Matthew Weisbaum on Sustaining Jewish Identity in the Diaspora

To the Editors:

While I admire and appreciate Mr. Steinhardt for his sincere and profound dedication to Israel and the Jewish people, his recent article about the need for Israel to save American Jewry is predicated on a faulty assumption. The notion that American Jews can find sufficient motivation to sustain their Jewish identity in cultural paradigms, no matter how compelling, is erroneous. Italian Americans or Irish Americans (and many other ethnic groups in America) have enormous cultural pride and rituals that help them maintain their identity, but the mission of the Jewish people, and our success in perpetuating our peoplehood, will not be judged on how frequently we eat brisket and matzoh balls (instead of corned beef and cabbage) or how many of us come to a Yom Ha’atzmaut parade (as opposed to an Italian American pride parade), but instead by living by and transmitting our spiritual mandate. As the author recognizes, the problem with continuity doesn’t affect the Orthodox community; if we are to succeed in “keeping” non-Orthodox Jews as part of the Jewish community, the answer is to bring them closer to living as Jews. It’s the only thing that’s ever worked.