Silent Holocaust (Judaism)
The term "Silent Holocaust" has been used with various meanings. Certain Jewish communal and religious leaders have used this term to describe Jewish assimilation (cultural assimilation, religious assimilation) and interfaith marriages between Jews and gentiles. Silent Holocaust (, sometimes called "another Holocaust" or a "second Holocaust"), is a phrase which is used by certain Jewish communal and religious leaders when they seek to contrast the demographic effects (the loss of Jews) due to present-day assimilation and intermarriages between Jews and gentiles (non-Jews) (who do not convert to Judaism) with the Holocaust of Europe's Jews during  World war II when six million Jews perished. The word silent implies that it is not meant to be a comparison in terms of the murders that took place during the original European Holocaust, instead, it is meant to evoke a state of shock due to the fact that millions of Jews are abandoning Judaism and their fellow Jews albeit of their own free will. However, the loss of millions of Jewish coreligionist is deemed serious enough to be called a holocaust (meaning a "wholesale sacrifice or destruction" ["Concise Oxford Dictionary"].) Assimilation is the leading cause of the shrinkage of  almost all Jewish populations in Western countries since World War II, and it has been called the "Silent Holocaust" by communal leaders such as Rabbi Ephraim Buchwald of the National Jewish Outreach Program, perhaps the best-known popularizer of the phrase. The use of silent holocaust in reference to intermarriage/s is actually quite common, both among scholars and lay people, as can be seen in the following sources: Many Orthodox Jewish rabbis refer to assimilation as a type of "Holocaust". Orthodox Rabbis also refer to abortion as the "Silent Holocaust", and to conversion to Christianity as the "Silent Holocaust . Intermarriage, assimilation, apostasy (i.e. converting to Messianic Judaism or Buddhism), and abortions of Jewish babies are all described in terms of a silent holocaust". There are people who are offended by some of the above-mentioned approaches and views, which is understandable given the nature of the "kulturkampf" that is exposed. See for an opposing view. Referring to the assimilation of Jews. Concerned Jewish people sometimes refer to assimilation as a type of Holocaust. This is because assimilation is the leading cause of the shrinkage of almost all Jewish populations in Western countries since World War II. This shrinkage has  been called the "Silent Holocaust" (in contrast to the genocide which was committed against the Jews during World War II) by communal leaders such as Rabbi Ephraim Buchwald of the National Jewish Outreach Program. Buchwald said in 1992 that the Jewish community would not be recognizable in 25 to 30 years. According to the 2000—2001 National Jewish Population Survey, from 1996, 47% of American Jews married a non-Jew. The NJPS survey said that higher levels of education are associated with lower levels of intermarriage.