A Common Ignorance

Should an American Jew abandon his Jewishness and try to "assimilate" himself? Or should he cling to the fundamentals of his own tradition, even though it makes him "different"? Either course would be preferable to the one U.S. Jews are actually following, says British Literary Critic David Daiches, who has spent ten years teaching English at the University of Chicago and Cornell.

Writing in the current issue of Commentary, this eminent son of a rabbi finds "American Jewry . . . aiming at a confused third way which is neither philosophically tenable nor socially practicable" --a "genteel" watering-down of Judaism to conform to U.S. cultural standards.

"This is partly," says Daiches, "because American Jews are so nervous about their Americanism . . . They have continually to prove that they are good Americans first and good Jews afterwards, and the obvious way of doing that is to join in the general 'democratic' chorus that nobody really differs from anybody else, that all religions are equally true, that Jewish worship is really just the same as Christian worship, that a rabbi can appropriately preach in a church and a Christian minister in a 'temple,' and that a common ignorance of the Bible and of theology can unite everybody in a sentimental, social-service, 'boys'-town' religion . . ."

The American Jew really wants to assimilate, says Daiches, but he feels guilty about it and "gets his assimilationist urge horribly mixed up with the fiercer kind of Zionism ... No one would be more astonished or upset than the American Zionist if out of Zion were really to come forth the Law and Word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He hopes that out of Zion will come forth good Rotarian Israelites and Hebrew-speaking hot-dog sellers."

Daiches thinks the American Jew should frankly accept assimilation as an ideal or else seriously cultivate Judaism: "To cultivate a Jewish consciousness while ignoring or disbelieving or glossing over the ideas and doctrines which constitute the Jewish heritage [is] both illogical and unintelligent. If you believe that the Jewish religion can be prettied up into a modern mixture of Freud and Jefferson and kid yourself into calling your fancy synthesis Judaism (as was done in that absurd book, Peace of Mind), then I suppose nobody can prevent you; but don't then sneer at assimilationists--they are at least honest about what they are doing."

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