The New American Judaism: The Way Forward on Challenging Issues from Intermarriage to Jewish Identity

Blecher, rabbi, psychotherapist and self-described maverick, believes that American Jews have been given misinformation and misinterpretations by their Jewish teachers. He aims to correct such myths in this strident, iconoclastic book. Among his targets is the notion that Judaism is a 4,000-year-old religion. He claims that American Judaism, which he labels “denominational Judaism,” is a 20th-century invention that has little connection to ancient patriarchs, priests or animal sacrifices. Furthermore, he insists that it is false to envision the Jews in America as a dying breed based on assimilation and intermarriage. Indeed, he argues, “in-marriage reduces the Jewish population” by leading to “the proliferation of genetic disorders,” including any that affect fertility. Blecher takes particular delight in shattering the myth that the shtetl of Eastern Europe provided an “emotionally fulfilling life.” Among the sources he criticizes for painting a false, romantic picture of life in the shtetl are Fiddler on the Roof , Abraham Joshua Heschel's The Earth is the Lord's , and Life Is With People by Mark Zborowski and Elizabeth Herzog. Some readers may find this provocative and contentious book irritating; others will be stirred by its controversial assertions. (Nov.)