Assimilation
I heard her talking in the back of the classroom and I understood the beast that had taken her over. She was just a sophomore in high school, yet already she had lost all connection to her people. She saw no reason not to marry a Gentile that “she loved”, she saw no reason to be observant, religion was meaningless to her, who by the way came from a Jewish School, Solomon Schechter. And all these complaints she told to an Israeli girl who agreed with her and explained that she too, the Israeli girl, had problems with her parents attempting to restrict her to Jewish men only. Both of these girls would be the last ones who would be considered likely victims for assimilation, one a daughter of non-religious Israeli parents and the other who went to Solomon Schechter, the Jewish Day School. Yet both of them had fallen victim. For once in the Jewish People’s history we face not an enemy from outside, but one from within, the one we call “Assimilation.”
Let’s examine exactly why Solomon Schechter, the conservative Jewish Day School failed to instill in this child at the very least an understanding of the importance of marrying within the faith. I have a unique relation to this particular issue, as I myself attended Schechter alongside this very girl. The failure of Schechter was that very few of the students actually cared about the Jewish studies they participated in. What difference does the Bible make, if we are not going to live our lives according to it anyway? Who cares about the Halachot of announcing the New Month now in modern times? Why bother learning Hebrew if the only time it will be used is on a two-week vacation to Israel?
Schechter had no answers to burning issues in the Jewish tradition. They avoided offending anyone by ignoring burning issues among Jews and the Land of Israel and of course we all recognized the fraud in teaching only the “agreeable” parts of Jewish history and Halacha. Of course it is important to understand the laws of announcing the new moon as they relate to the general picture of Jewish Tradition and Law, but without understanding what relevance such an issue has today, it becomes boring and useless. Had they taught laws still relevant to today, the students would have understood that Jewish Law does have something of value to say regarding the way we live our lives today. Yet, bringing up a modern, controversial issue would cause problems in that the students would go home and have a discussion about the issue with their parents. Normally it would be wonderful if children talk with their parents about Judaism, but if that child is explaining how Jewish Law contradicts many of the liberal concepts his parents believe in, the parents will of course complain tot he school. Rather than have such a dispute with parents the school decided to avoid touchy subjects and instead present information that, while important in the context of Jewish History, lacks bearing on our life today and even if there could be a connection, the teachers do not elaborate on such a connection and instead leave the children empty and bored.
As for the secular Israeli girl, the issue there is that she simply cannot understand her parents anger at her for wanting to date out of the faith. Her parents, who made Yerida (Lit. going down, referring to leaving Israel), certainly see nothing special in the Mitzvot or the Halachot or Jewish History. Her parents, who I doubt observe Shabbat or many other Mitzvot are fanatics when it comes to intermarriage. Children, and especially teenagers, can recognize fraud in an instant and she of course recognizes this fraud and rejects her parents secular Zionism as well as Judaism as a whole. She too cannot see why she shouldn’t marry a gentile who “she loves.” It is an injustice in her eyes, that she should have to observe this particular, restricting Mitzvah, while her parents could seem to care less about the other 612.
There is an idea among many Jews that Israelis don’t have the same issues with intermarriage that we in America do, however I am sad to say that they do. Aside from the religious communities, intermarriage occurs among Israelis, particularly those who have made Yerida. Had Judaism really been so important to these Jews, they would have remained in the Land of Israel rather than leave the Jewish State to go make more money in a foreign land. For these Israeli-Jews to then complain about their children's lack of identification with their people would be humorous if it weren’t so tragic. They who cared so much about Judaism, to have been born in the holiest land and then leave it, now complain about their children's lack of identification with their people.
The stench of fraud is obvious to all of us teenagers. I would beg the Jewish Establishment to please not try to trick us into marrying within the faith. All the youth groups where Jews can meet and marry Jews will not work. The only way to stop intermarriage and assimilation as a whole is to return to what has preserved us for all these centuries. While we complain about the boring Sunday School classes, and the always too long Saturday morning services, we crave true Torah Judaism. A Judaism that will be honest and show us what relevance it has on our lives today and why it is worthy of dividing us from other great people. Give us Torah, fill our spiritual well and you will be rewarded with children who will not only marry within the faith, but children who will also gladly go to the Shabbat Shacharit Service, who will joyfully support Israel’s existence and care deeply about our fellow Jews. Yet there will have to be sacrifices, we will want Kashrut to be kept in our home and Shabbat as well. We will insist on fasting on all the days when our ancestors were afflicted and we will wear kippot on our heads. These are the choices for the Establishment. They can choose Judaism or they can continue along the path they have been following. We will be waiting, our souls in the balance.
Topic: Assimilation, two girls in my Hebrew class (Read 2815 times)