Intermarriage is inevitable in an open society. And no it isn't the same as 275 years ago. We didn't have a 50% intermarriage rate back then. This is a crisis of historical proportions. But if we (the Jewish people) rely on in-marrying to maintain the community then we're simply going to create unnatural, xenophobic lives for ourselves. If we rely on the orthodox to keep replenishing our ranks then we'll be replaced by a community that spends all their resources on torah and contributes little to the outside world, which would be a serious loss to humanity. If we rely on Israel then we're putting all our eggs in a risky basket. A strong, non-orthodox Jewish community in the diaspora needs to exist. The only way is to make the religion appealing enough to get our half-Jewish grandchildren to want to stay Jewish. The way we practice and teach the religion simply isn't working in that regard. We need to adapt it if we want to survive and maintain our numbers in a healthy manner, not through suffocating, high-birthrate, insulating techniques. Just remember that Judaism has changed throughout the centuries (used to be patrilineal), and our genetic makeup which has also changed. We need to stop clinging to the old ways, and look at this crises as an opportunity: to make Judaism more meaningful in a modern, scientific world, to increase our ranks, to strengthen our culture with new ideas from our non-jewish converts (diversity results in creativity and better ideas). And I understand the concept of not to proselytize the faith, but why should we go to the other extreme and make it so difficult to convert? It's not dilution... it's progress. For the first time in history there are large numbers of people who genuinely want to be Jewish and we make it so difficult for them, only to complain about how we're disappearing. It's hard to sympathize with such a ridiculous system. A matrilineal cast-like system. It's becoming archaic. Orthodox conversion can ruin lives, and most Jews (including now the Israeli govmnt) won't recognize anything else. We need to innovate to survive and thrive. Dogma is destroying the Jewish people.
Intermarriage is inevitable in an open society. And no it isn't the same as 275 years ago. We didn't have a 50% intermarriage rate back then. This is a crisis of historical proportions. But if we (the Jewish people) rely on in-marrying to maintain the community then we're simply going to create unnatural, xenophobic lives for ourselves. If we rely on the orthodox to keep replenishing our ranks then we'll be replaced by a community that spends all their resources on torah and contributes little to the outside world, which would be a serious loss to humanity. If we rely on Israel then we're putting all our eggs in a risky basket. A strong, non-orthodox Jewish community in the diaspora needs to exist. The only way is to make the religion appealing enough to get our half-Jewish grandchildren to want to stay Jewish. The way we practice and teach the religion simply isn't working in that regard. We need to adapt it if we want to survive and maintain our numbers in a healthy manner, not through suffocating, high-birthrate, insulating techniques. Just remember that Judaism has changed throughout the centuries (used to be patrilineal), and our genetic makeup which has also changed. We need to stop clinging to the old ways, and look at this crises as an opportunity: to make Judaism more meaningful in a modern, scientific world, to increase our ranks, to strengthen our culture with new ideas from our non-jewish converts (diversity results in creativity and better ideas). And I understand the concept of not to proselytize the faith, but why should we go to the other extreme and make it so difficult to convert? It's not dilution... it's progress. For the first time in history there are large numbers of people who genuinely want to be Jewish and we make it so difficult for them, only to complain about how we're disappearing. It's hard to sympathize with such a ridiculous system. A matrilineal cast-like system. It's becoming archaic. Orthodox conversion can ruin lives, and most Jews (including now the Israeli govmnt) won't recognize anything else. We need to innovate to survive and thrive. Dogma is destroying the Jewish people.