A New Look at the Future of Judaism in America

(Image from Fox News)

“(N)o less than 27 percent of all American Jews under 18 live in Orthodox households.” So says Rabbi  Avi Shafran in a Fox News op-ed. I have no reason to doubt that statistic.  As Rabbi Shafran indicates, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to to see the demographic trend for Jews in America. While Orthodox Jewry’s percentages keep increasing, heterodox Jewry’s percentages are decreasing.  That is demonstrated by the 72% intermarriage rate of non Orthodox Jews in America - as noted by Adam Garfinkle in his Tablet article.

(As a side note, I do not buy into Garfinkle’s premise that the so-called ‘Golden Age of American Jewry’ is on the demise. Although he makes an interesting argument, I don’t fully agree with his analysis. I don’t even think we’ve reached its pinnacle yet. The reasons of which are beyond the scope of this post.)

Why this is happening has been discussed (to death) here many times. I don’t believe there can be any credible doubt about it anymore . American Jewry as we have come to know it is changing. The issues that animated American Jewry of the past are rapidly shifting from a left wing secular social justice orientation based on the morality of the times - to values that are more biblically based.  Which in my view is a very positive development.

But as much as I am happy that Orthodox values - all of which are based on the Torah - are increasingly being identified as Jewish values and that the demographics are shifting from non Orthodox to Orthodox, I am nevertheless very sad about the loss of so many Jews to Judaism. None of this is new. I’ve said it all before. 

However, it might be worth considering in which direction Orthodoxy is migrating towards. As a firm believer in the Hashkafos of Centrist Orthodoxy - sadly - I do not see it going in that direction.  Jews with my Hashkafa are decreasing as a percentage of the whole of Orthodoxy. In short I am a dinosaur. Centrists may be in danger of extinction.

The plain fact is that Charedi Jewry is increasing its percentages and out-populating us by the sheer fact of their much increased birth rate. That said, if I was a non Chasidic Charedi Jew I wouldn’t get too smug about that. Because Chasidim have an even higher birthrate. They will eventually - sooner or later - become the single largest demographic of Jews in this country. Not only that, but the ‘Frumkeit’ of Chasidic world has infiltrated the Yeshiva world in ways that were never a part of their lives.

They Yeshiva world will still be around. But it will have no resemblance to the world of their forefathers. And will in any case become increasingly outnumbered by the Chasidic world. The world of Centrists will be exceeding small by comparison - if it exists at all!

Why should any of the bother me? Because I see the world of the right becoming increasingly isolated from the rest of society. The things I believe are essential to a Jew or to any human being in order to live a full life  are becoming increasingly rejected as un-Jewish by religious leaders in both Chasidic and by the non Chasidic world. A non Chasidic world that seems to increasingly emulate the Chasdic world in so many ways. 

Just to take one example (of many). Secular education which I believe is vital to every Jew (for a variety of reasons that are beyond the scope of this post) is completely rejected by the largest 2 Chasidic groups in the world: Satmar and Lubavitch. While some of their schools have secular studies in certain parts of the country (at least as far as Lubavitch is concerned), the preference of their rabbinic leadership is that there should be no secular studies at all in any grades - if at all possible. The non Chasidic Yeshiva world in America has always had a secular studies curriculum. Many of which were excellent. But now the so called better Yeshivos do not offer any secular subjects (or very little) - devoting ever more time to their religious studies. This is the direction the non Chasidic Yeshiva world seems to be going. 

I have said in the past (many times) that the wave of the future is in moderate Charedism. This is where many Charedim the Yeshiva world and some Chasidic sects have taken on some of the modalities of modern Orthodoxy -such as getting a higher education and thereby better jobs. While that is still true, it is nevertheless seen as a Hashkafically inferior thing to do by their leaders. 

I will never forget the disparaging way  Lakewood Rosh HaYeshiva Rabbi Malkiel Kotler disparaged Touro College - and by implication its founder, Dr. Bernard Lander a few moths after his passing. Touro is a college designed primarily for religious Jews looking to have careers in the professions. If I recall correctly Rabbi Kotler called him a second class Jew. Because despite the fact that his college helped his very community better their lives and those of their families, only those Jews that dedicate their lives to full time Torah study are first class Jews! Touro is an impediment to that!

But it isn’t only that which bothers me. I wonder about a culture that values noting but Torah study. I was shocked by what I overheard a few Lakewood students saying about the ‘boys only’ Chol HaMoed concert banned by Lakewood’s rabbinic leaders. They supported the ban. One of them saying that a concert of any kind ‘Past Nisht’ (is inappropriate) for people that are supposed to dedicate their lives to full time Torah study.

What kind of Jews will be the mainstream if this becomes the accepted norm? I do not believe that we can survive a a people if all of guided into doing only one thing. No matter how important that one thing is. Nor can I believe that those of us that choose other constructive ways to live our lives as observant Jews should be considered 2^nd class.  But if these rabbinic leaders would have their way, this is precisely the kind of world they would be living in. Is this the ultimate future of American Jewry? 

At the moment, most of mainstream Charedi Jewry is moderate. They are in fact leading their lives in a variety of productive ways that are not all bound to full time Torah study.  At the same time they are being indoctrinated to see themselves as 2^nd class Jews. Where will their children end up? Will they follow in their fathers’ moderate footsteps? Or will they be shepherded into the world  Rabbi Kotler considers the only first class one? What will then happen to third and fourth generation families down the line - and the many mouths they will have to feed?

These are all questions that occur to me – even as I see the current crop of mainstream Charedim to be moderate. 

Bottom line - even though I believe that Orthodox Jews are the wave of the American future, I wonder about what kind of Orthodoxy it will be and whether it will be viable in the long term.