Historian Fears Assimilation May Swallow Jewish Culture in U.S.

Apprehension lest American Jewish culture disappear through assimilation was voiced here at a National Conference of the American Historical Society by history professor Irving Greenberg of Yeshiva University.

Despite what he termed the “greatest Horatio Alger” story in history and the fact that anti-Semitism has virtually disappeared in the United States, Prof. Greenberg said he feared the possibility that “Jewish culture will melt into invisibility.” Asserting that rapid ethnic assimilation was destroying Jewish identity, Prof. Greenberg said that “the college setting is particularly destructive to Jewish culture, and that 80 per cent of the eligible Jews now go to college.” He pointed out that intermarriage resulted from identification with Christian values at college. The extremely low Jewish birthrate was cited also.

Although American society is technically open, Prof. Greenberg maintained that, in the most important ways, American society has actually been closed. “He who adjusted to society was rewarded; he who did not was punished,” he said. “The Jewish identity has become integrated. It has been scrambled by exposure to the American experience. The Jew today is a middle-class American; like him only more so.”