Lee Diamond – The “Eternity of Israel Shall Not Falter”
Predictions of doom abound
*“There is no Jewish future!”
*“Intermarriage is at record highs”
*“Few of the children of intermarriage
Are being raised as Jews”
*Birthright has failed to lower
the statistics of intermarriage”
*Millions are being spent on
Israel programs
“Disintegration Flourishes”
*BDS is supported by our
very best young Jewish youth”
*“Synagogues are closing
Or combining”
*Rabbinical schools are empty
*“Jewish education is at an all time low”
*“Ignorance abounds.”
*“Jews are turning their backs
On Israel”
*Israel is off the agenda of all too many diaspora Jews
*Hebrew is a third world language for them
*Many can’t even decode the Aleph Bet
*Israelis are leaving Israel
Or staying in the lands of second choice
*The Government of Israel is too far right politically
And out of touch with The “religious” world of American Jewry
*J(ew)Street knows what’s best
*Israelis in America are not part of the same people.
*They view themselves as different and
*Indeed Are different.
*Israelis in America don’t join synagogues
*They don’t join JCCs
*Their children intermarry more than our own
70%!
*They sit on their suitcases but never return home.
*It’s good for them in the “land of silk and money”
All of the above from the “doomers”
It appears that these “doomers” have given up
On us!
They’ve forgotten the world of Hellenism
The world of assimilation
The loss of Hebrew, the adoption of Greek;
The gymnasium; the “de-circumcision”
Of the Jewish Hellenists.
THE DOOMERS HAVE GIVEN UP ON US
Yet, Jewish history is fraught with challenges
Of change of adjustment
Of new directions.
The Bible is a record of struggle
Of Jew against Jew and against the
Will of God!
The prophets rail against the idolatry of
Their days; against the immorality of
Their time.
Temple versus emerging synagogues
Priests versus prophets
Rabbis versus Kohanim
Hasidim versus mitnagdim
Reformers verses traditionalists
In every age the ‘doomers” shouted
From the highest hill:
“There is no future”
“We are doomed”
Yet here we are——- still predicting doom!
Still here; still fretting
Still worried!
Our Judaism is unique to our day
Nothing like the past!
We’re different but better
Not only did we survive
But we advanced our civilization
Beyond all expectations
We are the new Jews
And that my friends is
Our deepest secret!
We are not the “descendants of the Jews”
We are the Jews!!
Jews change
Jews adjust
Jews ‘kvetch״ about the present
Because we care deeply about the
Future!
There will be a new Generation
And though we might not approve
Or even recognize this New Jew
The God of Israel
Will!
Because נצח ישראל לא ישקר
The Eternity of Israel shall not Falter
Let’s Trust in This
