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Posted on 01/25/2005 11:35:24 AM PST by stevejackson
Until the 18th century, there was basically only one kind of Judaism, that which is now called Orthodox. It meant living by the religion's 613 laws, and doing so suffused Jews' lives with their faith. Then, starting with the thinker Baruch Spinoza (1632-77) and moving briskly during the Haskala, or "enlightenment," from the late 18th century, Jews developed a wide variety of alternate interpretations of their religion, most of which diminished the role of faith in their lives and led to a concomitant reduction in Jewish affiliation.
These alternatives and other developments, in particular the Holocaust, caused the ranks of the Orthodox to be reduced to a small minority. Their percentage of the total world Jewish population reached a nadir in the post-World War II era, when it declined to about 5%.
The subsequent 60 years, however, witnessed a resurgence of the Orthodox element. This was, again, due to many factors, especially a tendency among the non-Orthodox to marry non-Jews and have fewer children. Recent figures on America published by the National Jewish Population Survey also point in this direction. The Orthodox proportion of American synagogue members, for example, went from 11% in 1971 to 16% in 1990 to 21% in 2000-01. (In absolute numbers, it bears noting, the American Jewish population went steadily down during these decades.)
Should this trend continue, it is conceivable that the ratio will return to roughly where it was two centuries ago, with the Orthodox again constituting the great majority of Jews. Were that to happen, the non-Orthodox phenomenon could seem in retrospect merely an episode, an interesting, eventful, consequential, and yet doomed search for alternatives, suggesting that living by the law may be essential for maintaining a Jewish identity over the long term.
These demographic thoughts come to mind upon reading a recent article in the Jerusalem Post, "U.S. Haredi Leader Urges Activism," by Uriel Heilman, in which he reports on a "landmark address" in late November 2004 by the executive vice president of Agudath Israel of America, Rabbi Shmuel Bloom. Agudath, an Orthodox organization with a stated mission to "mobilize Torah-loyal Jews for the perpetuation of authentic Judaism," has a membership ranging from clean-shaven men to black-hatted ones (the haredi), from Jews educated in secular universities to full-time, Yiddish speaking students of the Talmud.
Rabbi Bloom told an Agudath audience that Jewish demographic trends imply that American Orthodox Jews can no longer, as in the past, bury themselves in their parochial interests and expect non-Orthodox Jewish institutions to shoulder the major burden of communal responsibilities. Rather, the Orthodox must now join in, or even take over from their non-Orthodox coreligionists such tasks as fighting anti-Semitism, sending funds to Israel, and lobbying the American government. "The things we rely on secular Jews for," he asked, "who's going to do that if the secular community whittles down? We have to broaden our agenda to include things that up until now we've relied upon secular Jews to do."
He exaggerates, in that some Orthodox Jews in America have been prominently involved in both national (think of Senator Joseph Lieberman, Democrat of Connecticut) and communal affairs (Morton Klein of the Zionist Organization of America comes to mind). But he is accurate insofar as Orthodox institutions have generally stayed out of the American fray except to pursue their narrow agenda.
Others in Agudath agree with the need for the Orthodox to broaden their ambitions. The organization's executive vice president for government and public affairs, David Zwiebel, notes that, "With our growing numbers and the maturing of the community and the greater self-confidence that comes with that maturity and those numbers, there's no question that we need to at least recognize that there may be certain responsibilities that now have to shift to our shoulders."
Mr. Heilman understands this intent to assume a greater role in national and Jewish life as "a sign both of the success of the American haredi community in sustaining its numbers and its failure to translate that success into greater influence in the community at large."
It also could portend a much deeper shift in Jewish life in America and beyond, being a leading indicator of Orthodoxy's political coming of age and perhaps even its eventual replacement of non-Orthodox Judaism.
http://netwmd.com/articles/article868.html
So, if you're not orthodox, you won't stay Jewish? What a crock...
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Orthodox Jews are having the large families. They are the future of Jusaism.
oy
I'm not sure that the evidence would support such an historical uniformity as the tendency toward sectarian division emerged at least once before --- during the second temple period (excerpted from My Jewish Learning ):
A notable development in Hasmonean times was the emergence of identifiable religious sects. The term "sect" requires some clarification, as it usually is used in regard to Christian groups that periodically broke way from the Church for social and ideological reasons. In this period, only the of Qumran come close to fitting that definition.
Other groups, such as the such as the Pharisees, Sadducees, Hasidians of Maccabean days, Sicarii, and early Christians, all operated in Jerusalem and wider Judaean society and were not a priori opposed to the religious establishment. The term "sect" is thus not the most appropriate for our historical context. Nevertheless, we have retained it out of convenience, since it is universally used with reference to these groups.
well certainly there have been sectarian differences. the relevant point about those ancient divides is that those separating from the Holy Torah and its traditional understanding disappeared from the Jewish world and in some cases altogether. there are no sadduccees today and when was the last time you met an essene? Karaites? find me a real one somewhere. yes, eventually, like the above, the covenant with the Jewish people will be affirmed alone by those who hold Torah and mitzvos close to their hearts. We never, G-d forbid wish ill on any Jewish brother. far from it, the role of the frummie is to m'karev the non-religious Jew. The demographics are daunting and a mere reflection of Jewish history. With over 50% intermarriage, of which in those families where the mother isnt Jewish, less than replacement birth rates, non-orthodoxy is no longer a viable living thing. please see the chart at http://www.613.org/study.html
this was based on the demographic study prior to the one mentioned in the Pipes article. these trends, have not only been proven truthful but the trendline may bode even worse for non-Torah Judaism.
Baruch Spinoza (1632-77)
A certifiable whacko who did more than his share to mislead Christians, Jews and generally damage Western civilization as a whole.
Amen. The originator of the Biblical criticism that has become dogma to everyone outside Orthodox Judaism and Fundamentalist Protestantism. Also an illustration of why a sovereign Torah Jewish entity is needed to govern all Jews, in or outside Israel.
RE: and moving briskly during the Haskala, or "enlightenment," from the late 18th century
I suspect that when historians 1000s of years from now assess Western Civilization during the late 2nd and early 3rd Millenneum, they will not have good things to say about the so called "Enlightenment."
It is also interesting to me that Orthodox Jewry is a strong component of the conservative movement in the United States.
Perhaps the author of the enlightenment was a certain "shining one"? (See Isaiah 14:12)
"So, if you're not orthodox, you won't stay Jewish? What a crock..."
Here's another version of that study that APRPEH linked to, with a more readable chart:
http://www.simpletoremember.com/vitals/WillYourGrandchildrenBeJews.htm
The simple mathematics of having a significantly lower assimilation rate, combined with larger families, makes it far more likely (bordering on certainty) that several generations hence your grandkids or great-grandkids will, if you aren't orthodox, not be Jewish. Conversely, if you are orthodox, the chances are far greater that your descendants will be Jewish. There are NO certainties here, only the mathematics of population growth or decay.
Note that the study in question places a great emphasis on Jewish education - without it, growing up orthodox will mean far less (in terms of assimilation). I would think that a non-orthodox person who had their kids rigorously schooled in Judaism - even of the non-orthodox variety - would similarly have a high chance of having Jewish descendants.
BTW, I write this as someone who grew up Conservative, but with a decided lack of emphasis in his household about doing Jewish things and attending services, let alone Jewish schooling. I am now tending toward a more traditional lifestyle, but I have a LONG way to go. I have no particular ax to grind, except that I'd like to see there be as many Jews as possible in the future.
I agree this is the current demographic trend, but I dispute the notion that what today is considered "Orthodox Judaism" has been normative throughout Jewish history.
Karites were always very tiny. I'm not sure there were ever more than 50,000 of them.
What do you call a third-generation Reform Jew? An Episcipalian.
You bet. Of course the Orthodox don't have to concern themselves with them since they don't consider them Jewish. All because the main point of disagreement was whether or not you can light fire on Shabbat.
Long ago, the Karaites decided that lighting a fire before Shabbot to be used during Shabbat was just as bad as lighting a fire during Shabbot. This led to Karaites sitting in the dark on Shabbat and Rabbinicals making fun of them from behind their Shabbat candles.
Later, the Orthodox Rabbinicals decided to that electricity was really fire. Today the Karaites can turn on a light on Shabbat and drive a car because they do not consider electricity to be fire. They make fun of Rabbinicals walking to the Synagogue on Shabbat. The role reversal is fascinating.
My wife is Karaite, and she often tells me of her arguments with Rabbis and teachers growing up when they told here she wasn't really Jewish, but was in fact a Christian! She used to argue with them about the Torah, and how some Rabbinical beliefs are not quite as sound as you might think, such as : why can't you eat chicken with cheese? The Torah only says "Do not bathe a kid in it's mother's milk", which means that kashroot only really requires the separation of dairy and beef, not all meat. All Rabbis will agree with this and then argue that you should continue to separate chicken from dairy because its tradition and Rabbis decided it long ago, even though it is completely unsupported by Torah.
Karaites only believe in the Torah, and do not believe in the many interpretations of the Torah made by Rabbis since the split thousands of years ago. That is why Rabbinicals don't like them, because it's hard to argue that Rabbis should be believed over the Torah itself. Thus the name calling and the teaching that Karaites are "not really Jews"
Anyway, it's nice to see someone out there knows about the Karaietes.
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