Thursday, July 12, 2007

Future generation(s) 'not connected' to Jewish people?

Jerusalem Post:
Young Jews don't identify with Jewish peoplehood and have no real sense of collective identity, US student activist Rachel Fish told the Conference on the Future of the Jewish People on Tuesday.

'There is an obvious and critical disconnect between the generation currently running the State of Israel, as well as the organized Jewish communities of the Diaspora, and the next generations of Jews,' Fish, who is pursuing her doctorate at Brandeis University, said in a short but dramatic speech that formally opened the three-day conference in Jerusalem.

'The notion that belonging to the Jewish people is both a privilege and a responsibility is neither understood nor accepted by future generations of Jews,' she said.

'In an age of multiculturalism, which celebrates the romantic and exotic 'Other,' and which is depicted as the only moral approach to a complex world, young Jewish adults do not desire to carry the burden of Jewish history and identity,' she said. 'It is much more attractive to be for the 'Other' and a citizen of the world rather than for one's own tribe, which is viewed as particularistic.'


I wonder if Rachel is a "glatt kosher" Fish. See below.

Actually, it is promising to read that this august assembly is listening to such words from a young scholar and activist. Bravo.

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