The Fault Line that Runs Through American Jewry

Much has been made of the perceived disappearing act of the American Jewish community. Surveys indicate plummeting marriage and birth rates, rampant intermarriage and a lessening affinity with Israel.

These indicia have set off alarm bells as to the prospect of the slow-motion trainwreck of American Jewry. Studies, commissions and outreach have all been employed to stymie the decline.

However, it must be recognized that these concerns focus on only a portion of the American Jewish community, albeit its largest current cohort—the non-Orthodox, less religiously observant Jews.