• Those who define their Jewishness because of the Holocaust. A former Rebbe of mine was wont to say, (strictly in jest) that on the contrary, this is a reason not to be Jewish. What attraction does the Holocaust offer? The Holocaust figures prominently in Jewish Halachic /Hashkafic thought, as it should for a host of reasons, but a secular Judaism that uses this unfortunate event as its sole reason for being, is destined to abandon it.
• Jews because of….. you can fill in the blank. Whole movements of “Judaism” are premised on the notion that Judaism means radical social activism and the pursuit of social justice. Jews against the death penalty. Jews against circumcision. Jews for Gaza. Jews for the environment, PETA, “gay rights”, “woman’s rights”/abortion on demand, workers’ rights/unions, etc., all of these are the tragic byproducts of a G-dless identity.This kind of Judaism is one step away from the more intellectually honest fools of the ethical culture movement who finally wake up and say, “Let’s throw this whole charade away and become a brotherhood of men.
The only reason to be a Jew is because we have a Divine Torah that was given to us by The Almighty. We are only unique as a nation, if we keep the Law and pass it on. Otherwise, there is no reason to be proud of being a Jew, nor is there any reason to remain one.
A “Jewish Clinton” Returning to Chelsea’s new baby. The desire to make this baby Jewish is sad on so many levels. Liberals desperately want a “Clinton Jew,” despite the fact that the Clintons’ views on a host of issues are antithetical to Jewish values. It shows how detached liberal Jews are from Torah. Furthermore, Hillary and Bill Clinton are both fundamentally flawed people who should act as a role model for no one. The desire to see them as people worthy of identifying with is another tragedy.
Yet the worst sin here, is the erosion of Halacha which puts a kosher stamp on the treif. Jews who have cast aside Halacha for secular Jewish ideals have no qualms following the un-Jewish patrilineal descent to make this baby Jewish. The Reform movement explicitly states that Halacha for them is what the Reform leaders deem it to be. This is why American Jewry is gasping for air. It is dying. So is the European equivalent. Judaism without Torah will not survive. Since the early years of the Haskalah movement, many better intended (if not misguided), educated Jews, were unable to combat assimilation. For all of his many mistakes, Moses Mendelssohn never could have thought that he would lose his children to intermarriage and conversion. Naked and unarmed of any real Torah concepts, what chance does today’s secular Jew have?
My final statement on this issue is a call to all alienated, disaffected, and detached Jews to be intellectually honest with themselves. I challenge them to explore our beautiful Jewish faith before casting it away, either willfully, or through the process of intermarriage. There is a proper reason that we Jews suffered torture and death for two thousand years in order to preserve our faith. We weren’t stubbornly clinging to mere sentiment, or a desire to live longer and eat good Jewish food. We were slaughtered because we remained eternally committed to The Almighty and the Torah, even during the darkest nights of exile.
One who decides to throw his Judaism away, should at the very least understand what he is abandoning. Marc Mezvinsky publicly spurned his Jewish heritage on the international stage. He is the tragic byproduct of an insidious process of Jewish assimilation that predated his own intermarriage by many years. In that sense, he epitomizes the spiritual Holocaust of American Jewry.
With this New Year, let us pray to The Almighty that the Jewish people will merit a year of blessing and true Jewish nachas. May we merit to see the births of many more jewish babies who will cling to the Torah, as they will cling to their mothers. And may we merit to see the end of this long and bitter exile, and witness the arrival of Moshiach.