For “Jews of No Religion,” Chabad Hasidism Is the Denomination of Choice

In the past decade, demographers have increasingly spoken of “Jews of no religion”—that is, those who identify themselves as Jewish, but claim no devotion to Judaism as such. Elliot Kaufman examines some salient facts about this group from a recent Pew Research Foundation survey:

What about those whom Pew calls “Jews of no religion”? Only 7 percent say being Jewish is very important to their lives, and it’s unlikely that number will grow in the next generation. Among married Jews of no religion, 79 percent have a non-Jewish spouse. Their children intermarry at an even higher rate. A substantial portion of their grandchildren won’t be Jewish at all.

Rabbi Motti Seligson, . . . the media director for Chabad-Lubavitch, a Brooklyn-based ḥasidic Jewish movement known for ministering to less-religious Jews, [says] he has reason for optimism. Whereas the 2013 Pew study treated Chabad solely as an Orthodox sub-denominational identity, this study asks all Jews if they attend Chabad events such as dinners, prayer services, and more. It finds impressive engagement.

Thirty-seven percent of U.S. Jews say they’ve participated in Chabad activities or services, including 16 percent who do so “often” or “sometimes.” The latter includes 25 percent of Conservative Jews, 12 percent of Reform Jews, 8 percent of the unaffiliated, and 6 percent of Jews of no religion. Considering that only 10 percent of unaffiliated Jews and 8 percent of Jews of no religion say they attend a synagogue of any kind even a few times a year, Chabad’s numbers are large.

Rabbi Seligson agrees with progressives that the less-involved “want something different.” But they aren’t looking for a watered-down Judaism. “They’re looking for something authentic,” he says. “The minute you have to go outside of Judaism to answer their questions, you’ve lost them. They don’t need a rabbi for something that’s not Jewish.”

Read more at Wall Street Journal

More about: American Jewry, American Judaism, Chabad, Pew Survey

 

Why South Africa Has Led the Legal War against Israel

South Africa filed suit with the International Court of Justice in December accusing Israel of genocide. More recently, it requested that the court order the Jewish state to allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip—something which, of course, Israel has been doing since the war began. Indeed, the country’s ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC) has had a long history of support for the Palestinian cause, but Orde Kittrie suggests that the current government, which is plagued by massive corruption, has more sinister motives for its fixation on accusing Israel of imagined crimes:

ANC-led South Africa has . . . repeatedly supported Hamas. In 2015 and 2018, the ANC and Hamas signed memoranda of understanding pledging cooperation against Israel. The Daily Maverick, a South African newspaper that previously won an international award for exposing ANC corruption, has reported claims that Iran “essentially paid the ANC to litigate against Israel in the ICJ.”

The ANC-led government says it is motivated by humanitarian principle. That’s contradicted by its support for Russia, and by [President Cyril] Ramaphosa’s warmly welcoming a visit in January by Mohamed Dagalo, the leader of the Sudanese-Arab Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia. Ramaphosa’s smiling, hand-holding welcome of Dagalo occurred two months after the RSF’s systematic massacre of hundreds of non-Arab Sudanese refugees in Darfur.

While the ANC has looted its own country and aided America’s enemies, the U.S. is insulating the party from the consequences of its corruption and mismanagement.

In Kittrie’s view, it is “time for Congress and the Biden administration to start helping South Africa’s people hold Ramaphosa accountable.”

Read more at The Hill

More about: International Law, Iran, South Africa