Are more American Jews turning to Orthodox Judaism?

This transcript has been adapted from the attached audio. It may not be in its final form and may be updated.

LAND: You point out in your book that Judaism, particularly in its orthodox variety, is attracting some Jews who have been highly secularized, and I went to Israel twice in the last four years, and I was stunned at the number of Americans I ran into. You could tell they were Americans, you know, they had on Los Angeles Dodger baseball hats or Chicago Cub baseball hats, and over and over again, I kept hearing the same story. These were American Jews who had been raised in a virtually secular home, and they re-discovered their roots when they were in college and went whole hog, if you don’t mind the analogy, and said, “We are going back to Israel; we are going all the way back,” and they are in settlements and they are back in Israel.

OLASKY: Yes, I mean, there is such a search among students, such a desire to take not just a smattering of courses in college and then have a life that is segmented, well there is work, there is this, there is that; but they are looking for wholeness in some way, and Orthodox Judaism can offer that, and that is enormously appealing to lots of folks who just feel torn apart in their own lives, and sometimes they have grown up in families that have been torn apart. They are looking for something and that’s why Orthodox Judaism is growing. It is still a minority among Jews, I mean, a lot of Christians don’t understand that most Jews by ethnicity in America are atheist or agnostics, at best, and among those go to synagogues or temples regularly. I mean, most are reformed, which is the very theological liberal form of Judaism, so it is going to be a while before Orthodoxy becomes the major part of American Judaism. But given the conversions that are going on, the growth rate of Judaism, as liberal Jews become Orthodox, and then particularly the big families, that like Orthodox Jews like conservative Christians tend to have, a generation from now, Orthodox Judaism, if the current trend goes, will be in the majority again or at least certainly in two generations.

LAND: Now make a distinction for us, Marvin, between Orthodox Jews and Observant Jews. I have often heard Joseph Lieberman described as an Observant Jew, and I’ve heard Dr. Laura Schlessinger described as an Observant Jew, but they are not orthodox in the sense that they don’t wear the traditional haircuts, etc.

OLASKY: Yes, see Orthodox Judaism really has two Bibles; it has the Old Testament and it has the Talmud. The Talmud is basically, you could call it, Judaism’s New Testament. The Talmud is the compilation of debates among rabbis during the first five centuries after Christ, and they say this is actually the oral law that was given to Moses on Mt. Sinai and others and was then passed on generation by generation, never written down, until finally it was debated and discussed by the Talmudic Rabbis. The Talmud actually functions on a day-to-day basis for Orthodox Jews as, in many ways, more important than the Old Testament itself. I mean, Orthodox Jews would say the Talmud is just the carrying out of the Old Testament, but it is really different. For example, something that a lot of Christians are aware of, the laws of kashrut, kosher laws in Judaism, they are all derived from one verse in the Old Testament about not cooking the kid in its mother’s milk, which I think has often been interpreted as “don’t be cruel, don’t be barbaric in your practice.” That was spun out by the Talmudic Rabbis into just an incredibly detailed set of rules concerning what you can eat, when you can eat it, how many hours have to go by before you have a dish with some milk component after you have had a dish with some meat component, using different plates, different utensils, exactly how things can be cooked, and it just goes on and on and on. That is Orthodox Judaism. Just an enormous set of rules which Orthodox Jews are to follow, or, just to give you one other example, the rules on Sabbath. There is a verse in the Bible, well, it is related of course to not working on the Sabbath and not doing exercise and creative effort. Well, that has been spun out into an enormous number of things, such as not turning on an electric switch, even though that is not particularly a big calorie using exercise. If someone wants to go on a diet, I would not recommend losing weight by just turning on and off electric switches, but you are not supposed to do that. That is Talmud. That is Orthodox Judaism. Observant means that you will keep some of the rules as you see fit to do and there are discussions about much you have to keep and when and why and so forth but, in a sense, some people might call that modern Orthodoxy. It is different from the absolute hardcore Talmudic version.

LAND: It is even more different from Reform Judaism, which is pretty liberal.

OLASKY: Reform Judaism is very liberal. There is a certain middle-of-the-road Judaism called Conservative, but even though it is called Conservative, it tends to be mostly allied with theologically liberal Judaism. But those tend to be the three major components that people should know about. If you are evangelizing your Jewish neighbor or anyone else who works with you, then it is important to know where is he coming from. If, for example, you are discussing things with an Orthodox Jew, then yes, you will want to use Old Testament prophesies. You will want to be studying the Old Testament, you will want to have some knowledge of the Talmud too. But if you are talking with most Jews who are theologically reformed or further liberal, then talking about the Old Testament prophecies, that is going to mean nothing to them because the Old Testament itself is, well, that was a nice book that some people wrote thousands of years ago but it is not particularly relevant to us today, except maybe you know, certain things like, “do not commit adultery,” or maybe under some circumstances, and so forth.