Articles

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.

Six Factors Framing US Policy:

We are experiencing a revolution in American foreign policy behavior. Posted below are some of the driving elements designed to reshape this new and evolving political model:

Confronted as we are by divisive national politics and serious generational and policy divisions around Israel, along with an array of religious and cultural differences among us, this is the moment for serious and managed conversations that Jewish Americans, among others, have been craving.

There is a deep paralysis in our country today, as many are struggling to first understand and to then to act in the aftermath of these first four weeks of our new administration. This tsunami of actions has upended our basic democratic norms and political culture.

This first week of the Trump Presidency may have represented the most significant transformation of government policy and power that this nation has ever seen in such a short order. Where many presidents seek to reset the culture in advance of introducing new policies and actions, this president has launched a revolution of change from the outset.