Comments on: JFS and Racial Discrimination

By: Genius

Genius — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 07:39:05 +0000

Sure, the percentage of Jews who are identifiably Jewish will diminish (but it has nothing to do with Christian evangelism and Muslim dawa, since the only Jews converting to other religions are the absolutely least committed and least interested in being Jewish from the beginning). It's probably already near 1% and will drop below that figure as my grandparents' generation dies and as my generation doesn't replace them. It remains to be seen whether demographics is destiny for American Jews. Will their experience in America be any different when they're 0.5% of the population than it was when they were 2-3%? They're going to remain concentrated in certain industries and in certain geographical areas for a long time into the future. Meanwhile, the dominant Brahmin caste is so heavily Jewish that I actually observe Jews and Jewishness becoming more prominent in American life over time. This is something that should only be noticeable from one generation to the next, but I see it changing from one annual visit to the next.

By: Will S.

Will S. — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 16:41:16 +0000

However, given the propensity of people of other faiths, esp. Christianity and Islam, to proselytize, and the relative lack of propensity of Jews to proselytize, unless the Conservative and Orthodox Jews have very large families, it doesn’t seem likely that, esp. given increasing levels of immigration (legal and otherwise) to America, the Jewish community will avoid seeing its percentage of the total population diminish, over time. Demographics is destiny.

By: Genius

Genius — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 15:31:12 +0000

There are two simultaneous trends. First, the least committed to living a Jewish life (99% of Reform and 90% of Conservative) are very unlikely to have Jewish children with any knowledge of Judaism: assimilation and intermarriage are decimating the Jewish community at large. Second, the most committed to living a Jewish life (Orthodox, plus the Reform and Conservative elites) are growing in numbers absolutely and relatively, increasing their influence within the community and their ability to represent the community, and they are making the community more traditional in many ways. In a generation, the Jewish community in America will be much smaller but much more intense, focused and dedicated.

By: Ronduck

Ronduck — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 11:43:02 +0000

Or to put it another way, the Reform movement will be self-liquidating since if the Reform believe that Jews are just Americans who practice a different religion then the next step is to leave Judaism altogether.

It seems that the Jewish community in America is at a dividing point, some will move to Israel, and some will assimilate entirely.