Religion & Beliefs

Judaism In the Year 2040

As the Coordinator of the Half-Jewish Network, the largest international organization for adult children and other descendants of intermarriage, I sit through endless debates on outreach listservs and message boards about the future of Judaism, while keeping one eye on … Read More

By Robin Margolis / October 8, 2009

Comments (18)

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.

Comments (18)

charlie

Great article!!! Didn’t knew that the Jewish population count in
North American has dropped that dramatically from 2009, I mean 30% to 50% is a very big percentage….
Robin Margolis

Dear Yonah:

You assume that my article suggests that the Israeli Jews will have a civil war between the Haredi and chilonim (secular) Jews.

Now my article discussed only a civil war between the Haredi Jews and the Palestinian Arabs in 2040.

My article assumes that both the Haredim and the Palestinian Arabs will outnumber the chilonim (secular Jews) and other Israeli groups to such an extent, that the chilonim will simply be brushed aside and opt to leave for America.

But let’s look at your suggestion — that a civil war between the Haredim and the Palestinian Arabs might also involve a fight between the Haredim and the Jewish chilonim (seculars).

You suggest that Jews would be reluctant to fight other Jews. That taboo is fast disappearing!

If the chilonim opt to stay in Israel and fight the Haredim, there will be plenty of Jew-vs.-Jew violence over the next thirty years.

Have a look at a video link I have posted below — hundreds of Haredim attempting to beat up a few clearly panicky, outnumbered Israeli police and soldiers — outnumbered ten to one — as broadcast by Israeli tv Channel 2 this summer, during the infamous riots over Haredi displeasure with: (1) a secular parking lot open on Shabbat that wasn’t even in their neighborhoods; and (2) the arrest of a Haredi woman who’d been starving her kid.

While the broadcast is in Hebrew, one needs no Hebrew to understand the chilling language of violence:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xugic0Grq2Q&feature=player_embedded

Now with regard to your question about how the Haredim would oppose the chilonim, given that the Haredim don’t currently have military training and aren’t armed —

Well, the Israeli government is about to change that part of the equation.

With supreme idiocy, the Israeli government is trying to arm the Haredim. The IDF is begging the Haredim to join the IDF and learn how to use weapons. The IDF has even created special "no-women-allowed" " Nahal Haredi" (Netzah Yehudah) brigades for male Haredim. They get to keep their beards. Pray three times a day. Etc.

http://www.nahalharedi.org/nahal_haredi_news.php?toc=event

So the Haredim are being taught how to use guns and fight. And guess what? Slowly, but surely, Haredim are joining the Nahal bridgades — and then applying for IDF officers’ school.

So the Haredim will have all the military knowledge they need to fight both the chilonim as well as the Palestinian Arabs, in pursuit of their Halachic Republic of Israel.

And since more and more of the IDF officer corps posts are being filled by the national-religious Orthodox, including settlers, and now the Haredim are slowly joining the officer corps, the IDF will likely fall under under ultra-Orthodox control.

I doubt that the Israeli Arabs or the West Bank/Gaza Palestinian Arabs will go along with the "Halachic Republic of Israel" in 2040. There will be civil war between the Haredim and the Palestinian Arabs.

Cordially,

Robin Margolis

http://www.half-jewish.net

http://www.inclusivistjudaism.wordpress.com
yonahred

Dear Robin Margolis,

       Certainly non Charedis need to be concerned regarding demographic trends. Yet your prediction of (the probability of) civil war seems to ignore the historical aversion of Jew versus Jew political violence. Certainly there have been some glaring exceptions: the murder of Rabin stands out and the attack on the Altalena is another. But focusing a moment on the Altalena: it was the tradition of aversion to Jew on Jew violence which gave Menachem Begin the moral strength (and practical wisdom) to stand down and not call for meeting violence with violence. A more recent turn of events should also be highlighted. Many predicted that the withdrawal from Gaza would result in civil war. It did not. In fact the primary acts of violence incited by the proposed withdrawal were killing of Israeli Arabs by radical Jews in an attempt to destabilize the country.

      A civil war between the Charedi and non Charedi Jews? What would that look like? The Charedis have the kids and the nonCharedis have the guns. The growth of the Charedi population certainly portends radical changes, but civil war? Paint me a scenario.

       Regarding the Arab population: there’s no question that violence is a distinct possibility especially with the proposed Palestinian state next door.

      (In fact my assertion of the lack of Jew on Jew political violence will be sorely tested when and if that Palestinian state is established and large Jewish communities on the West Bank face the fate of the settlers of Gaza. But the settler community is armed and the charedi community is unarmed.)

Cordially,

Yonah Fredman (aka Yonahred)
Robin Margolis

Dear Shlomit:

You sent me a private Jewcy message asking about statistics projecting the Jewish future, but the Jewcy name and profile you are using don’t allow private replies to your messages, so I could not reach you.

If you wish to inquire about Jewish population statistics, I can be reached at:

binarystar@aol.com

Cordially,

Robin Margolis

http://www.half-jewish.net

http://www.inclusivistjudaism.wordpress.com
Robin Margolis

Dear Yonahred:

The statistics I cite were released by the Israeli government to Israeli newspapers. It may seem foreign to you, but it is very real. Here’s two articles from the Israeli press on the subject:

"1 in 3 preschoolers attends ultra-Orthodox kindergarten" by Or Kashti

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1108559.html

"Study: 48% of pupils are Arab, haredi" by Abe Selig

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1251145151803&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull

With regard to the modern Orthodox and Sephardic and Mizrachi Jews of Israel — they will pose no effective counter-balance to the coming Haredi Orthodox and Palestinian Arab majorities in Israel.

The biggest complaint of many Mizrahi and Sephardic Israeli Jews against the ultra-Orthodox Haredim is that their children are not accepted by the ultra-Orthodox Ashkenazi Haredi school system. And much of the time, the Sephardic and Mizrahi political groups collaborate with the Haredi ultra-Orthodox political parties. After all, many of the Sephardim and Mizrahi are closer to the Haredim in lifestyle and beliefs than to the chilonim (seculars).

The Modern Orthodox of Israel will likely pose no effective resistance to the future "Halachic Republic of Israel" — as I call it. Their movement is fragmented, and while it has begun organizing against the growing Haredi control of Israeli Orthodoxy, and reaching out to the chilonim (seculars), they have already allowed Haredi judges to seize control of the rabbinic courts and the "who is a Jew?" issue.

Here is what happened about a year or two ago, when Israel tried to create a written constitution and pass it in the Knesset.The document began with words to this effect: "Israel is a Jewish and democratic state."

The Arab members of the Knesset naturally opposed inclusion of the word "Jewish" — they were fine with the word "democratic." The ultra-Orthodox members of the Knesset opposed inclusion of the word "democratic" — they were fine with the word "Jewish." The ultra-Orthodox have repeatedly stated in the Israeli media that Judaism is not a democracy — all Jews should live under halachah (Orthodox law).

So the efforts to create a written constitution for Israel were abandoned.

What will happen in the year 2040, when the ultra-Orthodox Haredi Jews and the Palestinian Arabs are the two largest groups in Israel? Probably a civil war.

Cordially,

Robin Margolis

http://www.half-jewish.net, http://www.inclusivistjudaism.wordpress.com
yonahred

Very interesting article and very foreign to me.

Criticism: I feel that you have slighted what Israel will look like. Certainly the haredi proportion of the population will increase as you have asserted and certainly the size of the Arab population and the affinity of that population for a prospective Palestinian state are question marks that hover over the future of Israel. But there are other populations besides chiloni and haredi and Arab: modern orthodox and traditional Jews (primarily Sephardic or Mizrachi Jews). Certainly the modern orthodox will be less likely to leave Israel and I assume that traditional Mizrachi Jews will be less likely to leave than the white chiloni who can afford to leave and blend in to America. Ignoring these two populations is a major flaw in your assessment of Israel’s future.
Erik Kolácek

@Robin: Thank you for your kind words regarding my comments. I think you just made my whole month.

@Rabbi Bridget: Thank you for all of your awesome advice, as always. You’re the best :)

Sincerely,

Erik
Robin Margolis

Dear Friends:

I was pleased to read the comments on my article. Since they asked direct questions of me, here are my replies:

1. MegaJew — you found the article too "gloomy" and inquired if there could be a "better" outcome. Yes, there can be a "better" outcome, if the Jewish community starts reaching out sooner to adult children and grandchildren of intermarriage, instead of waiting until we are over 50% of college age Jews. Then the huge drop in our numbers that I forecast for the year 2040 could possibly be averted if outreach to half-Jewish people starts sooner.

But such accelerated outreach would have to start within the next 5 to 10 years. So far, I have not been able to interest more than a few establishment Jewish groups in targeted outreach to half-Jewish people. Whatever you can do to interest Jewish groups you belong to in reaching out to half-Jewish people would be gratefully appreciated.

2. Shinefeld – you inquire "why exactly shouldn’t any congregation in the world be comfortable with an anything-African-American cantor or a Chinese president? Jewish is Jewish."

I wish that were true. Unfortunately, racism is still very strong in the Jewish community worldwide. I was just contacted by an adult child of intermarriage who is half-Mexican, who was pushed out of a southern California shul because he looks like his Mexican parent. He had not even had a chance to tell them that his other parent is Jewish. As the leader of the Half-Jewish Network, I hear stories like this all the time.

When you see this, in Jewish settings you belong to, please speak out against it. I would be very appreciative.

3. veganesther – you asked why I don’t join an "evolved" Conservative congregation. I am aware that there are Conservative congregations that do welcome members of interfaith families and other Jews who don’t fit the Ashkenazi norm. And I like the Conservative movement’s siddurim.

But — the Conservative movement is currently in the place with interfaith families where it used to be with gays — many Conservative shuls unofficially welcomed GLBT people for years, but the denominational policy was against GLBT people, so other Conservative shuls and the JTS discriminated against them – so many GLBT people left the Conservative movement for other Jewish groups.

The Conservative movement has to step up to the plate on this issue just as it eventually did with GLBT people – it has to publicly welcome members of interfaith families, institute effective, widespread outreach programs for them, and tell officials connected with JTS to stop issuing well-publicized statements attacking intermarriage.

4. A — you’re correct. Hitler would have killed you, but you can’t get married in Israel. And there does need to be better outreach for us half-Jewish folks from all segments of Judaism. Hang in there! See my comments to Erik and Lewdmilla below.

5. Erik — I’m sorry that you had to dye your hair darker to be accepted by some Jews, but I am not surprised. Like you, I look like my Christian parent, and his very fair-haired, blue-eyed WASP family. I have gotten flack from other Jews about that. I changed my name from my father’s WASP last name to my mother’s Jewish maiden name, because that diminished some of the flack.

I am glad that you have persisted in Judaism despite opposition from the "pecking order" of "Jewy Jews." I believe G-d looks at the service of the heart, not our appearance, and that your service is gladly accepted by Hashem.

6. Rabbi Bridget — I am glad that your organization is out there! I wish that more half-Jewish people embedded within the Jewish community would start reaching out to other children and grandchildren of intermarriage who are trying to enter it. You and I do a lot of work, but the other "embedded" half-Jewish folks also need to start doing this outreach.

7. Lewdmilla — You are correct in your perception that many born Jews perceive Jews by Choice and half-Jewish people as "this massive, multicultural army looming on the horizon, coming to dilute the Jewish people and generally upset the order of things." It’s not the Judaism that they grew up with, and they are not happy about it.

I think the only thing that those of us who are part of the "multicultural army" can do is live our Jewish or partially-Jewish lives, and reach out warmly to others in our situation(s) and advocate for them. Bit by bit, things will change — many born Jews are becoming more accepting — and our numbers are growing. When Jews by Choice and half-Jewish people and interfaith couples are the majority of the non-Orthodox Jewish community in 2040, hopefully we won’t need to dye our hair and have Slavic last names to fit in.

8. Zardo — it’s hard to dialogue with a person who announces that they’ve made their comments, and they are not coming back.

But for the record: (1) the reason children and grandchildren of intermarriage have poor affiliation rates with Judaism is because they are being shut out of Judaism — it’s hard to join a faith/peoplehood where one encounters so much opposition — if we were treated better, you would see our affiliation rates go up dramatically;

and (2) with regard to Israel — my analysis is based on statistics about the Israeli Jewish school-age population released by the Israeli government and publicized by the online Israeli newspapers (they are free of charge, and have English language web editions, where you can easily verify what I said.)

9. Susan Katzmiller — I am glad that you found the article "dramatic and accurate."

With regard to some of your objections to the article, I think you may be assuming attitudes on my part that are not in the article.

First, you expressed concern that the intermarried female associate rabbi — in the year 2040 — would be producing matrilineal Jewish children, and, if I read you correctly, you viewed this as unfair to patrilineals.

If you re-read my article closely, you will note that the hypothetical associate rabbi in the year 2040 is described as "an adult child of intermarriage and intermarried," not a born Jew. In addition, I deliberately did not identify her as either patrilineal or matrilineal. I did not wish her children — by her Christian husband – to be assumed to be matrilineal Jews.

Second, why would you think I, as the leader of the Half-Jewish Network, would be afraid, in your words, to "make waves"? Oy gevalt (woe is me), if I wanted a quiet life, this was not the route I would have taken!

Third, you complain that my article does not "address those interfaith descendants who insist on identifying with more than one religion, or educating their children about both family religions."

The article was about "Judaism In The Year 2040" — so naturally, in this article, I was addressing the needs and issues of half-Jewish people who self-identify primarily as Jews, as they are the ones who affiliate with the Jewish community, raise their kids as Jews, and will be living in the Jewish community during the year 2040.

This particular article was not intended to address all the other varied and complex religious and ethnic choices made by adult children and grandchildren of intermarriage, who opt not to self-identify primarily as Jews. That’s an entirely different article.

Cordially,

Robin Margolis

http://www.half-jewish.net
Susan Katz Miller

Robin,

A dramatic and probably accurate vision. It’s telling that you make sure to note that the intermarried rabbi is
raising her children as Jews (and I notice they are matrilineal, so
won’t make waves). But of course you don’t address those interfaith descendants who insist on identifying with more than one religion, or educating their children about both family religions. We’re a growing cohort, as you know. I’ve got a whole blog on this topic, at http://onbeingboth.com/

Susan Katz Miller

http://onbeingboth.com/
zardo

1. Why does the article assume that interfaith couples’ children stay
associated with Judaism? Some do, but from what I’ve seen with relatives (and I suppose from what I see in other people’s extended families), after a maximum 2 generations, you start getting far less than a 1:1 ratio of parents to children who keep their Jewish identity.

2. The article posits that Israel will (a) Have the government be taken over by Hassidic Jews (b) Allow a Palestinian state to be formed and (c) Start becoming void of Secular Israelis. I’m not even going to argue the likelihood of that stuff happening, but assuming it does: you can be darn well sure that Israel will become weak enough in the meantime that it and its inhabitants will be obliterated by surrounding countries, especially if the state comes out to be as you describe it. You go along with the beginning of that timeline, "Israel in 2040" won’t exist.

These are my two points, which are more like statements because I’m not going to remember to come back here to see the answers. I mean, feel free to answer (it may help others who come along in understanding the article better), just saying that even with a smart and intelligent response, I won’t be there to continue the dialog.
Lewdmilla

It’s always a bit disconcerting for me, as a woman who is in the process of becoming a "Jew by Choice" (or a Jew, which I think is the appropriate term) to come across reminders of the … I guess the term would be "hesitation" … with which many Jews acknowledge us. As though we are this massive, multicultural army looming on the horizon, coming to dilute the Jewish people and generally upset the order of things.

Am I reading Robin’s article right? That Jews would do well to take an introspective look at their feelings toward changes in Jewish demographics that are likely inevitable? (I’m specifically referring to the race/intermarriage/convert section here, not the Israel part.) It seems that most people have a narrow vision of what Judaism looks like (as Eric mentions) and sounds like (as Rabbi Bridget mentions). We are too eager to assume that Ashkenazi Jews make up the whole of the Jewish world, because that’s 90% of what we see.

My rabbi often reminds me: When I come out of that mikvah, I will be as Jewish as he is. In my heart, and with my whole body. But right now I should go ahead and start steeling myself against those who will always be willing to remind me how Jewish they believe I am not.

Although, I have to admit: In spite of myself, sometimes I catch myself feeling thankful that I have a Polish last name and can pull off a brunette dye-job.
Rabbi Bridget

Robin, you write about the "Jewish 2.0 continuity" efforts of the "social entrepreneurs" of 2009, focused almost entirely on young Jews with two Jewish parents.

I want to let you know about another part of that social entrepreneur bunch, of which I am a part. I founded and run Jewish Gateways, an organization that serves mostly adult children of intermarriage, although we are open to all. We just completed three years as part of UpStart Bay Area, an incubator for innovative new Jewish nonprofits.

I’m sorry most of your experience has been otherwise, but we’re out here, welcoming half-Jews, those of Jewish ancestry, and however else people define themselves, and offering them a comfortable place to explore Jewish life and identity.

I only wish there were lots of us doing this work. There are often more people who want to participate in Jewish Gateways than we have the capacity to serve. I look forward to the time when there are many organizations like ours and we have the ability to respond to all those who want to explore Jewish life.
Rabbi Bridget

I love your message, and the way you put it.

As someone with a "non-Jewish" name I get lots of comments, many of which I’m sure are meant innocently, that seem to imply I may not really be "one of the tribe." When I told my mother I had decided to be a rabbi, she said, "Oh, no, why did we name you Bridget, and give your brother and sister the Jewish-sounding names?" I said, "It doesn’t matter."

Now I say it does matter. I’m glad I have the name I do. Even though I’m a rabbi and so might get very little questioning of my Jewish "status," with my name I’ve experienced some of what it’s like to have others see me as as not a real Jew. This helped me find the work I do — welcoming all who want to explore Jewish life and identity in an open environment.

I thank God for helping me do this deeply meaningful work, and my parents for the "non-Jewish" name!
Erik Kolacek

My father is the blondest Scandinavian I’ve ever seen in my life. My mother’s family are like a caricature of what an east European Jew would look like in a 1930s propaganda film.

I was born with fair features and I pass for whatever a "normal american white guy" is supposed to look like. For various reasons, some of which related to my father’s racism, I started darkening my hair as a young man to fit in with my Jewish friends. The difference in how I have been treated is dramatic.

I admit these things primarily because - as I made the decision to pursue a spiritual path in Judaism – I was not prepared for the pecking order among certain (but definitely not all) of my fellow Jews. I know several utterly non-religious people who by virtue of their ethnic looks alone feel perfectly comfortable as "Jewy" Jews and feel no compunction about calling out other people based on looks and surnames.

My attitude about this has become two-fold:

1) Only God (or G-d, Hashem or Adonai…whichever makes you feel comfortable) knows what is inside a person’s heart. Period. It is not for other people to tell me who I am and to what degree I am a Jewish man. It has taken me many conversations with my rabbi to get to this point and I would encourage anyone who feels left out to find a rabbi who cares about your relationship to God and not what city in Poland your great-grandmother came from.

2) Quite frankly…yes, in Hitler’s Germany I would have been summarily classified as an Untermensch whether I had light hair or dark hair. Period. I am a Slavic Jew. And given a choice I would rather die as a clear-minded Jew than lie to survive. If I am willing to die for my Judaism, don’t tell me I’m not Jewish enough.

My message to anyone who is concerned about what percentage of their genetic code is Jewish is "it doesn’t matter." Let God worry about it. Live your life according to your religious values and never let another person keep you from attending shabbas or participating in Jewish life. It’s the best thing I ever did for myself and I thank God for making me the way I am.
A

I’ve often felt like commenting on Jewcy posts, but this one struck a nerve with me.

I’m the product of intermarriage, and to make it more difficult, my father (jewish) and my step-mother (also jewish) were extremely secular. My nieces and nephew are the same makeup as the hypothetical cantor. My family looks like this, but in 2009. But we’ve always felt the pervasive "if your mother’s not Jewish, you’re not Jewish" sentiment, and I’m sure we’re not alone. The reality is that even now, you’ve got a lot of people who don’t just feel left out, they feel pushed out and closed out.

For Judaism to survive until 2040 and beyond, there needs to be a concerted effort, not just among the Conservative and Reform congregations, but among other streams — and the Israeli government — to find ways to be more welcoming to those of us who are half-Jews.
veganesther

Please consider affiliating with an involved evolved congregation. You might be pleasantly surprised at how far we have come. I belong to a synagogue that is part of United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. We embrace and celebrate many differnt avenues taken on the spiritual path of Judaism. We offer full family membership to non-jewish partners. We have gay members, straight members, jews by choice, intermarried couples, non married couples the list goes on and on. We are family and child freindly but also feature prayer services and educational programs specifically for adults. Our congregation is not an anomoly. Many affiliated conservative shuls here in New York are similar to mine.
Mordechai Shinefield

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.

I don’t know about the intermarriage or "Jew by Choice," but why exactly shouldn’t any congregation in the world be comfortable with an anything-African-American cantor or a Chinese president? Jewish is Jewish.
MegaJew

Hey it could turn out better than this? This is kind of gloomy.

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