reality Check column will return next week.
Greenberg's View
The Key To
Israel's Future
I
by the Israeli government. The effective-
n 85 short years, Israel has trans-
ness of the Israeli university system is
formed itself from a Third World,
agrarian country with little water and undeniable. An exclamation point has
few resources into a high-tech, sophisticat- just been added to this statement by the
Nobel Prize committee, which
ed powerhouse on the cutting
recently granted another Nobel
edge of nearly every field of
for chemistry to an Israeli
research and technology Those
researcher (Ada Yonath at
early 20th-century visionar-
Weizmann
Institute, following a
ies who laid the groundwork
Nobel
for
chemistry
shared by
for the foundation of the new
two
researchers,
Hershko
and
nation understood its survival
Ciechanover,
at
the
Technion,
in
would depend on the ability to
2004.)
identify the best and bright-
While all Israeli universities
est minds among its children
have
contributed to her amaz-
and maximize their potential
Sc ott
ing
advances,
in the areas of
through rigorous education and
Leem aster
science
and
technology
none
training.
Comi mnity
has
had
a
more
profound
The strong university system
Vi ew
transformational effect on
in Israel has been the primary
the State of Israel than the
mechanism for achieving this
Technion–Israel
Institute of Technology.
end. It is especially dismaying to hear and
Since
its
founding
in 1924, the Technion
read of ever more draconian funding cuts
A fAlgrOVEar
has granted 85,000 undergraduate and
graduate degrees in engineering, medi-
cine, computer science and numerous
other advanced technical fields. Early
graduates built the infrastructure of Israel
— the electrical grid, the national water
carrier. More recent graduates are push-
ing back the boundaries in biomedical
bleveOgranberg-artaom
engineering, chemistry, stem-cell research,
computer science, nanotechnology, life sci-
ences, water desalination and many other
areas critical to the continued security
and economic growth of Israel and key to
the improvement of the quality of life for
Israel's Future on page 38
Straight Talk About Assimilation
marriage, these critics note, are raised as
produce one), but there is ample evidence
Jews and go on to identify strongly with
of large declines in the numbers of Jews
the Jewish people.
who participate in organized Jewish life
rom now on, Jewish groups will
This is, of course, true — but only up
in recent decades. Most established orga-
likely think twice before using
to a point. Unfortunately, this optimistic
any variation on the word "assim- nizations have seen their membership
reading describes only a minority of
ilation:' That's one lesson learned from the numbers and donor base implode. And
intermarried families. The majority of
the many new initiatives that are rightly
recent brouhaha over a 34-second com-
intermarried families raise
generating much excitement
mercial on Israeli television promoting
their children in a faith other
tend to attract only relatively
the Jewish Agency's Masa program, which
than Judaism or in two faiths
small proportions of the Jewish
brings young Jews to Israel for sustained
or no faith at all. Not surpris-
population.
periods of work, study and volunteering.
ingly, when they reach adult-
When we add up all the
The advertisement, which paired pho-
hood,
most of those offspring
activities of synagogues, fed-
tos of young Jews on posters of missing
do
not
identify as Jews.
erations, service programs,
persons with the statement that "over 50
Few
would dispute that the
national organizations, cultural
percent of Jews abroad are assimilating:'
Jewish
community has a far
drew a firestorm of criticism on blogs and providers, educational institu-
better
chance
of retaining
tions and the myriad start-ups,
in news reports. Facing mounting inter-
the
allegiance
of individuals
it is clear that vast populations
national controversy, the Jewish Agency
raised
in
homes
in which both
Ja ck
of American Jews are steering
quickly killed the ad.
parents
are
Jewish
than in
Werth eimer
clear of organized Jewish life.
The issues raised by the ad, though,
those
where
one
parent
identi-
Spe cial
So why, then, if there is a large
will not go away so easily. While the ad
fies
with
a
different
religion.
Comm entary
kernel of truth to its claims, did
may have been clumsy in its execution, its
Indeed, wherever Jews are a
the Masa ad elicit such a sharp
central point is essentially correct: Large
minority community, inter-
reaction? In large part, it is
numbers of Jews around the world are
marriage
is
a major factor in the contrac-
because it was inferred that the 50 percent
disconnected from any Jewish communal
tion
of
the
Jewish
population. How, then,
assimilation figure the ad cited refers to
activities.
does
it
serve
Jewish
group interests to
intermarriage rates, which in the United
Is there any reason to doubt that the
silence
all
discussion
about the relation-
States reached that level in the late 1990s.
Jewish people are suffering an erosion of
ship
between
intermarriage
and assimi-
Critics contend that the ad, though it does
their engaged membership? In the case of
lation?
American Jews, we now lack an up-to-date not actually mention the word "intermar-
The reality is that while creative leaders
riage gives offense to the children of Jews
national survey with precise numbers (or
and
innovative programs aimed at young
who intermarry by implying that they are
a national leadership sufficiently inter-
Jews
have brought in some people from
somehow "lost" Many children of inter-
ested in basing its policies on hard data to
New York/JTA
F
the periphery, large numbers of American
Jews — in some age groups, the major-
ity — still do not participate in any form
of Jewish public life. Those who reject
the language of crisis when describing
this state of affairs in favor of an appeal
to individual preferences must explain
how they propose to re-create a culture of
Jewish responsibility on that basis. If we
want to strengthen our community amid
the prevailing individualistic culture, we
had better start with straight talk about
our current condition.
The reactions to the Masa ad have
exposed a series of complex issues worthy
of extended conversation within our com-
munity. Rather than view the ad solely
as a dragon successfully slain, we would
do well to see it as an opportunity to ask
ourselves some tough questions about
the best ways to build Jewish social capi-
tal and draw in disengaged Jews -- as a
chance to converse about what we expect
ourselves and our fellow Jews to contrib-
ute to Jewish life.
In this season of introspection, what
could be more timely for us as a com-
munity? 7
Jack Wertheimer is a professor of American
Jewish history at the Jewish Theological
Seminary. This Op-Ed originally appeared in the
Forward.
IN
October 22 • 2009
37