The Future of Judaism in the U.S.

Despite divisions among American Jews the future of Judaism is bright, according to prominent Orthodox, Conservative and Reform Judaism leaders. They agreed in a symposium at Fordham University Tuesday night that the unity of the Jewish people depends on civility, respect and cooperation by the three major streams of contemporary Judaism.

“Pluralism exists in Jewish life. This is a fact,” Rabbi Emanuel Rackman, a leader of Orthodox Judaism in America and Chancellor of Bar Ilan University, asserted. “Unity, however, is hard to achieve. I am concerned with civility. It is impossible to say that all groups are equally right. But we should learn from each other,” he said.

Rabbi Alfred Gottschalk, a leader of Reform Judaism and president of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, concurred about civility, but he said that pluralism in the Jewish community should be encouraged. He said he believes in “unity in Jewish life but not in uniformity. Jewish life can only be enriched by diversity and pluralism,” he claimed.

In the view of Rabbi Wolfe Kelman, a leader of Conservative Judaism and executive vice president of the Rabbinical Assembly, there is “a de facto unity” in the American Jewish community. But, Kelman maintained, there is no de jure unity in Judaism here because one branch of Judaism does not recognize “the legitimacy” of the other groups. “No one has a monopoly on holiness,” Kelman said emphatically.

He added, however, that “we have come a long way” recalling the “ferocious fights” between different groups in Judaism when he was growing up in Toronto, Canada. “The fights then were in Yiddish and now they are in English,” he observed to the laughter of some 300 members of the audience.

The symposium was organized and moderated by Rabbi William Berkowitz, national president of the American Jewish Heritage Committee in association with The Dialogue Forum Series, which is sponsored by Berkowitz.

JEWISH COMMUNITY IS IN GOOD SHAPE

The three rabbis agreed that the American Jewish community “has never been in a better shape” as Kelman asserted. Noting that 40 and 50 years ago many Jews converted to Christianity, “today many return to Judaism, in almost unprecedented numbers in the last 150 years.” He said that the amount of books published in America on Jewish subjects and the number of people who study and learn Judaism and other Jewish subjects has no parallel in Jewish history.

“This is the greatest golden age of Jewish life since the golden age of the Jews in Spain,” Gottschalk said. He pointed out, however, that at the same time the vast majority of American Jews are still unaffiliated and only a small percentage is in the “Torah movement.” Rackman contended that for most Jews “Jewishness is most superficial. They use it as a rite of passage, for birth, wedding and death,” he said. He said that in his view, the Torah is “eternal,” and should be able, therefore, to cope with modernity. The most controversial issue confronting the three panelists was the “Who is a Jew” question, a controversy that has caused a political uproar in Israel and in the American Jewish community.

The Orthodox want to amend the Law of Return in Israel to recognize as converts to Judaism only those who were converted according to halacha, or by Orthodox rabbis. Conversions by Conservative and Reform rabbis would not be valid, according to the proposed amendment.

“This is a heinous thing, to question the authenticity of Jews,” Gottschalk said. The question is not only who is a Jew but also “who is a rabbi,” he pointed out, stating that the issue has caused the Reform movement “more pain than any other issue.” He said that when Hitler killed the Jews he knew exactly who was a Jew. “This dispute creates a lot of animosity,” he exclaimed.

Kelman said that the issue of “Who is a Jew” has become an attempt by “rightwing Orthodox to delegitimize the Reform and Conservative movements.” He said that he believes in the separation of state and church.

Rackman, who is regarded as a moderate Orthodox, said that he, too, is against the “Who is a Jew” amendment. But he said he is against the separation of state and church although he believes in depoliticizing religion.

Concluding the evening, Berkowitz read a short statement calling for the unity of the Jewish people. He stated: “The American Jewish Heritage Committee plans to undertake a program of action during the forthcoming year and urge special days of unity between all Jewish denominations.”