The future of American jewry

Abstract

American Jewry has moved into a second phase of its adaptation to American society. This phase is characterized by an end of sociological separation, a break-up of older Jewish population centers, the unraveling of Progressive solutions, an end of Amerian isolation and changing American-Israel relations. In this new phase, Jewish survival is threatened by the weakness of the Jewish family, a decline in Jewish observance, and the decline of Jewish communal organization as a basis for Jewish solidarity and of Jewish education as the basis of the Jewish way of life and of the Jewish character. Jewish experience with voluntarism, Jewish inventiveness, imagination and a willingness to experiment will be assets as Jews continue to adapt to America. However, in the final analysis what will be needed is a renewal of the covenental tradition based more on the obligations that parties accept and agree to undertake than on the exercise of rights.