Judaism as a Civilization: Toward a Reconstruction of American-Jewish Life

B. THE FACTORS OF CONSERVATION, CHAPTER V INHERENT FACTORS OF CONSERVATION

B. THE FACTORS OF CONSERVATION CHAPTER V INHERENT FACTORS OF CONSERVATION The inner momentum evolved by the Jewish past-Tendencies and activities which hold promise of a Jewish future-I. The tendency to aggregation-2. The strong sentiment against intermarriage-3. Jewish communal centers--4. Religious activities-S . Jewish education~. Philanthropic activities--7· Cultural activities-8. The upbuilding of Palestine---4}. Jewish Secular-Nationalist movement-IO. Fraternal organizations. IF Jewish life were completely unresponsive to the various forces that are undermining it, and made no effort to resist them, its end would be within sight. But this is far from being the case. The Jewish people has been unconsciously generating, during the centuries of oppression, new energies and spiritual potencies, and these are now coming into play. The very forces of destruction are overreaching themselves and producing the most unexpected results. Besides, there are many incalculable resources which a living being, individual or collective, has a way of falling back upon in a time of stress. These must now be fully explored and turned to account, if Judaism is to survive. Although the primary cohesive force which held the Jewish people together-the traditional conception of other-worldly salvation -has practically become inoperative, there has developed in the course of the centuries of living, thinking and suffering together, a secondary cohesive force which manifests itself in the will to maintain and perpetuate Jewish life as something desirable in and for itself. It is a law of human nature that, when people an engaged in a common enterprise tor any length of time, they develop a mutual attachment which persists, no matter what becomes of the enterprise. The highly intensive unity fostered by the Jews themselves and reenforced by the persecutions they endured during the last twenty centuries, has caused Jewish life to evolve a momentum of its own. So powerful is this momentum with a great many Jews that the 47 JUDAISM AS A CIVILIZATION motive of earning a share in the world to come no longer seems to be essential to Jewish loyalty. In fact, the majority of Jews seem to have completely forgotten that it was the belief in exclusive eligibility for salvation that formerly held their people together. This momentum has given rise to insdtutions, undertakings and commitments, and these in turn have augmented the force of the momentum. The mere fact that within the last century (1830-1930) the population of world-Jewry has increased fivefold, should be sufficient to make one pause before engaging in prophecies as to the ultimate outcome of the present crisis. The chances of Judaism surviving in America are augmented by the very increase in the Jewish population, irrespective of locality, since the presence of Jews anywhere in the world is likely at one time or another to be an object of consciousness to Jews everywhere else. But the chief factor upon which we may count for survival of Jewish life in America is of course the large influx of Jews, which has taken place within the last quarter of a century. In 1907 the Jews in America numbered 1,776,885; in 1927, they numbered 4,228,029.' Even if we confine ourselves to the consideration of communal endeavor in American Jewry, we become convinced that the will-to-live as Jews is far from succumbing to the forces assailing it. During the decade of 1916-1925, the number of Jewish organizations nation-wide in scope almost doubled. Expenditures for Jewish philanthropy which totalled $1,686,213 in 1916, reached the sum of $11,234,755 in 1925." The will to Jewish life is evolving new means of selfpreservation . It is finding expression in a number of movements and institutions which, if permitted to attain clarity of purpose and an understanding of realities, might enable American Jewry to emerge from the present crisis not merely unscathed, but revivified. Much of the pessimism about American-Jewish life is due to its low visibility. An effective antidote is a survey of the present tendencies and activities which make for the conservation of Jewish life. Some of these tendencies and activities, when itemized, may appear to overlap. Each of them is sufficiently important a contribution to the preservation of Jewish life in this country to deserve emphasis. They may be listed as follows: INHERENT FACTORS OF CONSERVATION 49 I. The tendency to aggregation.' The majority of the Jews in this country...