Articles

In “Wicked,” the Wizard is not the benevolent leader of Oz as he was depicted in “The Wizard of Oz,” but rather a deceptive and manipulative dictator who uses his position to control the people of Oz. It is as if we have awakened, finding ourselves inside a scene from Wicked, where our leaders are proclaiming a “new Jewish world order.”

There is a raw new reality involving where we as Jews find ourselves in this moment. Wherever we sit on the political stage, we collectively realize the intensity and the uncertainty that these past several weeks have produced, but also the possibilities that may lie ahead!

In some measure, this unfolding military operation, “Rising Lion” could conceivably represent the last major barrier to rewriting the Middle East story. This campaign can be seen as a game-changing moment. Not since the end of the Second World War and the founding of the State of Israel has there been this promise and possibility for a different regional reality. On the one hand this conflict ought to drive our imagination as we envision an alternative outcome, even as we encounter our inherent anguish and fear present in times of crisis.

Jews in America are experiencing a crisis of political and communal anomie, as they struggle to find their place. Jews are facing political uncertainties and social disruptions in connection with the Second Trump Presidency, just as they are confronting with mixed emotions Israel’s conduct in Gaza.

Political divisions today are defining not only the American landscape but also the Jewish communal space. One can argue that our society has been transformed by an array of social and political factors. Among the major elements reshaping our society are major population shifts, issues of acculturation and assimilation, the decline of civility, and the impact of such competing ideas as national conservatism, post-modernism, and Christian nationalism.

In this essay, we are taking a deeper dive into key aspects of the US Jewish religious economy. At the outset, it will be important to examine some new generic trends linked to contemporary religious life that are contributing to this transformational moment. Indeed, neither the religious culture we are experiencing or the institutional forms of practice resembles the religious behaviors that defined our parents’ generation.

On May 8th the world will mark the 80th anniversary of VE (Victory in Europe) Day. The defeat of Nazi Germany by the allied forces marked a historic moment, not only ending the Second World War in Europe but ultimately ending the genocide of European Jewry.

American Jewry is experiencing a revolutionary moment as we face the onslaught of a significant set of demographic, political and structural challenges. In prior articles both on these pages and elsewhere, I have laid out these transformational issues.

Recently, I received a call from my high school reunion committee chairperson inquiring in her wonderful Southern drawl if I would be coming to our 65th reunion! Politely declining, as I have never been back to any of these prior gatherings, in true form I retained my distance from that period in my life.

This coming week, as the CCAR gathers in Chicago for its 136 annual Conference, there are numerous challenges but also opportunities that face the American rabbinate.

This is the essential moment for the Central Conference of American Rabbis, requiring it to be a strategic and public player in moving our community forward. At no other time, since the period of the Second World War, will our clergy play such a critical role, being called upon to be thought leaders, active defenders of our democracy, and visionary voices for Israel, our movement, and the Jewish people.