Dear Commenters: I never thought in a million years that I’d have to defend J.D. Salinger’s claim to Jewish roots.

I’m the Coordinator of the Half-Jewish Network, the largest international organization for adult children and other descendants of intermarriage (www.half-jewish.net). As a member of Jewish outreach, I was recently informed that one of Salinger’s descendants currently lives as a Jew. If this information is true, I sure hope that his descendant does not see your thread, filled with ethnocentric attacks on Salinger’s connection to the Jewish people and negative comments implying that the author of the article, Mrs. Heffernan, is unworthy to comment on Jewish topics because she is Jew by choice.  Your negative remarks would likely cause Salinger’s descendant to question the wisdom of affiliating with the Jewish people.  Moreover, you display a profound ignorance of the situation in which many children of intermarriage find themselves, and of Mr. Salinger’s tragic personal history in particular.

Salinger Was Raised Jewish Mr. Salinger was Jewish as defined by both the Reform and Reconstructionist movements. Both denominations require that the child of either a Jewish mother or a Jewish father be brought up as a Jew from birth, and given life cycle rituals like a bar or bat mitzvah. Even though no Jewish outreach to interfaith families existed when Mr. Salinger was born in 1919, he was raised as a Jew and had a bar mitzvah.  Shortly after his bar mitzvah, he was told that his mother — coerced by her Jewish in-laws — had been hiding her Christian identity.  Can you imagine the impact of this discovery on a 13 year old? No wonder the heroes of his fiction display a contempt for adult “phonies” and a suspicion towards all conventional appearances.

Why Didn’t He Live As A Jew? You also resent that he sought spirituality in other religions.  Given your unwelcoming attitudes can you blame him?…and this is the year 2010. Imagine the icy reception Salinger would have received from other Jews, in say, 1936, if as an unknown writer  he had expressed any interest in conversion or living as a Jew. I know from interviewing adult children of intermarriage who grew up in that era, that the American Jewish community often rejected them, which is in stark contrast with the German Jewish community of the 1930s.  There was no organized interfaith family outreach in American Judaism until the early 1980s, when Salinger was in his sixties. And even today, as evidenced by your negative comments, adult childen and grandchildren of intermarriage are routinely snubbed and rebuffed when attempting to gain entry to the Jewish community.  There is outreach for interfaith couples and Jews by choice, but almost none for half-Jewish people

His Experiences In World War II, The Holocaust Now, about Mr. Salinger’s personal history with the Holocaust.

With regard to the comment that Salinger, as a trainee in his father’s business, was in no danger in 1938 Vienna, because he had an American passport, please consult any history of the Holocaust, and see report after report of people being killed or injured in the streets everywhere in the Nazi empire from 1934 onward because they “looked Jewish.”  How quickly you forget.  You think that the Nazi thugs asked for paperwork categorically?

None of your hostile comments present any awareness that Salinger spent World War II as a staff sergeant in the Army, suffering through bloody campaigns in Europe against the Nazis, helping liberate a concentration camp, and then serving because of his fluent French and German as an interpreter to American officials rounding up German prisoners of war.  Salinger’s experiences in WWII were so bad that he had a nervous breakdown. I would say that those are substantial services to Judaism and humanity and should be treated with more respect.

Jews By Choice Get A Voice Now, with regard to your comment that Heffernan is a convert and therefore apparently has no right to discuss Jewish topics: have you read any Jewish texts?  As a convert Ms. Heffernan is considered a Jew and has every right to discuss Jewish topics.

Her perception of Mr. Salinger as a kvetching New York Jew in the utterly non-Jewish setting of Cornish, NH and his momentary kindness to her, is in keeping with what is known of his character and behavior. Irregardless of his adult spiritual beliefs, his early New York Jewish upbringing was marked in his behavior and outlook throughout his life.  Overall, her article is a tiny and precious snapshot which will be greatly appreciated by future Salinger biographers and scholars.

Double Bind Experiences in Jewish Community In conclusion, I would like to state that your negative comments on Salinger’s connections to Judaism epitomize the double bind experiences that many half-Jewish people find themselves in today when they encounter the Jewish community.  We are often told that we are “not Jewish” and if we attempt to live as Jews, obstacles are put in the way of our converting or entering Jewish communities. Then we are berated, subtly or openly, by some Jews with two Jewish parents, for having explored other spiritualities. It my earnest hope, as the leader of the Half-Jewish Network and of the Inclusivist Judaism Coalition that I will live to see a Judaism that is multicultural and multiracial, and where the number and gender of one’s Jewish ancestors will not be as important as one’s spiritual or secular culture ties to them, and that all persons connected to the Jewish people by family ties will see those ties honored.

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I have assured Jewish outreach workers that many adult children and grandchildren of intermarriage would be "cheap dates." We could be coaxed into the communal fold.  Many half-Jewish people would like to join the Jewish community. I have suggested that the Jewish outreach workers do simple brochures for us and start small monthly discussion groups, just as they currently do for interfaith couples and Jews By Choice (converts). But both I and other half-Jewish people have noticed that these modest suggestions are largely ignored.  At the present time I do not know of a single Jewish institution that has created a pamphlet for us or is currently holding a discussion group for us that directly addresses our needs.  Most Jewish outreach workers have even been unwilling to include the words "adult children of intermarriage" in website welcoming statements that comprehensively welcome every other Jewish minority on the planet, including interfaith couples and Jewish gay frogs (just kidding about the rainbow-colored, Star of David-bespangled frogs, OK?). Now, in a previous post, I discussed how some of this rejection and neglect is partially rooted in a disastrous "lost generation" policy instituted by the tiny Jewish outreach networks of the 1980s, in which a tacit policy decision was made to abandon all teen and adult children of intermarriage raised outside of Judaism and focus on the much smaller group of half-Jewish people "raised" as Jews by interfaith couples who were able to find welcoming Jewish groups. But it is 2010 – can’t we drop the failed policies of the past? Short answer: apparently not yet. The members of the Half-Jewish Network (www.half-jewish.net) complain to me in large numbers that they are repeatedly rebuffed or ignored by Jewish outreach workers. Why? We brush our teeth regularly and are often employed. We don’t even bite!

Why Are Jewish Outreach Workers Ignoring Half-Jewish People? Last year, I realized that I was operating from logic — Judaism needs more Jews, therefore, we should welcome half-Jewish people — but Jewish opposition to reaching out to half-Jewish people is tenacious, deeply-rooted, and emotional — even among some Jewish outreach professionals! These feelings that many Jewish outreach workers have about us are deeply buried and often confided to me privately.   Jewish outreach workers are frequently overworked and underpaid, charged with outreaching not only to interfaith families, but all kinds of Jewish groups that need special outreach, including disaffiliated Jews with two Jewish parents. Jewish outreach workers are generally very nice people — they care about interfaith couples and Jews by Choice — they often go an extra mile to help an interfaith couple find a rabbi to marry them — or locate a conversion class for a potential Jew by Choice. Here is what is preventing some of them from showing the same kindnesses to half-Jewish people, in a list of reasons confided to me over the last two decades: 1. Some Jewish outreach workers are Jewish communal professionals drawn from segments of the Jewish community composed of very committed Jews. They have little or no intermarriage in their families. They don’t like intermarriage! Some of them resent having to outreach interfaith couples and Jews by Choice, and are @#$% if they are going to outreach half-Jewish people. 2. Other Jewish outreach workers refuse to outreach any demographic for which they cannot find a Jewish philanthropist to fund the staff worker or website. They state that they are unable to find funding for outreach to us. Jewish philanthropists do not want to fund outreach to half-Jewish people at the present time. They are mostly older men, and grew up in the cohesive Jewish communities of decades ago, with little or no intermarriage.  They aren’t always happy with the idea of thousands of adult children and grandchildren of intermarriage moving into Judaism. 3.  Some Jewish outreach workers were assigned to outreach without requesting it and have also been assigned other unrelated duties. They view half-Jewish people as just another burden to be added to their inbox and naturally avoid us. 4.  Many Jewish outreach workers have a visceral discomfort with us. Some of us don’t "look Jewish." Some of us don’t "talk Jewish." Many of us object to Jewish communal policies. We may have non-Jewish standard careers — carpenters, artists. We don’t fit in. We make them very uncomfortable. With interfaith couples, they feel that they have at least one other Jew in the room who they can communicate with. They have scripts worked out for dealing with the Christian spouses in intermarriages, and scripts for communicating with converts to Judaism. Half-Jewish people baffle and frighten them. They do not understand our psychology, and are bewildered and alarmed by our confusions and our identity choices. They have no easy answers for our questions. They don’t like hearing about how unwelcoming the Jewish community has been to us. Our very presence raises all kinds of "who is a Jew?" issues about which they are very anxious. 5.  Some Jewish outreach workers have seen the statistics, and know that half-Jewish people will likely replace most American Jews by the year 2040. They don’t like that! No human being wants to be replaced in their own group niche. It’s a natural reaction and one that I sympathize with. I have listened to some Jewish outreach groups saying that outreach efforts should focus only on Jews with two Jewish parents married to other Jews with two Jewish parents. They are willing to risk Jewish numbers in America halving by year 2040. This point of view, derisively called a "leaner, meaner Judaism" by outreach workers who disagree with it, is conveyed in "code" phrases, such as: "focusing on our core constituency" and "a smaller, but more cohesive Jewish community." 6. Many outreach workers secretly believe that if half-Jewish people were not raised as Jews, we will never make good Jews because of our alien background (you know, reared by rabid wolves in a wilderness). They prefer to concentrate their efforts and the tiny amounts of money they receive on interfaith couples with young children and converts. It is much easier for them to tell interfaith couples how to raise their five year old as a "real Jew" — conversion procedures, gan (kindergarten), etc. — than to deal with a 35-year old adult grandchild of intermarriage who was raised Presbyterian, had a half-Jewish mother, and until recently was primarily Buddhist. Our stories don’t make them feel good. They don’t like hearing about our upbringings. They are very committed Jews and our stories about going to church on Sunday, and attending our aunt’s Passover seder upset them. And often they have no frame of reference from which to understand the stories — they have never been to church, and don’t have intermarried parents. 7. Jewish outreach workers who are intermarried have (sometimes) even more problems "hearing" us. They don’t mind us becoming the majority of American Jews in the future, but they don’t like hearing that we have sometimes had tough identity struggles or been rejected in Jewish settings. So we can’t depend on the intermarried Jewish outreach workers to fix this situation. They are worried that other Jewish people will be mean to their kids when their half-Jewish children grow up. 8. And the rabbis and the cantors in the outreach ranks? Well, most of them come from the fiercely committed segments of the Jewish community — so they generally — with only a few exceptions — have the least grasp of interfaith families and their dynamics, far less understanding than, say, most Jewish social workers. Rabbis and cantors usually have to learn everything about interfaith families as "outsiders." They may have an intermarried sibling, and usually not even that. Because most rabbinical programs will not admit an intermarried rabbinical student and forbid rabbis to intermarry, they have few or no first-hand experiences with interfaith families. Many of them work hard to grasp the needs of interfaith families and care for them in a very warm manner, but often, in their hearts, they frequently wish that the Jewish community of the 1980s would come back. 9.  Many outreach professionals feel that outreaching half-Jewish people in a big way has the potential to cause their organizations serious problems within the Jewish community, at least in their minds. Once you get a group of adult children together for discussions, we might not always remain cooperative. We might want to know why organizations X, Y and Z in the local community haven’t welcomed us. We might want to know why Israel has such negative "who is a Jew" policies. I think these are unrealistic fears — I have never heard of a half-Jewish discussion group rioting, not even one led by me. 10. Our very existence contradicts the cherished "raising Jewish children" policies for interfaith couples. After all, many of us were raised as "real Christians" — yet, here we are on the Jewish community’s doorstep. This scares some Jewish outreach workers and interfaith couples groups — what if their interfaith couples’ "raised Jewish" children grow up — and desert to the Catholic Church? Jewish groups get donations from philanthropists by guaranteeing "solutions" to interfaith families and their children’s identity. Our arrival on their doorsteps suggests that spirituality and ethnicity are more fluid than are generally thought by the Jewish outreach community. Well, they really don’t want to hear that. They are hand-feeding dozens of interfaith couples groups and Jews by Choice programs — half-Jewish people could be a disruption of the zeitgeist (the vibe). What if we tell their constituencies our stories? They tell these constituents one thing, but we might tell them another. Can’t have that! 11. Israel. Since many of us adult half-Jewish people weren’t raised Jewish — we aren’t all comfy with the Jewish state and how poorly it treats our half-Jewish peers who live there.  Since Jewish communal leaders and professionals don’t deal very well with dissenters in their midst on Israel who are born Jews with two Jewish parents, woe betide the half-Jewish person who is discovered to be making regular donations to — the New Israel Fund! J Street! and other peace-loving malefactors. 12. Finally, many outreach workers grew up in cohesive Jewish communities in the 1950s through the 1980s. The intermarriage rate was 30% or less. Jews tended to live in the same neighborhoods, clustered around the same stores and shuls. Everyone knew everyone else. They feel great emotional pain because their Jewish communities are dissolving. Outreach to half-Jewish people is salt in their psychological wounds. So What Can Half-Jewish People Do? What are the options for half-Jewish people in this situation?  I continue to nag and badger the outreach groups and their professionals to do more for us. Bit by bit, some of them are implementing tiny initiatives for half-Jewish people.   Other half-Jewish people should consider gently pestering Jewish outreach workers that they know and encouraging them to reach out to half-Jewish people.  Here are other recommendations for half-Jewish people seeking to affiliate with Judaism: 1. Obviously, join a half-Jewish group and get support from your peers. The Half-Jewish Network website not only describes our group, but lists other half-Jewish groups as well.  Slowly, we are creating groups for ourselves all over the world. 2. You can join the Inclusivist Judaism Coalition, which has a very different view of "who is a Jew" from most Jewish organizations.

3. Find at least one friendly Jewish institution in your area that you like, join, and "embed" yourself. Once you are embedded, begin pushing for outreach to other half-Jewish people. Be persistent. 4. If six Jewish institutions reject or ignore you, found your own havurah (prayer, study and social group). Remember, if you have been repeatedly ignored, it is likely that many Jews with two Jewish parents are dissatisfied with the Jewish community in your area as well.  A community which repeatedly turns away half-Jewish people often has serious outreach problems in dealing with other Jews. 5. If you cannot find any other Jews in your area to socialize or pray with, consider finding a rabbi or cantor online who will teach you about Judaism. There are also teleconference classes, available as free conference calls, and many other ways to find Jews in other areas who will welcome you as a "virtual" member. Take heart in this work from the example of Rabbi Akiva, illiterate until age 40, who was inspired to keep studying Torah by watching drops of water wear away a stone. B’ezrat Hashem (by the help of G-d), we will eventually become accepted members of our Jewish communities. We will replenish their numbers and bring about a more inclusive era in Judaism.

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As the leader of the Half-Jewish Network, I always assume that I have all the answers on what half-Jewish people need. Why should I be any different from the all-knowing leaders of any other Jewish organization? The Half-Jewish Network may be "half-Jewish," but we faithfully follow the Jewish template in that respect!

But one of my group members brought me to a halt the other day. She asked: "What would acceptance of half-Jewish people by the Jewish community [in the Diaspora] actually look like?" I paused. I didn’t have an immediate, glib answer — yikes! Warning! Red alert! Loss of Jewish leadership position credibility imminent!

The phrase "a fate worse than death" suddenly leaped into my mind. I told her, "you’ll miss being discriminated against."

Because when the Jewish community finally accepts us — it will be a gradual process over the next thirty years — it will be a fate worse than death. Here is a satirical, tongue-in-cheek description of our likely fate, based on how interfaith couples and Jews by Choice (converts) program attendees are currently treated:

1. Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism will finally — finally! — assemble committees to address our issues, instead of claiming that the "raising Jewish children" programs for interfaith couples and half-Jewish kids under the age of 18 address the problems of fully-grown half-Jewish adults, most of whom weren’t raised Jewish.

The committees — chaired by born Jews who are not children of intermarriage, of course — what do we know about our own problems? surely a much-older born Jewish rabbi or social worker with two Jewish parents, married to a similar Jew, knows what is best for us — will produce pink or mauve pamphlets for us, entitled something icky like, "New Roads Into Judaism For Grown Offspring of Intermarriage." The Hebrew quoted in the pamphlets will be poorly translated into politically correct language. Yech.

The pamphlets will mostly be directed to the Reform and Reconstructionist hierarchies’ fears about us rather than the needs and issues of half-Jewish people. There will be sections in the pamphlets explaining to the Reform and Reconstructionist shul leaders that the two-thirds of us raised outside of Judaism are not feral half-Jews raised by the Borg on the planet Zembarth, and that our meek requests for "adult children of intermarriage discussion groups" might actually be good for shul growth.

The pamphlets will be available to Reform and Reconstructionist shuls and organizations for about $13.15 per twenty copies.

Finally, years after the first pamphlets are produced, it will dawn on the committees that they need to produce PDF copies and an online, media-linked version of the pamphlets on a denominational website, as the younger Jews, including the half-Jewish folks, live online. Eventually input will be invited from half-Jewish Reform and Reconstructionist people on the content of the pamphlets.

2. What’s left of the Conservative movement in 30 years — nearly one-third of their congregants are currently over the age of 65 — will produce a "Kiruv Efforts Directed Towards Adult Descendants of Intermarriage" white paper. A few children of intermarriage will be invited to appear before the committee producing the paper, but none of them will be invited to help in writing it. The white paper will contain instructions for Conservative congregations on how to outreach us, noting that they do not have to fear armed mobs of rioting half-Jewish people forcing their way into the sanctuary and eating pork at the after-service oneg.

The white paper will also address the Conservative hierarchy’s fear that if they do one single thing that the Orthodox do not like, like reaching out to half-Jewish people with Jewish fathers, no Orthodox person will ever speak to them again. The white paper will point out that most of the Orthodox aren’t speaking to them anymore anyway, so what do they have to lose at that point?

Only half of the Conservative movement will support the white paper. The Conservative movement men’s organization will push it strongly. Eventually, one of their halachic law committees will vote on it, with three rabbis in favor and three against, leaving Conservative congregations free to choose whether or not to continue discriminating against us.

This split decision will be marketed as a "big victory" for adult children of intermarriage.

3. Jewish Renewal will produce a "holy chevre" white paper on half-Jewish people in which the "holy sisters and brothers" will be admonished to "reach out more" to "our Jews of partially-Jewish descent." There will be a long, defensive and truthful preamble about how Renewal has always been welcoming to interfaith couples, and a transitional paragraph about how it has been brought to Renewal’s attention that maybe adult children and grandchildren of intermarriage do not feel Renewal’s love as much as interfaith couples do — and that it is time for Renewal to lay its holy love upon them. It will be emailed to each Renewal havurah and shul. At least one child of intermarriage will be on the committee that prepares the "chevre" paper and will have substantial input into its content. The "holy chevre" paper will have a ton of interesting quotations from Hasidic mystical works, none really relevant to adult children of intermarriage, and a pile of liberal-left social commentary on how we can best be converted to Renewal’s "eco-kosher" efforts.

3. Humanistic Judaism will eventually — and very reluctantly — produce some specialized outreach materials for us. Since their congregations generally accept us now, they will be highly indignant at the idea that we actually need specialized outreach like they provide for interfaith couples and Jews by Choice — sometimes one’s friends are the hardest people to convert to outreaching us.

The welcoming pamphlet prepared for us will have lots of quotes from their innovative founding rabbi, Sherwin Wine, zl" and assurances that Humanistic Judaism will accept even chickens as real Jews if the chicken can spell out a commitment with seed corn and firmly commit to a disbelief in G-d.

4. The Modern Orthodox — years after the other groups have acted, of course — will produce an article in one of their scholarly journals, entitled, "The Halachic Implications of Possibly Welcoming Jews of Mixed Descent, Even Those With Only Paternal Jewish Grandfathers."

It will be ten pages long, filled with footnotes citing mentions of us in the Talmud and Josephus, will refer to those of us who are patrilineal as "zerua Israel" (seed of Israel) and "possible Noachides" and will be authored by a grandchild of intermarriage who has had to undergo at least four Orthodox conversions to satisfy Israeli Haredi Orthodox authorities.

The article will conclude that we should be welcomed and will create an unusual Hebrew term for us to disguise the fact that many of us are not halachic Jews, such as "[X] Jew," the same way that they currently hide their women rabbis as "halachic advisers" of various types under newly-invented Hebrew titles.

An immense controversy will break out in the Orthodox blogosphere. A few very bold, daring Modern Orthodox communities will act on the paper’s recommendations and all members of those shuls will be blacklisted by the Israeli ultra-Orthodox.

6. Ultra-Orthodox Groups — some of the ultra-Orthodox outreach groups, which receive a lot of membership and donations from non-Orthodox Jews — both baal teshuvah and occasional visitors — will decide that we are worth some targeted kiruv work. After all, we’re going to be the majority of non-Orthodox American Jews in the year 2040 — the old secular Jewish baal teshuvah and donor base will be almost gone by then.

Special programs will be set up to bring us to U.S. and Israeli yeshivot. Books will be written on "Torah Observance for Seed of Israel and Noachides Produced by Mixed Marriages." I will, b’ezrat Hashem (by the help of G-d) live to see — a faction of Chabad with a large component of half-Jewish people! Classes at Aish ha-Torah recruiting us! And you know something? I’ll be very happy to see it.

7. Inclusivist Judaism Coalition — I almost forgot — what about my own organization? Well, we already accept half-Jewish members as Jews upon arrival, and do targeted outreach to half-Jewish people through our sponsorship of the Half-Jewish Network — think of us as thirty years ahead of the curve.

8. Secular Jewish Organizations — may G-d protect and spare the half-Jewish folks when the secular Jewish organizations finally stop snubbing and ignoring us. The same barrage of propaganda directed at young Jews with two Jewish parents today — join AIPAC! Join J Street! Join Jewish Voices for Peace! Join Hadassah! Join [any Jewish establishment or anti-establishment group]! — will descend upon us.

My email box will jam with inquiries on how every secular Jewish group in the universe can raise money from half-Jewish people. They will then ask how they might attract us as members. The requests for money will come first. Jewish sociologists will suddenly begin studying half-Jewish people. Like, more than two studies, with more than 100 participants. Jewish historians will suddenly start researching our appearances in Jewish history — us, not the interfaith couples and converts — in more than just three or four books. At last!

Jewish philanthropists — the ones that Bernard Madoff did not reach, so they still have some cash — will want to fund "half-Jewish 2.0 projects." They will be bewildered and disturbed when I explain that because we’ve been shut out of Judaism or pushed to the fringes for so many years, many half-Jewish folks have very old-fashioned interests: shul membership, learning Hebrew, liturgy, Jewish history, Yiddish and Ladino literature translated into English, etc.

We have online support groups that cost very little to run. We would welcome some cash to support these efforts. We’d be grateful for it. The philanthropists will be horrified to hear that we don’t need expensive after-shul "1/2 Jewish bar nights" on Shabbat or "1/2 Jew Suffering and Gratification" e-zines.

Unlike many young Jews with two Jewish parents, we actually like old timey Judaism. We didn’t grow up with it, so it doesn’t bore us. We’re "cheaper dates" than the young Jews with two Jewish parents. And we don’t have a generation gap amongst ourselves — half-Jewish folks will generally talk with any other half-Jewish or Jewish person, regardless of age or background. We may not get any grant money to outreach us — our situation goes against the current philanthropic model of estrangement between older Jews and younger Jews, with older Jews lavishing no-strings cash on 20something Jewish 2.0 outreach efforts, followed by the younger Jews mercilessly mocking the grant donors in the web pages of their newly-established 2.0 groups.

Many Jewish philanthropists and foundations will simply not be able to make the transition to funding the lower-maintenance, grateful half-Jewish groups. It will feel too unfamiliar to them.

9. Jewish outreach groups — half-Jewish people will become an "outreach demographic." Workshops will be held at outreach conferences on "Best Ways to Reach the Half-Jewish Population." Outreach groups will create multiple web pages on "Outreaching Half-Jewish People: Our Untapped Asset," treating us kind of like a hopeful investment on oil-containing shale deposits.

The stingy amounts of money given to Jewish outreach groups by the Jewish federations (less than 1% of most Jewish federations’ budgets — despite all of the complaints about intermarriage!) will be extended to outreach us using the following rationale: since we are running out of oil wells (born Jews with two Jewish parents), we will try and squeeze oil (Jewish continuity) out of half-Jewish shale deposits.

Pamphlets, papers, videos, books, CDs, DVDs, websites, and every other media item in the outreach armory will suddenly include detailed information on outreaching adult children and grandchildren of intermarriage — information that is conspicuously missing from 99.9% of all Jewish outreach materials today. Finally! We’ll even be included in the endless discussions on Jewish outreach listservs and message boards about whether to give interfaith couples discounts on shul membership this year. They will finally offer us discounted shul memberships.

10. Israel — Thirty years from now the ultra-Orthodox Haredi groups and the Palestinian Arabs will be the two largest population groups in Israel, and will likely be engaged in a ferocious street-to-street civil war. Other Israeli groups — chilonim (seculars), Modern Orthodox, Bedouin Arabs, etc. — will have either joined the Holy War on one side or the other or be fleeing the country.

I anticipate that the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) — newly renamed the "Nahal Haredi Brigades" — will make an effort to recruit adult half-Jewish people who can prove that they have a biological Jewish mother or a maternal Jewish grandmother. Children of Jewish fathers or paternal Jewish grandfathers will be accepted in the new "Nahal Haredi Brigades" upon promising to undergo a rigorous ultra-Orthodox conversion process lasting 10 years — after the war is over — conditional upon the ultra-Orthodox "Halachic Republic of Israel" actually winning the war, and not the Palestinian state. If they are killed in battle, they will still be buried in the special sections of IDF cemeteries that are currently set aside for "non-Jews" — the patrilineal half-Jews, Bedouin, and Druze IDF soldiers. Some of the children of Jewish-Arab intermarriages will be members of the "Nahal Haredi Brigades." Others will be fighting on the Palestinian side as members of a "Half-Jewish Martyrs for Palestine Regiment."

If the Halachic Republic of Israel loses the war, the half-Jewish people serving in the Haredi Brigades will end up entering the U.S. as refugees and joining the hundreds of new Israeli Jewish synagogues and organizations starting all over the United States.

So half-Jewish people will finally achieve acceptance in every sector of the Jewish world.

The post What Will Happen When Judaism Accepts Half-Jewish People? appeared first on Jewcy.

Others have asked me, with the exasperation of an adult who has been relentlessly nagged by a three year old for an entire Shabbat weekend, "So what do half-Jewish people really want, anyway?" That’s an easy question for me to answer — we want the same resources and help that are given to interfaith couples and Jews by Choice (converts). Now. Yesterday would have been nice, too. So why don’t these programs exist? Ghosts In The Communal Attic Once of my biggest problems in advocating for adult children and other descendants of intermarriage is convincing Jewish outreach organizations and Jewish communal groups to admit that we actually exist.  Now, you’d think the documented existence of over 300,000 of us in the United States, and thousands more elsewhere in the Diaspora and Israel would be proof that we exist. We are estimated to be 48% of all Jewish-identified college students in the United States. But officially, for many Jewish organizations, we don’t exist. Over twenty years ago, in the late 1980s, American Jewish outreach professionals — at that time a tiny network of a few rabbis, Jewish social workers, sociologists, and interfaith couples — adopted a "raising Jewish children" strategy for interfaith family outreach. Ironically, this outreach strategy helped continue our exclusion from many Jewish communities. This requires some explanation. The Origins Of The "Raising Jewish Children" Policy The "raising Jewish children" advocates saw only two outcomes for us: either our interfaith parents must raise us as a "real Jews," in a very draconian manner — no Christmas trees or Rastafari posters! Every trace of our "non-Jewish" parent’s heritage to be banished from the house! — or if we were not raised as Jews in a very strict manner, we were to be treated as "non-Jews" who must convert as adults through the "Jews by Choice" programs. And whether we were raised as "real Jews," or became adult "non-Jews" to be placed in "Jews by Choice" programs as adults, we would never need any special outreach programs, unlike interfaith couples and Jews by Choice.  At least that’s what the tiny outreach network of the late 1980s thought.  Children of intermarriage who were already teens and adults in the late 1980s were to be written off as a "lost generation," in the words of one rabbi. No resources were to be provided for outreaching them. This decision meant that thousands of potential adult Jews were simply abandoned in the 1980s and 1990s, and many could not find ways into the hostile Jewish community of that era. As a much younger adult in that era, and often the only adult child of intermarriage present at these outreach policy discussions, I vigorously protested the policy of abandoning the Baby Boomer and early Gen X teen and adult children of intermarriage as a "lost generation" and the harsh "raising Jewish children" policies that scrubbed every vestige of the other parent’s culture out of the house. I was frequently told that Jewish outreach needn’t concern itself with people like me — because interfaith family programs would ramp up so quickly that most young children of intermarriage then existing in the late 1980s — the late Gen X and the early Gen Y Millenials — would be raised as "real Jews." People like myself — already teens and adults — were to be regarded as expendable. But how has this worked in actual practice? Raising "Jewish Children" It must be understood that the great "ramp up" of interfaith family outreach programs has never taken place. Despite all of the Jewish communal complaints about intermarriage, they’ve never been willing to put their money where their mouths were. Pennies out of every federation budget were allotted to a few overworked outreach professionals, who could contact only a small number of interfaith couples. So most of the adult children of intermarriage around today were raised outside of Judaism.  How did the "raising Jewish children" policy work for the minority of children of intermarriage who were "raised Jewish"? Under the draconian "raising Jewish children" of twenty years ago, all vestiges of our non-Jewish parent’s heritage were to be banished from the house. The policy intended that we would grow up to be "real Jews" — clones of the middle class Ashkenazi Jews of today — with no input from our "non-Jewish" parent — you know, the Swedish Lutheran or Afro-Jamaican who gave birth to us or sired us? Made our school lunches? Drove to us to Hebrew school? Who bequeathed us her blonde hair and that miserable asthma or his Jamaican dreadlocks and sense of humor? This policy hasn’t worked well. Even the children raised as "real Jews" are aware that the other parent is, well — Swedish, or African-American or Korean — and, if they forget it, some other Jews with more curiosity than tact are plenty willing to remind them: "You look kinda Swedish. Are you black? Hey, are you an Asian convert?" The "raising Jewish children" policy of twenty years ago has left some young adult half-Jewish people ashamed of their other heritage, which they then try to play down, referring to their other heritage as "my non-Jewish relatives." Sometimes the ethnicity and religion of their "other" relatives are never discussed, as if their other heritage was a sordid family secret involving criminal activity.  Some "raised Jewish" young adults won’t date other half-Jewish people or make friends with them, focusing on filling up their social circles only with born Jews with two Jewish parents. They sometimes advocate for Jewish communal policies that discriminate against other half-Jewish people — a Stockholm Syndrome reaction. I have listened with dismay and incredulity to adult children and grandchildren of intermarriage defend and make excuses for many Jewish communal policies that harm us, such as our exclusion from a teen Jewish summer camp, Israel’s increasingly harsh "who is a Jew" policies directed against us, and the failure of Jewish institutions to set up outreach programs for us. Multicultural And Multiracial Jews Of Future Will Get Better Outreach "Raising Jewish children" policies are starting to relax a little. As Judaism grows more multicultural and multiracial, outreach workers have realized that the world will not end if children being raised as "real Jews" have an African-American father who celebrates Kwanzaa every year. Outreach workers have a lot more knowledge of interfaith family issues than they did twenty years ago, and do not advocate policies as rigid as those of the past. It is slowly being recognized in Jewish outreach circles that a child can be raised as a "real Jew" and still learn, in a respectful manner, enough about their other family and heritage so that they are comfortable with both heritages. The multicultural and multiracial Jews being raised today will have a better environment than the first wave of "raised Jewish" children. But a lot of harm has been done to the "raised Jewish" young adult children of intermarriage in the meantime. People concealing their "non-Jewish" family members from other Jews, or defending Jewish communal policies that discriminate against them, have been deprived of key aspects of themselves and their family histories that they will need in the future. We’re Not Jews By Choice So what about the majority of adult children of intermarriage, raised outside of Judaism? Weren’t the late Gen X and Gen Y half-Jewish folks raised outside of Judaism supposed to accept the "non-Jewish" status decreed for us by Jewish outreach two decades ago and be trooping into the Jews by Choice programs? Weren’t those of us who are Baby Boomers and early Gen Xers simply supposed to disappear? That policy hasn’t worked out either. Many of us weren’t willing to disappear or convert. We see Jews with two Jewish parents who were raised in other faiths or as "nothing" being welcomed back into Jewish communities with no demands for conversion or disappearance placed on them at all. There is no difference between them and us, except that we have one non-Jewish parent.  It also turned out that while Jews by Choice programs and other general outreach programs could teach us the basics of Judaism, they couldn’t address many of our identity issues. We have very different issues from people with no Jewish ancestry who are converting to Judaism. For example, Jews by Choice materials often talk about how grateful they are to be taken into the Jewish people. We admire and respect their position, and it’s a rational one for them, but that’s not the outlook of many half-Jewish people. Just so you know, we’re not grateful.  Why should we be grateful?  Many of us believe that we are born into the Jewish people, and are upset at being chronically rebuffed and snubbed by Jewish institutions. Why should we be appreciative for doors that are repeatedly slammed on our feet?  And since the majority of children of intermarriage are continuing to be raised outside of the Jewish community, a new "lost generation" of adult children of intermarriage  is being created — most Jewish outreach efforts still ignore us to this day. We Need Outreach That Is Directed Specifically Towards Us So here’s what we need — the same resources that are already available for interfaith couples and Jews by Choice. We’d like pamphlets welcoming us. How about some video documentaries on our issues? It wouldn’t hurt to see more books written for us. Podcasts would be nice.   We need one person, preferably the child or grandchild of intermarriage themselves, to be designated as our contact person in every Jewish institution. Jewish communal professionals need training on how to outreach us. We want discussion groups for us in synagogues, just like the interfaith couples  and Jews by Choice have. Most importantly, we need to be listed as a specific demographic in every discussion of Jewish outreach. It wouldn’t hurt if every Jewish institution in the world had a short welcoming message for us on their website and a link beneath it to a one page downloadable PDF pamphlet basically saying, "Adult Children and Grandchildren of Intermarriage: Welcome to Congregation Me’arah Shanda (Cave of Shame)! We eagerly seek your membership – someone has to help us finish paying off the expensive settlement on our previous rabbi’s sexual harassment lawsuit. (He’s been fired.) We’ve appointed our cantor, who is the grandchild of an intermarriage, to facilitate a once a month discussion group for you. So, do we have a deal?" That would work. Ask yourself — couldn’t your Jewish secular or spiritual organization use a few more members? Some extra volunteers? Be Honest With Us About Half-Jewish People and Israel We need you to be truthful with us about how poorly Israel treats members of interfaith families. With regard to Israel, we live in a different universe from you. We can read the stories, which appear frequently in the online, English language, Israeli press and Israel-focused organizations’ webpages, like the story below: Lilia Itzkovich, a volunteer with NIF grantee Association for the Protection of Mixed Family Rights, was born to a Jewish father and Russian mother. "I am typical of hundreds of thousands who are not halachically Jewish but came to Israel because we feel part of the Jewish people.  In Russia I felt like a Jew, a foreigner," she recalls. "At school they told me ‘Lilia you are a good girl, it’s just a shame that you are a Jew.’ For Russian anti-Semites it made no difference if you were a Jew halachically. So we came to Israel and here I am told ‘Lilia you are a good woman, it’s a shame that you are a goy."

We need you to understand that the Birthright model of Jewish identity — carting us to Israel on "rah-rah" trips — may not work for all of us, and other types of trips may have to be designed for us — ones in which we meet with our Israeli Jewish peers, like Lilia, and the Israeli Jewish organizations fighting for our rights.  And please, for the love of G-d, please stop advertising Israel trips as a way to prevent intermarriages by half-Jewish people, as a Birthright report did several weeks ago. The statistics for children of intermarriage in the report were so tiny as to be statistically very questionable — apparently very few of us ever went on Birthright trips between 2001 and 2004. So claims that such trips discourage us from intermarrying are still unproven. And what’s the takeaway message here?  Go on these trips, and it will prevent more people like you from being born?

We also need you to help us oppose Israeli initiatives that actively harm us, such as the 2007 attempt to create a written Israeli constitution — Israel currently doesn’t have one — in which one of the primary goals was removal of patrilineal children and grandchildren of intermarriage from the Law of Return. Israel desperately needs a written constitution, but not at our expense. A Final Request I have a personal request. One adult child of intermarriage recently asked me what topics did the Jewish outreach listservs and message boards I’ve participated in discuss. I told her, "Mostly, they discuss whether we’re going to give interfaith couples Purim baskets next year."  One of my more modest goals for outreach to half-Jewish people is to get a Jewish outreach listserv or message board to discuss giving adult children and grandchildren of intermarriage Purim baskets. In fact, I’d like a Purim basket with chocolate and pears inside, if anyone is listening. Second thoughts — rather than sending me a Purim basket, if you know an adult child or grandchild of intermarriage — whether she or he was "raised Jewish," Christian, Muslim, "both," "nothing," "uncertain," or some other affiliation — consider giving them a Purim gift basket next year.  That’s a good way to reach out. Show them some Jewish heart. Do the Jewish thing — give them something to nosh on!

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Robin, why doesn’t your group for adult children and grandchildren of intermarriage sponsor trips to Israel? They are the new silver bullet for identity problems among interfaith family members!

And some of them have actually used the phrase "silver bullet." The terminology is dreadful — "silver bullets" are ordinarily used on werewolves and, in the 1950s, the Lone Ranger fired them at the Bad Guys on black-and-white TV shows. What is the subtext here: that identity problems among half-Jewish people can be resolved by killing them? The implied message for members of my group, the Half-Jewish Network, is that we’re apparently the Bad Guys for — having been born. Well, then excuse me for living. Anyway, some Jewish organizations — well-meaning to be sure — have decided that the best way to deal with us having been born with one non-Jewish parent or grandparent is to ship us to Israel, where we will thus be overcome by the allure of Jewish identity. Ideally, we will then return home wanting to be completely Jewish, supporting Israel’s government without question, donating to our local Federations, and not asking awkward questions. There’s just one big problem with these trips. A huge pink elephant in the room. It’s so pink, it’s probably magenta. The outreach officials organizing these trips — the rabbis and tour guides and Jewish communal professionals conducting them — almost none of them tell the members of interfaith families that Israel has legal and social policies in place discriminating harshly against interfaith couples and adult children and grandchildren of intermarriage. That’s the real silver bullet — straight to the heart. These policies are no secret. Israeli newspapers — free, available online, and often in English — discuss them endlessly.

I have spoken to many Jewish outreach professionals about this. I’ve asked them to please explain why interfaith family trips never include even one hour to meet with resident Israeli half-Jewish people — who might give the American interfaith families a realistic picture of their lives in Israel — living in fear of immigration bureaucrats yanking their Jewish identity papers; being refused permission to marry Jews with two Jewish parents; delayed (sometimes permanently) Orthodox conversions; being called "non-Jews" and "erev rav" (mixed rabble) and contents of "pooper scoopers" in the Israeli newspapers; and yet still being compelled to serve in the IDF and pay taxes. I want them to please explain why there is no time on these trips for members of American interfaith families to meet with three small, under-funded and overworked Israeli Jewish organizations fighting this discrimination in the courts and the Knesset — the Association for the Rights of Mixed Families, the Israel Religious Action Center, and the New Family. Please explain why there is no time to meet with the IDF staff running the military conversion to Judaism programs — they have many descendants of intermarriage among their students, who are tired of being called "non-Jews" and being buried in special sections of IDF cemeteries among the Druze and Christian soldiers, away from the areas set aside for Jews with two Jewish parents. Please explain why I keep seeing YouTube videos of young American half-Jewish adults who have just returned from Birthright trips, lauding the Israeli state’s acceptance of half-Jewish people — something that is demonstrably not true. These young half-Jewish adults haven’t been told that the Israeli Law of Return (allowing anyone with a Jewish parent or grandparent to make aliyah) currently operates as a "bait and switch." Once half-Jewish people arrive in Israel, there is a strong probability that they will be classified as "non-Jews" if they cannot produce enough documentation certifying either that they have a biological Jewish mother or an Orthodox conversion. Hostile Israeli immigration bureaucrats and Haredi-dominated rabbinical courts are reversing Orthodox conversions and rejecting proofs of having a Jewish mother or a Jewish father that were deemed quite sufficient two decades ago, leaving thousands of half-Jewish people stranded as second-class "non-Jew" Israeli citizens. And the discrimination against half-Jewish white Israelis and half-Jewish Diaspora olim is escalated when applied to Jewish-Arab interfaith families. One municipality, Petach Tikva, has set up a government hotline which appears intended to assist parents in breaking up teen Arab-Jewish couples. Even more atrocious, Orthodox vigilante groups, strikingly resembling the "vice and virtue" patrols of some Islamic countries, have begun stalking teen Arab-Jewish couples in lover’s lanes. An Israeli Orthodox anti-missionary group, Yad L’Achim, has a lot of its resources devoted to breaking up marriages between Jewish women and Arab men, allegedly "rescuing" them from "abusive" Arab husbands. One of their goals is to reach "out to other Jewish girls who are involved with Arab men – the number is estimated at a staggering 20,000 – and trying to help them find their way back to Am Yisrael." Surely 20,000 relationships can’t all be "abusive." When I press Jewish outreach professionals on these issues, some of them perceive their first duty — beyond their duty to their interfaith family constituents and emet (truth) — is to promote Israel. Others honestly didn’t know about Israel’s policies against interfaith families. They are very upset when they find out, but they have no answers for me. Still other Jewish outreach professionals apparently feel that outreach to interfaith families is still so controversial in many Jewish communities that broaching this issue might cost them their jobs. Some Jewish outreach professionals have taken partial action on this subject. Birthright Israel recently fired an Israeli trip organizer who told his Birthright trip participants –some of whom were apparently half-Jewish — that intermarriage was wrong. That’s a good first step. But what about the second step — leveling with half-Jewish trip participants about Israel’s current legal and social discrimination against them, and the efforts of three Israeli groups to fight this discrimination? I have repeatedly suggested to Jewish outreach professionals that we organize Israel tours for interfaith couples and adult children and grandchildren of intermarriage that would address our magenta elephant. I want tours in which we meet with other interfaith families living in Israel. Tours in which we meet with the three Israeli Jewish organizations fighting for our rights. Tours in which we are encouraged to form realistic, caring bonds with Israel, as opposed to an uncritical "crush." Because eventually the interfaith couples and half-Jewish people will find out the truth — and who will they blame on that day for deceiving them? And how will they feel about Israel then? I had a long correspondence with a kind rabbi in Israel who invites American interfaith families and adult children of intermarriage on his tours. I asked him: what did he tell members of interfaith families on his tours about Israel’s laws and policies against us? He replied that he only says something if they ask about those policies. I asked him — what if he was a realtor, who took a couple on a tour of a house that was beautiful–except for some termites in the basement–and he did not tell them about the termites because they did not ask? What would happen when the couple found the termites, after signing the lease? Wouldn’t it be better to discuss with them what might be done about the termites? There is a Talmud entry which forbids dressing up goods in a deceptive manner before sale. He eventually replied to me with a highly emotional, angry email which seemed to say that I was a bad person for asking such questions. Interfaith couples and adult children and grandchildren of intermarriage are not stupid. Many of them lack Jewish knowledge and are unfamiliar with Israeli society, but they are rapidly acquiring this knowledge. Shouldn’t we prepare them for what they will discover about Israel, instead of sending them on "silver bullet" tours? Won’t their feelings for Israel be more likely to remain compassionate and helpful if they are told the truth, than if they are deceived? Few people cope well with being deceived. Love isn’t blind. And it is not healthy if it is blind. And relationships where love is blind usually don’t last. I know of only one Jewish outreach tour of Israel that has told the interfaith couples and teen children of intermarriage accompanying them the truth about Israel’s poor treatment of interfaith families. And they found, as I expected, that interfaith families and adult children of intermarriage are capable of coping with complexity and ambiguity. The interfaith families on that tour were not turned off on Israel, and did not walk out of Judaism. The trip participants returned to the U.S. more interested in Judaism, Hebrew study, shul attendance and other Jewish identity markers. They told the trip organizers that they had never been interested in making aliyah. They were willing take the good of Israel and set aside the rest. They are more interested in Israel than they were before the trip. They displayed generosity and warmth of heart towards Israel. Let us treat interfaith couples and adult children of intermarriage as grownup members of the mishpocha and entrust them with the truth about Israel. They will not disappoint us.

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Hop onto my time machine, I told my colleagues on one listserve. Welcome to Temple Beth Erev Rav (Temple House of Mixed Rabble), in Anywhere America in the year 2040.

  American Jewish Leaders In The Year 2040

Because 48% of all Jewish-identified college students in the year 2009 were children of intermarriage — Temple Beth Erev Rav in the year 2040 is composed mostly of adult children and grandchildren of intermarriage and interfaith couples. The senior rabbi is an elderly Gen X Jew, married to a middle-aged Millennial Jew. The young associate rabbi — a member of the post-Millennial generation — is an adult child of intermarriage and intermarried. She and her Catholic husband are raising the kids as Jews. They celebrate Christmas at her Catholic mother-in-law’s home.

The cantor is the grandchild of an intermarriage, and half-African-American. The president of the shul is a Chinese Jew By Choice. The congregation is very comfortable with the shul’s leadership — after all, it reflects them. The temple’s denominational affiliations and beliefs are unclear – it is Reform/Reconstructionist/Renewal and other "isms" not yet invented.

What Are The Year 2040 American Jews Like?

The Holocaust and the Jewish immigration to America and the founding of Israel are now a century away. The congregants of Temple Beth Erev Rav have the same emotional relationship to those events that the Jews of 2009 have to World War I — it’s ancient history! The Jews of Temple Beth Erev Rav have poor Hebrew skills. They know no Yiddish or Ladino. They don’t cook "Jewish foods" anymore.  But they are tenacious — they read — in Hebrew-English texts with transliterations and translations — the Tanach, study the siddur, pray and donate to the shul. Only a few of them study Talmud or midrash.

They are interested in God and Kabbalah and meditation and Hasidic mystical texts. They are interested in Jewish history, literature, sacred music and art.  The Society for Humanistic Judaism is also doing very well. Not all 2040 Jews will be theistic. Some will be atheists, agnostics and cultural Jews.

Where Are the Jews With Two Jewish Parents in 2040?

The Jews with two Jewish parents in Temple Beth Erev Rav are mostly over the age of 40 and form a small minority of Temple Beth Erev Rav’s membership. They are Jews born between 1946 – 2000.

Some of the Jews with two Jewish parents are quite comfortable with Temple Beth Erev Rav. They are intermarried.  Other Jews with two Jewish parents are married to similar Jews, but have adapted to Temple Beth Erev Rav because they grew up with many friends who were half-Jewish.

But other Jews with two Jewish parents felt dislocated and isolated in the new multicultural, multiracial Judaism of Temple Beth Erev Rav.  They have left Temple Beth Erev Rav for Orthodoxy, simply to have more Jews around them who have two Jewish parents and a shared frame of cultural reference. The "Jewish 2.0 continuity" efforts of the year 2009 — "social entrepreneur" efforts — all focused almost entirely on young Jews with two Jewish parents — disappeared long ago. Their heavy focus on self-referential, ephemeral Jewish topics — bagel jokes, Israel trips, discussions on intermarriage, arguments over Yiddish proverbs – which did not resonate with the adult children of intermarriage. 

After all, why would half-Jewish people be interested in discussions on why Jews should not intermarry? Jokes about overbearing Jewish mothers (when many half-Jewish people have Jewish fathers)? Nostalgic pieces on Jewish day schools and camps that few half-Jewish people ever attended?

Why Has The American Jewish Population Count Fallen So Far In The Year 2040?

Now, there are many adult children and other descendants of intermarriage in Temple Beth Erev Rav’s area who are not members of any Jewish organizations, and live in other faiths and cultures

Temple Beth Erev Rav’s membership is much smaller than it could have been, given the large number of adult children and other descendants of intermarriage living in its geographic area.

This is true of most surviving Jewish organizations in the year 2040. The Jewish population count in North American has dropped dramatically from 2009. It may be 30% to 50% smaller than it was in the year 2009.

This is because, in the year 2009, most Jewish establishment organizations actively snubbed half-Jewish people.

Of course, once a Jewish population study appeared in 2022, announcing that adult children of intermarriage had become the majority of college age American Jews  — and would be the majority of American Jews in the year 2040 — most Jewish organizations slowly began seeking out and welcoming adult children and other descendants of intermarriage. But that effort was too little, too late.

What Jewish Institutions Exist In 2040?

In the year 2040, the majority of mainstream Jewish spiritual and secular institutions, including the federations, have collapsed. The adult children of intermarriage, so long snubbed and ignored by them, simply wouldn’t  join or financially support them.

The Conservative Judaism movement is gone – its median age for its congregants in 2009 was 55 years old, and it never did organize effective outreach to interfaith families.  Most Orthodox Jews, with the exception of the smaller Modern Orthodox movement, have finally cut themselves off from the liberal, non-Orthodox Jews of America, as they had threatened to do since the 1980s.  

What Happened To Israel In The Year 2040?

There will likely be no Israeli flag in Temple Erev Rav and few mentions of it in the shul. Why? In the year 2009, one-third of all Israeli kindergarten children were Haredi/Hasidic ultra-Orthodox. The Haredi/Hasidim of Israel continued to have more children than other Israelis, subsidized by the Israeli government child payments.  The other fast-growing group was the Israeli Arabs.

In the year 2009, thousands of half-Jewish Israeli citizens, mostly the children of intermarried Russian Jews, were caught in a web of negative social policies and laws directed against them. Few voices were raised in Israel to defend them.

In the year 2040, the Haredi/Hasidim are poised to take over the Israeli government — they are at least one-third to one-half of Israel’s population. Their primary election promise, announced as far back as 2009, is to create a sort of "Halachic Republic of Israel," like the Islamic Republic of Iran.  In the year 2040, their election promises also include a commitment to exclude all members of interfaith families from the Law of Return, except those who have voluminous documentary proof of a Jewish mother or maternal Jewish grandmother.

The other largest Israeli population group in 2040 — the Israeli Arabs — are not disposed to allow a "Halachic Republic of Israel," so rumors of an impending civil war are widespread. It is said that the Palestinian State – created by a peace treaty in 2017 — will help the Israeli Arabs if they decide to revolt.

The groups that used to maintain a political balance in Israel — the chilonim (secular Israeli Jews), the half-Jewish Russian Israelis, and similar groups — are outnumbered by the Haredim/Hasidim and the Israeli Arabs, and started leaving Israel long before the year 2040.

So Temple Beth Erev Rav has little or no contact with Israel, other than graciously welcoming Israelis who have left Israel. How could America’s non-Orthodox, mixed descent Jews and its Modern Orthodox support "The Halachic Republic of Israel"?

The Future

This is our future. We’ve already created it through our Jewish lifestyle choices. We need to start planning how we are going to transition Judaism to its next era. It will be a Judaism unlike any that has preceded it.

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