The Vanishing American Jew
In Search of Jewish Identity for the Next Century
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
In this urgent book, Alan M. Dershowitz shows why American Jews are in danger of disappearing - and what must be done now to create a renewed sense of Jewish identity for the next century. In previous times, the threats to Jewish survival were external - the virulent consequences of anti-Semitism. Now, however, in late-twentieth-century America, the danger has shifted. Jews today are more secure, more accepted, more assimilated, and more successful than ever before. They've dived into the melting pot - and they've achieved the American Dream. And that, according to Dershowitz, is precisely the problem. More than 50 percent of Jews will marry non-Jews, and their children will most often be raised as non-Jews. Which means, in the view of Dershowitz, that American Jews will vanish as a distinct cultural group sometime in the next century - unless they act now. Speaking to concerned Jews everywhere, Dershowitz calls for a new Jewish identity that focuses on the positive - the 3,500-year-old legacy of Jewish culture, values, and traditions. Dershowitz shows how this new Jewish identity can compete in America's open environment of opportunity and choice - and offers concrete proposals on how to instill it in the younger generation.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In a provocative call to action, Dershowitz argues that American Jewry is in danger of extinction by the middle of the next century, because of skyrocketing rates of intermarriage and assimilation, combined with low birth rates. In order to survive, "Judaism must become less tribal, less ethnocentric, less exclusive, less closed-off, less defensive, less xenophobic and less clannish," asserts this Harvard Law School professor, lawyer and prolific author (Chutzpah). His most original proposal calls for an overhaul of Jewish education to make classes and study groups more accessible, widespread and relevant to secular Jews who are largely ignorant of Jewish history and culture. He advocates further that Jews become more welcoming of the non-Jewish spouse in intermarriage. Religious Jews, he adds, must accept the validity of secular Jews who reject ritual but embrace Judaism as an evolving civilization. Although Dershowitz believes that institutionalized anti-Semitism has all but disappeared, he offers suggestions as to how Jews can monitor and oppose bigotry among the militia movement, Holocaust deniers, African American extremists and the religious right. His thoughtful, unsentimental analysis of the future prospects of American Jewry deserves close attention. Author tour.
