Regular readers will have picked up my general admiration for Jews. Of course, that admiration is not unconfined, like all peoples everywhere they have their fair share of shits! Even so, and here I am trying hard not to indulge in stereotyping but there surely cannot be any doubt that they have more than their fair share of brains and intelligence. However, in this post I want to concentrate on one small part of the Jewish diaspora - American Jewry.
Jonathan S. Tobin, a Jew and a distinguished American writer, has confirmed in an article in Commentary an inexpert opinion of mine (expressed somewhere back down this long list of posts) to the effect that the Jewish community in America is weakening. He bases his opinion on personal observation and also on the result of a recent Pew Research Centre poll:
To acknowledge the dismal future that this charts for the community should
not be confused with exaggerated claims about American Jewry disappearing. There are still an estimated 5.3 million people who claim Jewish identity and a
critical mass of them are still raising Jewish children, many of whom will
affiliate with religious denominations and have an affinity for Israel. But the
breakdown of the data shows that among the non-Orthodox majority in the United States—a group that composes approximately 90 percent of the community—most are not marrying Jews or giving their kids a Jewish education. Indeed, the two elements of American Jewry that seem to be growing at the most rapid rates are the Orthodox and those who consider themselves to be Jewish in some way but have no religion, a group that makes up 22 percent of those polled. While, as Pew points out, secularism has always been part of American Jewish culture, most of those with no religion are not raising Jewish children or participating in or supporting Jewish institutions. Moreover, more than half of non-Orthodox Jews are also marrying non-Jews with the overwhelming majority of these families also giving their children no Jewish education.
This is precisely the fate, if that is the right word, facing Muslim immigrant communities living in the west and its inexorable outcome is part of the reason for the ferocity of Islamists desperate and Canute-like in their efforts to turn back the tide. Personally, I shall not be sorry to see the back of certain of the worst sorts of Islam but the watering down of Jewish brilliance is a real loss.
