Intermountain Jewish news., 1926-04-01
FORCES IN MODERN
AMERICAN JUDAISM
Address Delivered Before Denver Lodge,
10. B. B., BY Simon J. Heller


not discornlblc In their present attitude
and Interest.
The next group he describes In the
order Of significance might roughly be
designated us the Jewry OF the lower.
middle and middle classes. This class
might well be denominated as the
great B"urgeois class. This class Is
composed mostly Of the shopkeepers. the
tradesmen, contracting employers,
white-collared proletariats and small
manufacturers. They are mostly OF the
recent immigration. and they still carry
with them lively rtcollections OF their
education in Judaism which they re
ceived in the old country. It is this
class who compose the bulk of the
membership Of the orthodox synagogs
Of the land. Their rcrnacular Is Yid
dish. Their sons are sent to the Cheders
and Talmud-Torahs and in their due
proportions, graduated into the con.
servative and reformed theological
Summaries. lie continues, that the
number of the children OF this class
who are touched by the tradition Of
their fathers. and who take the torch
from their fathers hands, is negligible
Their numbers grow. If anything,
smaller, so that in spite of the efforts
to intecrate them. the flssure between
the tradition Of Judaism and the mod.
ernity communicated by the public
schools and the public press, seems to
widen rather than TO narrow. Juda.
ism is not successfully competing with
its secular rivals" He concludes that
the young men Of this group do not care
about Judaism.
That the young do not care about
Juadlsm is even truer." he says, "of the
children Of the prosperous Jews Of
native and west European origin. These
constitute the membership of the re
formed congregation. 1t now hardly
ever sends one Of its sons to the rab-
binate. Its children graduate from the
Sunday Schools into an Indifference to
Judaism. Being n Jew for any mem
her Of this group means only perhaps
being n member of a temple. the pre-
ferred son Of priest-people. without Il
feeling ms to the true significance of the
appellation.
With member of this group the so
cial contacts are The important con
tacts. To him. from day TO day, ii
Is n matter of whom he dimes with.
exchanges calls with, plays cards with
in club on a Sunday. and feels most
at ease with. 1t is matter of social
habits. preferences and prejudiccs. To
these, the personality image of the
Jews as priest-people with a mission
is added its work is TO compensate the
members of this social enclave for the
continually reawakened inferiority
feelings, in the Christian environment.
He continues: Seen effectively, be-
Ing Reformed Jew is being first of all
member of social group among the
Jews; only inferentially does 1t consist
in being member of a religious sect.
Income level and diction are usually
more defnitive of religious afiiliation.
than theology or even dietary habits. 4"
Mr.. Kallen concludes: Concerning
Judaism, the young listen and look
away. Efforts to awaken living, posi-
tive purposes thta shall integrate the
diversities Of American Jewry into n
stable, creative force in American life
and culture. seems thus fare to be lack.
ing"
In my opinion the young in Jewry do
not imbibe of the oriental mysticism of
our fathers and hence orthodoxy is not
holding them. Reformed Judaism like
wise is not Jewish enough. and so be-
tween the two there must grow up n
new and modern Judaism, or rather
the same Judaism of our fathers
adapting itself to our changing times.
progress and civilization. and this will
probably emlnate from Palestine.
Now, as heretofore. we have no cen
tral or final Rabbinical authority. and
being thus leaderless, orthodoxy has not
been able TO adapt itself to changing
conditions. Reform. though noble in its
conception, has gone far beyond the
scope Of its original boundaries.
conclude therefore. that our re-
ligion Is a diSlntegrating, rather than
an integrating force in Judaism. II Is
rather a negative than an affirmative
force
H. EDUCATION
We now come to the educational force
In modern Judaism. 1t Is well known
that in the olden days every boy, when
he attained the age of four years, was
sent to Cheder and continued untIl he
reached manhood. He was instilled
with the love for all things Jewish he
learned the traditions. the history of