Traditional Jewish Family Standards Seen Breaking Down in U.S.

The classical Jewish family, directed by ancient Jewish traditions, is breaking down in the United States because radically new conditions have altered life in this country, Dr. Nahum N. Glatzer, Professor of Jewish History at Brandeis University, told an audience of 1, 000 guests here at the 100th Anniversary Dinner of the Jewish Family and Community Service last night. The agency is an affiliate of the Chicago Jewish Federation.

“The Jewish family stood for standards of life and action, ” Dr. Glatzer said. “It strove for continuity; it considered itself an integral part of a greater whole; it was an active group, with the home as its center; it was a learning group. Under ideal circumstances this type of family could counteract fragmentalization of life; it could achieve a measure of wholeness. “

That world, except for a few, yet strong, tradition-directed homes, is no more, Dr. Glatzer declared. He said that “in the foreseeable future we can envisage an ever greater Americanization of the Jewish family; already 80 percent of American Jews are native born; there will therefore be greater homogeneity and better technical understanding between the generations of the parents and the children.

“But the better technical understanding’ may help only in avoiding emotional frictions, Dr. Glatzer continued. “It will not help to surmount the deep-seated isolation that separates the generations. The smoother-functioning family will not have gained inner strength. The individual will not expect to derive his affirmation from the family unit to which he belongs.”

FACTOR OF HUMAN CONCERN SEEN ABANDONED BY MODERN FAMILIES

Dr. Glatzer emphasized “that the old patriarchal family life has been replaced by the child-centered home, that a wait-and-see existence has been substituted for the life of values; and that we have rapidly abandoned both the element of wholeness and the factor of human concern that characterized the old home.” He predicted that “the family will grow more and more functional, increasingly institutional.”

“To counteract this transformation, ” he said, “our public institutions, synagogues, social service groups, schools, hospitals will have to undergo a radical change of heart. As much as possible, they will have to break away from the bureaucratic, mechanical approach, from routine and precedent, and to decide that, like himself, one’s neighbor is a human person.”

Samuel A. Goldsmith, executive vice-president of the Jewish Federation, predicted that much more emphasis on preventing “the growing tensions of family living” will be one of the developments in family welfare service. He said that in the Chicago area, this development would come about by the extension of the Jewish Family Service “Family Life Education” program. He also told the 1, 000 guests that he foresaw not only a continuing increase in the number of aged in every community but also a dramatic increase in longevity.

Founded in 1859 primarily as a “relief agency, ” the main purpose of the Family and Community Service now is that of a comprehensive counseling service for troubled people in all walks of life. In that capacity this agency of the Jewish Federation is known today as one of the outstanding organization of its kind in the U.S.A.