Orthodox Jews, Mormons, and Why Fertility Is Contagious

Aug. 27 2024

In 2023, the U.S. birthrate sank to 1.62 babies per woman, the lowest on record, after fifteen years of steady decline. Timothy Carney is skeptical of efforts at the national level to increase fertility rates; instead he turns to the evidence from such exceptionally fertile communities as Orthodox Jews and Mormons, and the influence they have on their neighbors:

The economist Natalie Gochnour from the University of Utah . . . says the Catholics in Utah have a higher birthrate than the Catholics in any other state. “It’s in the air,” Gochnour says. If you look closely, you can see the vectors of this communicable condition.

Kemp Mill is a Maryland suburb of Washington, D.C., anchored by two Modern Orthodox synagogues. Kemp Mill looks very different from other neighborhoods in Montgomery County, not only because the residents eschew driving on Saturday but also because families of six, seven, or more are a common sight.

If you pass through Kemp Mill on a weekend or a summer afternoon, you will see little gangs of children roaming the neighborhood and this hints at the feedback effects. The more children roaming the streets, the easier it is for any individual parent to let his or her children roam the streets, which makes parenting easier and makes having a little platoon of your own more imaginable.

Also, the more neighbors and friends you have who have a toddler and a newborn, the easier it is to have a semblance of a social life while you have a toddler and a newborn. Coffees planned around naptime replace lengthy boozy brunches, and playground picnics replace dinners at fancy restaurants. On a larger scale, places with more children are more likely to accommodate children and their parents, culturally and physically.

Read more at Washington Examiner

More about: American society, Fertility, Mormonism, Orthodoxy

Expand Gaza into Sinai

Feb. 11 2025

Calling the proposal to depopulate Gaza completely (if temporarily) “unworkable,” Peter Berkowitz makes the case for a similar, but more feasible, plan:

The United States along with Saudi Arabia and the UAE should persuade Egypt by means of generous financial inducements to open the sparsely populated ten-to-fifteen miles of Sinai adjacent to Gaza to Palestinians seeking a fresh start and better life. Egypt would not absorb Gazans and make them citizens but rather move Gaza’s border . . . westward into Sinai. Fences would be erected along the new border. The Israel Defense Force would maintain border security on the Gaza-extension side, Egyptian forces on the other. Egypt might lease the land to the Palestinians for 75 years.

The Sinai option does not involve forced transfer of civilian populations, which the international laws of war bar. As the United States, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and other partners build temporary dwellings and then apartment buildings and towns, they would provide bus service to the Gaza-extension. Palestinian families that choose to make the short trip would receive a key to a new residence and, say, $10,000.

The Sinai option is flawed. . . . Then again, all conventional options for rehabilitating and governing Gaza are terrible.

Read more at RealClear Politics

More about: Donald Trump, Egypt, Gaza Strip, Sinai Peninsula