Thursday, October 22, 2009

The Road to Assimilation


Every American Jewish establishment leader is aware that the rate of intermarriage among American Jews is at 50%. Every second Jews that gets married opts to marry out of the tribe. They accept that assimilation is widespread and that the Jewish people is disappearing as a distinctive entity in the United States. Even as they frantically try to keep Jews Jewish, apathy and indifference remain and more Jews are lost. Despite billions of dollars spent on bringing Jewish teenagers to Israel for free on Birthright, most Jews are disconnected from Israel. Jewish organizations invest tons of money into new Holocaust Museums even as young Jews suffer from Holocaust fatigue and overload. Why is it that the brightest leaders and thinkers of the Jewish establishment cannot find a way to sustain the newest generation of Jews?

The simple reason is because these people who are completely alienated from Torah and Jewish values have nothing to offer young Jews. Their ideology is completely bankrupt, with not a shred of spirituality or meaning. Bagels and lox provide no answers for a Jew seeking truth. The "Judaism" that these Jewish establishment leaders are peddling is a mixture of Holocaust victim syndrome, lame Jewish jokes and cultural quirks, knishes and kugel, with some watered down Zionism, cemented by getting Jewish teens drunk on the beaches of Tel-Aviv.

The modern zeitgeist is one of bringing people closer, of breaking down walls and barriers. The new world is one without tribal identity or religious affiliation. In such a world, one need only be a good person. What reason does this "Judaism" give to young Jews for setting up false obstacles and differences between themselves and the rest of society? These youth are given no positive reason to be Jewish, and a myriad of reasons why they should simply be human beings. The "Judaism" that they are taught is emptiness and vanity, devoid of G-d and His commandments, empty of commitment and devotion, without any holiness or reverence. The establishment leaders emphasize the "Jewish" qualities which we share with the larger society: democracy, tolerance, pluralism, etc. Little do they realize that what these assimilation-bent Jews need is to know what makes us different than, not the same as, everyone else. If being Jewish is only about being a good person, why not marry a nice Catholic or Chinese or Greek girl?

The essence of Judaism is that G-d publicly revealed Himself before the entire nation of Israel at Mount Sinai and made an eternal covenant with us. He became our G-d and we became His nation. At Sinai, G-d gave us His plan for life, the Torah, which contains His commandments. These commandments have been the mainstay and foundation of Jewish life for thousands of years. When the situation seemed hopeless, when the desperate Jew in Spain or in Russia was ready to break, it was G-d's promise to Israel that gave him strength. Living in terrible conditions, in the ghettos of Europe or the mellahs of Morocco, the Jew clung fiercely to his G-d and to his faith, with complete trust in G-d's revelation at Sinai and believing fully in the coming of the Redemption.

When Jews keep the Torah, they can overcome Crusades and Inquisitions, pogroms and Auschwitz. When they stray from G-d's Torah, they are left without a basis and are lost. It is time for the Jewish leaders to admit that "cultural Judaism" is a dead end. We have tried to raise a generation on nostalgia, Holocaust guilt and Seinfeld and have found that this is a path to assimilation and spiritual destruction. Without a solid foundation in Judaism, forget about getting Jews excited about Israel. The Jewish pride and identity that these leaders so hope to instill in young Jews must have a basis in Jewish belief, values, ritual and practice.

A whole generation of Jews have been robbed of their heritage. Tragically, they are completely ignorant of the faith of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and of the countless millions of Jews who have preceded them. It is time to return the core of Judaism to what it always was- the Torah and mitzvot. Otherwise, we march down the road to assimilation singing and dancing to the tunes of Fiddler on the Roof.

14 comments:

Please visit my site click here said...

shalom . i saw your blog and it looks intresting . you are invited to see my site the link is
http://lsrael.webs.com

another link here said...

please visit my site related to judaism

the link is http://yahadut.webs.com

Beach Concerts said...

Very interesting read. Thank you for all of the great content. I also wanted to share this...

Good For The Jews with special guests DeLeon and comedians Morgan Murphy, Seth Herzog, and Rachel Sklar is happening at the Highline Ballroom tonight! It’s going to be a great time, hope to see you there!
December 7, 2009
Concert starts @ 8PM
Doors open @ 6PM
Tickets $15.00

Discount code: GFTJ

The hilarious music duo Good For the Jews bring their national tour to New York for a night of unorthodox music and comedy on December 7, the minus-fifth night of Hanukkah.

GOOD FOR THE JEWS:

Jewish music for people who don't like Jewish music.

No songs about dreidels.

And no Israeli folk-dancing.

“Good For the Jews is a hilarious musical act. Don’t miss them.” National Public Radio

“Like Sarah Silverman and Jon Stewart, Good For the Jews is wickedly hilarious.” Village Voice

“Good For the Jews: a Jewish Flight of the Conchords.” Denver Westword

“Like Adam Sandler with a few additional IQ points.” The Onion

“Good For the Jews is part of the sharp new culture presented by such talents as Jon Stewart, Sacha Baron Cohen, and Sarah Silverman.” Washington Post

DeLEON makes “Spanish-Jewish indie rock” by infusing 15th hcentury folk music with the entrancing cadences of the ancient Sephardic tradition. They have toured with Gogol Bordello and recently completed a 20-city tour with Brazilian legends Os Mutantes.

MORGAN MURPHY has been a writer for the TV shows Crank Yankers and Jimmy Kimmel Live. She has performed standup comedy on Premium Blend and Last Call with Carson Daly, and is currently writing for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

SETH HERZOG has appeared on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, Chappelle’s Show, and VH1’s Best Week Ever.

Anonymous said...

You were not mistaken

Anonymous said...

Excuse, it is removed

Anonymous said...

Well I agree but I contemplate the collection should prepare more info then it has.

Anonymous said...

[url=http://rastimores.net/][img]http://rastimores.net/img-add/euro2.jpg[/img][/url]
[b]discount computer software, [url=http://akreoplastoes.net/]selling educational software[/url]
[url=http://akreoplastoes.net/][/url] shop software trial Titanium Pro Mac
academic discounts on software [url=http://akreoplastoes.net/]free mail order software[/url] egghead discount software
[url=http://akreoplastoes.net/]adobe creative suite 4 web premium[/url] buy softwares online
[url=http://rastimores.net/]microsoft discounted software[/url] winzip 12 registration key
software sales canada [url=http://akreoplastoes.net/]buying software company[/url][/b]

Anonymous said...

I really want to get the new iPhone but I dont really know how much the extra data plan costs each month or how much it costs to add the new iPhone to my already existing plan. Can someone tell me the cheapest data plan I can get for the new iPhone and how much it will cost a month, along with home much it will cost to add an iPhone to my existing plan?
[url=http://unlockiphone22.com]unlock iphone[/url] [url=http://www.swissacademy.com.eg/showthread.php?p=226#post226]unlock iphone[/url]

Anonymous said...

[url=http://sapresodas.net/][img]http://sapresodas.net/img-add/euro2.jpg[/img][/url]
[b]buy dreamweaver cheap, [url=http://vioperdosas.net/]nero free[/url]
[url=http://vioperdosas.net/]store register software[/url] software for academic office software student discount
coreldraw x3 upgrade [url=http://sapresodas.net/]zip software downloads[/url] nero 8 serial number
[url=http://sapresodas.net/]free nero[/url] buy software for students
[url=http://sapresodas.net/]all educational software[/url] office 2003 cd key
discount software online [url=http://vioperdosas.net/]buy dreamweaver in[/url][/b]

Anonymous said...

found your site today and really liked it.. i bookmarked it and will be back to check it out some more later ..

Anonymous said...

interesting post. I would love to follow you on twitter. By the way, did any one know that some chinese hacker had busted twitter yesterday again.

Anonymous said...

very useful read. I would love to follow you on twitter. By the way, did any one know that some chinese hacker had busted twitter yesterday again.

Anonymous said...

[url=http://www.indirlog.org/sohbet-eglence/camfrog-video-chat.html]camfrog[/url]

Anonymous said...

What a great web log. I spend hours on the net reading blogs, about tons of various subjects. I have to first of all give praise to whoever created your theme and second of all to you for writing what i can only describe as an fabulous article. I honestly believe there is a skill to writing articles that only very few posses and honestly you got it. The combining of demonstrative and upper-class content is by all odds super rare with the astronomic amount of blogs on the cyberspace.