The Plight of Jewish Unity
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The erosion of Jewish unity since the Emancipation has produced a widening chasm between American and Israeli Jewish communities, threatening the cohesion of global Jewish identity. Critical analysis of contemporary Jewish educational initiatives reveals their fundamental inability to bridge this divide, despite concentrated efforts through Hebrew language instruction and synagogue-based cultural programming. Hebrew education in America has achieved remarkably low penetration, with fewer than five thousand subscribers to Hebrew publications and most instruction limited to ritual purposes. At the heart of this failure lies a profound ideological conflict: American synagogue organizations have embraced assimilationist doctrines that reduce Judaism to merely a religious denomination, explicitly rejecting its national-ethnic dimensions—a stance eerily reminiscent of nineteenth-century Emancipation ideology. This creates a striking paradox wherein American Jewish leaders seek to benefit from Israel's cultural renaissance while simultaneously denying their own diaspora status. Through evaluation of prevailing educational approaches and ideological frameworks, this research demonstrates that proposed solutions focusing on spiritual or cultural mechanisms prove inadequate in addressing the political and national forces driving Jewish fragmentation. Authentic Jewish unity, the analysis concludes, requires more than disembodied spirituality; it demands acknowledgment of shared national destiny and active participation in Jewish self-determination.

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Published 1964
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Shlomo Singer