A Thoughtful Examination Of The American Jewish Future

THE JEWISH AMERICAN PARADOX by Robert Mnookin Public Affairs, Hachette Book Group 208 pages, $28.00

The American Jewish condition, in the view of Harvard law professor and director of the Harvard Negotiation Research Project Robert H. Mnookin, is deeply paradoxical. While Jews have achieved unprecedented integration, influence and esteem in every facet of American life, this diverse community now faces a number of diverse challenges. Among them, Mnookin argues, is weak religious observance, widespread intermarriage, diminished cohesion, and deeply conflicting views about Israel. This book asks many questions. Among them are these: Can the community pass on to the next generation a sufficient sense of Jewish identity in light of these challenges? Who should count as Jewish in America? What should be the relationship of American Jews to Israel? It is Mnookin’s view that the answers of the past no longer serve Jewish Americans today. He calls for a radically inclusive Jewish community, one where being Jewish can depend on personal choice and self-identification, not simply birth or formal religious conversion. Instead of preventing interfaith marriage or ostracizing those critical of Israel, he envisions a community that embraces diversity and debate, and in so doing preserves and strengthens Jewish identity into the next generation and beyond.

The “Matrilineal” Rule In discussing intermarriage and the “matrilineal” rule, he provides this assessment: "The matrilineal rule did not exist in biblical times and can’t be found in the Torah or the rest of the Hebrew Bible. In biblical times children inherited their Jewish status through the paternal line. Many Israelite men took foreign women as wives and ‘there was never any doubt that the children were Israelite,’ according to Harvard history professor Shaye Cohen, who has studied the pedigree of the matrilineal rule in detail. The Old Testament is filled with tales in which ‘Israelite heroes and kings married foreign women.’ “ The Bible tells us that Judah married a Canaanite, Joseph an Egyptian, Moses a Midianite and an Ethiopian, David a Philistine, and Solomon women of every description. Mnookin shows that, “There is no claim that the children of these patriarchs were not members of the tribe because their mothers were not. The Bible contains no suggestion that these gentile wives had to convert to Judaism; the idea of conversion to Judaism did not yet exist. When it comes to interfaith marriage in contemporary America, Mnookin points to a Pew Research Center study which found that a rising share of adult children of intermarriage were choosing to identify as Jews. He cites Brandeis University Professor Leonard Saxe who noted that, “We may be at a moment in time when intermarriage…is actually promoting the expansion and renewal of American Jewry.” To those who view intermarriage as a threat to the Jewish future, Mnookin writes, “Although intermarriage is…a challenge, the increasing ‘thinness’ of Jewish engagement generally, even among people who have two Jewish parents, is a more pressing concern. The larger challenge, as I see it, is how to increase the quality of Jewish engagement in a world where intermarriage is not likely to decline. What’s the primary message we should be imparting to today’s Jewish children? I have two grandchildren who are children of intermarriage and two grandchildren who have two Jewish parents. I would give all four of them the same message: ‘The issue is not whether you marry ‘in’ or ‘out.’ The issue is: Do you make the Jewish tradition a meaningful part of your life, and do you pass that tradition on to your future children.’”

Nature of Jewish Identity The nature of Jewish identity has been a subject of disagreement. One group has called it a community of faith, and another has viewed it in terms of ethnicity. The idea of ethnicity, Mnookin argues, is relatively new: “it emerged in Europe, roughly between 1750 and 1900…New Jewish intellectual movements developed during this period. One school of thought argued that Judaism was simply a religion, and that Jews were not a distinct people or nation. The claim is associated with Moses Mendelssohn and the Jewish Enlightenment and later with the leaders of Reform Judaism. Another school of thought, led by the Zionists, made essentially the opposite claim: that Jews were a people who were entitled to their own homeland….In America…progressive rabbis rejected the idea that they had any desire to join a Jewish ‘nation.’…In 1869 a conference of American rabbis made a point of restating Judaism’s messianic mission: it was no longer to create a Jewish state in the biblical holy land but instead to build on the prophetic ideals of Judaism for the benefit of all peoples.” In a chapter entitled “Can We Survive Acceptance,” Mnookin points out that, “Jews are more accepted and better integrated in America today than they have ever been in any time or place…The United States was the first modern nation to grant Jews full political equality. In Europe Jews had to struggle for emancipation. They won political equality in France in 1791, but not until the nineteenth century in Switzerland, Great Britain, Italy, Germany and Sweden and not until the early twentieth century in Spain, Portugal and Russia.” Unlike some European nations, Mnookin points out, “The United States has never had an official national religion. Although the population of the original thirteen colonies were overwhelmingly Protestant, they were of different denominations. Once the nation was formed, the First Amendment to the Constitution prohibited the establishment of a national religion. Another source of protection for Jews was the First Amendment’s guarantee of ‘free exercise’ of religion. Even in colonial times Jews were generally allowed to practice their religion without governmental interference…America has long viewed itself as a nation of immigrants from many different countries and cultures. This feature of American ideology has mitigated a tendency to see Jews as not ‘real Americans.’”

Can Jews Survive Acceptance? He points to the fact that, “Since World War II, institutionalized anti-Semitism has virtually disappeared. Jews no longer face discrimination in education, housing, and other areas, and they are thriving in virtually every field of public life…According to the Pew Research Center, Jews are the nation’s most highly regarded religious group. And yet most American Jews still see anti- Semitism as a problem.” Here, of course, Mnookin is not referring to anti-Semitic attacks and statements from extremist groups and individuals, such as the attack by a far-right individual on a Pittsburgh synagogue. Of the overall situation, he notes that, “…the decline of anti-Semitism may pose the greater challenge to Jewish identity. Many Jews in my daughter’s generation have never experienced a single act of anti-Semitic discrimination. For my grandchildren’s generation, anti-Semitism is largely an artifact of history. As the memory of the Holocaust recedes, American Jews may lose this reason to identify as Jewish—-and the community may lose an important form of social cohesion. How will we adapt to the fact that few Americans hate us anymore? We have long survived affliction. Can we survive acceptance? Despite this reality, American Jews seem to see anti-Semitism as being widespread. Mnookin cites a 1985 poll of San Francisco Jews. They were asked whether they thought a Jew could be elected to Congress from San Francisco. One third said it could not be done. At the time, all three members of Congress from the city and its contiguous districts were Jewish.

Alarmist Approach of Jewish Advocacy Groups An important factor in Jewish assessment of anti-Semitism, writes Mnookin, “…may be the alarmist approach by Jewish advocacy organizations, especially the Anti- Defamation League (ADL). The ADL plays an important part in keeping both Jews and policy makers aware of the risks of anti-Semitism …but it often exaggerates.” He points to the ADL’s approach to the 163 bomb threats to synagogues in 2017: “Although virtually all of them had been attributed to the disturbed Jewish teenager in Israel (who has since been indicted), the ADL included them in its ‘harassment’ statistics for 2017 and insisted they were evidence of anti- Semitism…By including these threats in its 2017 report, the ADL was able to claim a dramatic 41/per cent spike in harassment cases in just one year…I don’t think the Jewish community is well served by such hype.” One reason that the ADL and others report a growth in anti-Semitism, argues Mnookin, is they have redefined the term to include criticism of Israel and Zionism. He states that, “To me ‘anti-Semitic’ does not mean ‘critical of Israel’ or ‘opposition to the Zionist project’; it means having prejudice against or hatred of Jews.” When it comes to the BDS movement in behalf of Palestinians, which has been called “anti-Semitic” by some, he declares, “Rather than engage in name calling, it would be far better to address their claims on the merits.” When it comes to Israel, Mnookin sees it as a divisive rather than a unifying question for American Jews: “It was once thought that pride in and support for the State of Israel would serve to unite a diverse American Jewish community and buttress Jewish identity in this country. Today I fear the opposite is coming true. Certain present-day policies of the Israeli government now fuel intense conflicts among American Jews and reinforce deep divisions within the American Jewish community. In the words of Professor Dov Waxman, ‘Israel used to bring American Jews together. Now it is driving them apart.’”

Israel’s Expansionary Policies Mnookin believes that, “At issue are two aspects of government policy: First, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the continued Israeli occupation of the West Bank, and second, the exclusive role of the Orthodox rabbinate in defining for Israel what is authentic Judaism. Both are political issues that illustrate what I see as Israel’s core challenge: managing the tension between being Jewish and democratic…In recent years the political center of gravity in Israel has shifted to the right on both issues, favoring increasingly ethno-nationalist and expansionary policies with regard to the West Bank and the treatment of Palestinians there as well as increasingly Orthodox views of Judaism.” He notes that, “The political and religious center of gravity in America is very different, meaning that our Jewish community is no longer well aligned with Israel’s…Many are troubled by Israel’s continued military occupation of the West Bank, its continued expansion of Jewish settlements and its discriminatory treatment of Palestinians.” Israeli political and religious leaders regularly show their contempt for non- Orthodox streams of Judaism, to which the overwhelming majority of Jewish Americans are affiliated. Mnookin writes that, “…members of the Israeli government regularly make stunningly insulting comments that outrage many American Jews. One conspicuous example occurred in 2015 when the Minister of Religious Services suggested that Reform Jews were not really Jews at all. ‘The moment a Reform Jew stops following the religion of Israel, let’s say there’s a problem,’ the minister, David Azoulay said in a radio interview. ‘I cannot allow myself to call such a person a Jew.’”

Reform Jews Are Called “Idolators” This, Mnookin points out, was not an isolated example: “Israel Eichler, a member of the Knesset affiliated with an ultra-Orthodox party, compared Reform Jews to mentally ill patients. Moshe Gafni, head of the Knesset’s Finance Committee, said that “Reform Jews are a group of clowns who stab the holy Torah,’ adding that ‘there will never, ever be recognition for the group of clowns, not at the (Western) Wall or anywhere else.’ Rabbi David Yosef claimed that Reform Jews are ‘Idolators—-simply and literally.’” When it comes to the role played by pro-Israel lobbying groups such as AIPAC, Mnookin writes: “My problem with AIPAC is its determined silence on the continued expansion of the settlements and its view that all supporters of Israel should follow its lead…As long as the Israeli government can postpone making tough choices on the settlements it will. Indeed…the coalition seems to prefer the status quo to any negotiated agreement. That’s why I consider silence from American Jews and the U.S. government to be so dangerous; it tacitly condones the status quo. By failing to speak out on the settlement issue and trying to prevent others from doing so, AIPAC is making the situation worse….Most American Jews are distressed by the West Bank which has gone on much longer than anyone anticipated in 1967. Most are distressed by the seeming intractability of the conflict and the position in which it puts Israel as an occupying power. They are ashamed of Israeli treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank and think Israel is failing to live up to its democratic ideals. They don’t think either side is doing all it can to achieve a two-state solution.” Concerning the American Jewish future, Mnookin has this advice: “First, maintain perspective. Recognize that America is different from other countries and that the nature of anti-Semitism here—episodic, on the fringe—does not pose a ‘serious’ threat to Jewish well-being. By all means, be vigilant and fight bigotry wherever it appears…But don’t allow your feelings about past persecution to mislead you about the healthy status of American Jews today. Second, confront what this means for the future of American Jewish identity. For today’s young Jews, being a member of a persecuted minority is not a strong foundation on which to build a Jewish identity. They have never personally experienced persecution, and our tragic history is not a good reason to choose to be Jewish today. We should teach that history to our children and grandchildren so they can appreciate the exceptional conditions in which they live, but we should not ask them to build a Jewish identity on a collective memory of Genocide. Nor should we expect the American Jewish community to be united on that basis. If Americans of Jewish heritage are going to identify as Jewish, it will need to be for positive reasons.”

Thoughtful Meditation and Rigorous Analysis This book is both a thoughtful meditation on faith and a rigorous analysis of the dilemmas facing Jewish Americans. The author makes a powerful case that Judaism should be a welcoming umbrella, which, he points out, it has not been in the past. Hunter College historian Harold Holzer recalls that, “My whole Jewish education was based on what you cannot do, what you cannot eat, when you cannot drive, play ball, etc. In an optimistic, almost nondoctrinal evangelical spirit, this book focuses on what you can do.” It is a powerful consideration of faith and the dilemmas facing the American Jewish community. Mnookin’s positive prescriptions for the future represent an important contribution.