I was confronted by a quite wonderful article in the JC last week yet it was strangely missing something.
It was written by Jonathan Boyd, the executive director of the Institute for Jewish Policy Research. The work he and JPR do is so important. They gather huge amounts of data and then share their findings with the community. I have been to many of their presentations and find many times that their work superbly uncovers an inconvenient truth which is usually ignored by the wider community
He once again writes an excellent article but there is something not quite right with it.
He begins by explaining that the fastest growing and most successful stream of Judaism in this country is Charedi. Remarkably he tells us, based on data, that the population has doubled every twenty years and sees no sign of slowing down. How have the Charedi world achieved this? He explains ‘An unrelenting emphasis of the strictest interpretation of Jewish law, a clear separation from wider society and the dangers that exist there and a determination to replenish the Jewish population by creating large Jewish families’
So far, so good. It is the next paragraph which had the omission.
‘Non-Charedi forms of Judaism, including centrist Orthodoxy, simply don’t have the same demographic prospects. Numerous indicators show this, including aging populations, higher rates of intermarriage, lower levels of Jewish social propinquity and weaker levels of Jewish practice’
JPR and Pew data both here and in the USA show this paragraph to be not fully accurate – i.e. data that his organisation has collected. Both show that yes, a Charedi way of life results in extremely low rates of intermarriage and high levels of Jewish practices – but so do Modern Orthodox observant Jews. A JPR report in 2016 showed less than 1% intermarriage for that group while non-Orthodox and secular are approaching 50% and beyond.
Of course, Centrist Orthodoxy covers a wide range of observances but within Centrist Orthodoxy there is a significant group who are both religiously observant and living very much in the modern world.
He then goes on to explain how non-Orthodox Judaism has moved away from halachic observance to a commitment to social justice. How ‘it is becoming more universalist, more outward looking’ and less involved with halachic practice.
He concludes by saying that the Jewish world is ‘becoming polarised into two increasingly hard-line camps- the universalists and the particularists’ However we need to find a balance – that is the challenge! His conclusion there are only two alternatives and both he feels are not ideal.
However there very much is a third approached championed by Rabbis such as Shimshon Rafael Hirsch who advocated the observance of traditional Judaism while being involved in the wider world
As Rav Hirsch said “Now what is it that we want? Are the only alternatives either to abandon religion (Universalist) or to renounce all progress (Particularist)? We declare before heaven and earth that if our religion demanded that we should renounce what is called civilization and progress we would obey unquestioningly, because our religion is for us the word of God before which every other consideration has to give way. There is, however, no such dilemma. Judaism never remained aloof from true civilization and progress. In almost every area its adherents were fully abreast of contemporary learning and very often excelled their contemporaries. An excellent thing is the study of Torah combined with the ways of the world.
So, whether it is Torah im Derech Eretz of Rabbi Hirsch or Torah u Madda – Torah and Science of Yeshiva University or even Torah u Chochma – Torah and Wisdom of Rabbi Sacks these are all varieties on the same theme - be a proud passionate Orthodox Jew and pursue a secular degree, a professional job, a love of culture, science, history art – there is no contradiction. And it has proved remarkably successful.
It is for us to loudly and proudly state – there is a way, has always been a way to live both as an Orthodox Jew and as a modern thinker, to combine the universal and the particular with a dedication to the eternity of the Torah coupled with a thirst for worldly knowledge and an engagement with the wider world.
We know what works. The first way is Charedi – but for the vast majority of the mainstream community that is not going to work. What is needed is an embrace of an ideology that speaks to both the universal and the particular. As Rabbi Sacks says ‘“Judaism honours both the universality of the human condition and the particularity of Jewish faith.”
That is what is needed, that is ‘The extraordinary difficult balance’ that Boyd is searching for – it exists and is being lived all around the world, we just have to open our eyes to see.
Rabbi Andrew Shaw is CEO of Mizrachi UK
