The outgoing Jewish year 5781 has without doubt been a difficult one for the Jewish people, as for most of the world’s inhabitants.
A global pandemic has caused huge difficulties for religious and communal life, the hydra of antisemitism has raised several of its heads once again, and the Jewish state had to defend itself in the latest of a series of conflicts with Hamas’s terrorist regime in Gaza.
Jews in the Diaspora have had to deal with two of these three crises directly, while the pandemic and the war with Gaza fed directly into, and exacerbated, the wave of antisemitism that they have confronted.
For US Jews, the challenge to Jewish communal life posed by COVID-19, and the virulence of renewed antisemitism, both on the far Right and the far Left, have been keenly felt, while Israel’s latest round of hostilities with Gaza brought to the fore once again the concerns of many progressive American Jews with the policies of the Jewish state.
This, in turn, underlined the issues raised by the landmark study of American Jewry published by the Pew Research Center amid the conflict itself, which noted, again, the problems of declining Jewish identity and affinity to Israel.
RABBI JACOB BLUMENTHAL took over as CEO of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism in the US and the Rabbinical Assembly in July last year, and has therefore had a baptism of fire confronting all these challenges and more.
Blumenthal says that COVID-19, which appeared in the early summer to be in the rearview mirror, has now created renewed challenges to communal life with the emergence of the highly infectious Delta variant.
He said that there will “continue to be a decreased in-person presence” for services and programming,” over the coming High Holy Days, and a substantial online presence as an alternative.
“COVID-19 remains a big challenge with infection rates rising again in many parts of America. We did have a wave of people returning to services and programing in the summer, but the resurgence of the virus itself has been a huge disappointment for our communities,” said the rabbi.
He said, however, that the digital methods of engagement with communal life, which became such a prevalent and vital part of overcoming the difficulties posed by the coronavirus to communal activity, will continue to bridge the gaps created by the global health crisis, as they have done over the last 18 months.
For the upcoming Jewish holiday season, Blumenthal said, Conservative communities were adopting a variety of solutions for coping with the rise in infection rates, with some more traditional communities holding only in-person-only services, but in smaller groups and outdoors, while others are using a hybrid system of in-person services together with livestreaming the services and other digital programing.
Rabbi Moshe Hauer, the new executive vice president of the Orthodox Union, said similarly that there is an ongoing “wariness” about the COVID-19 situation, but said that congregants were “energized” to get back to synagogue for the High Holy Days and have a meaningful and positive experience.
Hauer said that attendance levels at synagogues “is getting back to pre-2019 levels,” and that he expects attendance over Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur to remain high, albeit in the alternate formats required for COVID.
“The main sanctuary may not be as full as it was, but by and large the masses are back, even if some are in a tent or a parking lot. Thank God, there has been a very robust return,” he said.
For Hauer, one of the most serious challenges facing US Jewry is that of the decline in Jewish identity and in affinity with the Jewish people and the State of Israel, which has been revealed in several studies, most significantly among Jewish youth.
The 2020 Pew report found that 25% of the US Jewish community’s 5.8 million people defined themselves as “Jews of no religion,” meaning they considered themselves to be Jewish ethnically or culturally and have a Jewish parent or were raised Jewish, but said they are atheist or have no religion.
Among Jews aged 18-29, fully 40% said they were Jews of no religion, and this group in particular had extremely high rates of intermarriage and a very low level of identity with the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
“Addressing this is an absolute priority for Diaspora Jewry. Loss of identity is a profound concern, and one to which we need to dedicate time and resources,” said Hauer.
The rabbi said that the strong Jewish identity revealed by the Pew report and other studies and means among the Orthodox community “encourages us to continue building and strengthening what we have found to work, which is a significantly committed and immersive Jewish life.”
But he said the OU itself is heavily invested in engaging unaffiliated Jewish youth in particular, and working to reinvigorate their sense of belonging to the Jewish people.
“We don’t look at the swelling number of Orthodox Jews and say ‘that’s great’; we have to look at the totality of all Jews. The connection to klal Yisrael of all Jews is as eternal as the Jewish people. We don’t write anyone off and would ever do so,” he said.
He pointed to the OU’s Birthright program, which is aimed at unaffiliated Jewish college students, and the programming of its NCSY organization for unaffiliated Jews as some of the primary ways it is investing in the challenge of bolstering the Jewish identity of the young generation of American Jews.
“Jewish identity means that a person sees and feels a sense of Jewish kinship and brotherhood with the Jewish people, identifies with the Jewish story and the miraculous hand of God guiding the Jewish people throughout history, and the mission from Sinai to live religious lives and have a profound impact on the world around us,” said the rabbi.
Hauer said the OU “does not expect or aim for our participants to become Orthodox Jews; we aim for them to become more complete Jews,” but added that “yes, religion is part of being Jewish; our faith is core to our Judaism.”
Blumenthal said that the Pew report showed that US Jewry does “look different” from a decade ago, but said that it is “nonetheless thriving,” and that the American Jewish community is “vibrant and growing.”
The Pew report demonstrated that Conservative Jews had the lowest rate of intermarriage outside of the Orthodox community, as well as the highest level of Jewish identity and affinity to Israel among non-Orthodox and unaffiliated Jews.
ANOTHER OF the perennial challenges facing US Jewry, and no less Israeli Jews, is the relationship between these two largest branches of the Jewish people.
The pandemic has made it physically harder for Jews from the two countries to meet physically, which Blumenthal says affects the ability to forge closer ties, but he says he does not believe the current difficulties will have any lasting effect.
“The best way to understand Israel is when US Jews can go there, and when Israelis can come to the US to visit, or as shlihim [emissaries] with different groups,” he said.
“I believe that there is a lot of pent-up demand, and that people will travel when possible.”
It has often been said that the relationship between US Jewry and Israel has come under strain in recent years due to the previous government’s failure to advance religious pluralism in Israel, its focus on obtaining Evangelical Christian support instead of that of liberal Jews, and due to the conflict with the Palestinians, which alienates progressive liberals in the US Jewish community.
Blumenthal said he has been heartened by what he sees as the fresh direction taken by the new government in this regard.
“The new government is much more interested in a relationship with the North American Jewish community,” said the rabbi.
“Diaspora Affairs Minister Nachman Shai and other ministers have specifically reached out to the American Jewish community. The new government has made very intentional efforts to establish a strong relationship with all elements of Diaspora Jewry, and that is having an impact.”
Blumenthal said that many American Jews feel Israel to be a second home, and said that it is therefore “important to feel welcome in that home.”
Said the rabbi: “It’s important for the support of the US Jewish community, and for the sense of Jewish peoplehood, to feel connected to the land, the people and the State of Israel.”
Hauer also noted the importance of strong Israel-Diaspora ties, but said that “in many quarters it is stronger than ever,” although he added that it had “frayed” for some parts of the community.
“It has frayed along with Jewish identity, and to the extent that we are not being successful in securing Jewish identity, we are seeing an impact on that segment’s relationship with Israel,” said the rabbi.
But he said that he believes affinity to Israel to be a strong component of all branches of US Jewry.
“I don’t believe that our firmly committed colleagues in other streams of Judaism are less committed to State of Israel.
“There may be more or less disagreements about policy at specific times, but any Jewish movement that has the continuation of the Jewish people at its core has the strength of the State of Israel as part of its prayers, and part of its heart and soul.”
Hauer said that “political divergence” between US Jewry, large parts of which are overwhelmingly liberal, and Israel, whose politics has become less so, “has added stress and strain to the Israel-Diaspora relation,” especially in light of the severe political polarization in both countries.
“I would still maintain that where Jewish identity is strong, that has not and will not lead to disenfranchisement from Israel.”
BLUMENTHAL ALSO addressed the rise in antisemitism, which has seen severe physical assaults against American Jews, vandalism against Jewish institutions, online incitement against the Jewish community, and a decrease in the sense of security of many in the community.
This antisemitism has manifested itself in the rise in hatred of Jews and conspiracy theories against Jewish people resultant from the pandemic, as well as the virulent anti-Zionism witnessed in demonstrations and activism against Israel during and after the conflict with Gaza, which on many occasions became overt antisemitism.
“We remain very concerned, and Jews are worried going into the new year, in terms of physical and psychological safety,” he said.
He rejected, however, the idea that the rise of antisemitism would impact the desire of young Jews to identify and affiliate with the Jewish community.
“In some instances it spurs many young people to be proud of their Jewish heritage and explore it.
“But our job as a community is to create a positive experience and identity. We want Jewish identity to be formed from internal pride and belief, rather than from outside hostility.”
The Jewish year 5781 has without doubt been one of the most difficult in recent memory, and 5782 is shaping up to be perhaps just as challenging.
But inherent in those challenges are lessons and indications of new ways forward to overcome the many trials and obstacles they have placed in the path of the Jewish people. The experiences of the past year will surely strengthen Jews everywhere in the path forward over the coming year.