Today’s Guest: Dr. Jack Wertheimer
Jack Wertheimer, Professor of American Jewish History at the Jewish Theological Seminary and author of the new book, The New American Judaism: How Jews Practice Their Religion Today, shares with us the changes in the Jewish religious landscape today.
Dr. Wertheimer’s books discussed today:
- The New American Judaism: How Jews Practice Their Religion Today
- A People Divided: Judaism in Contemporary America
A complete bibliography can be found on Dr. Wertheimer’s page at the Jewish Theological Seminary.
(Affiliate links – If you buy a book through these links, a small commission goes to support this show, at no additional cost to you or to the author.)
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It is wonderful to study and be aware of evolution within Judaism as it interfaces with American society. As a convert, though, I’m always disappointed that there seems to me to be an overwhelming disequilibrium between the thought that Jews put into, on the one hand, how the practice of Judaism can be modified to bring more Jews into participation in some form versus, on the other hand, the resistance to making a similar outreach to converts and potential converts. I understand the wariness that many have about assimilation. However, can you quantify the assimilation that occurs as a result of bringing assimilated, non-observant Jews “back into the fold” versus the assimilation that occurs when converts are, in some cases reluctantly, welcomed into the Jewish people versus the assimilation that might occur if Judaism became more transparent in openly welcoming more non-Jews to undergo the conversion process? In my opinion, there are millions of non-Jewish Americans whose hearts are silently crying out for relationship with God and who would make excellent, outstanding converts, but who never get to make that first step because either they know nothing about Judaism due to its separateness or else they are discouraged from converting when they do make the first step. I believe that if the Jewish denominations would make an effort to have equitable and defined conversion processes (not easier, just uniform) and would then make a tiny effort to reach out to non-Jews, a large number of very observant, dedicated Jews-by-choice would be the outcome, people who also take pride in being Jewish and in being as much or more a part of the Jewish people as the average Jew-by-birth is today. The fact that so many barriers of non-uniformity and discouragement are built into the conversion process now can lead would-be converts to feel that they are unwanted.