Abstract: n 2000, I was commissioned by Inter Nationes to update my 1997 brochure on Jews in Contemporary Germany. I submitted the following article in early 2001. Unfortunately, Inter Nationes felt that my new version was too long and too inflammatory; they felt that it might end up annoying too many people. So the Inter Nationes version which has since appeared in several languages is greatly abridged. This ‘original’ version reflects my own opinions, and has not been ‘politically corrected’. I believe, however, that it presents a more comprehensive, better balanced and ultimately more positive picture of Jews in Germany today. THE QUESTION COMPLEXES There are so many aspects to the ‘Jews in contemporary Germany’ theme that I find it practical to group them into three complexes. The first complex concerns Jews among themselves, and I call it ‘Germany’s Jews’. Who are the Jews living in Germany now, the remaining ‘establishment’ (the postwar, pre-unification community) and the newcomers? How and how well do they coexist? What are the major internal issues confronting the Jewish community today, and what is likely to be the future of Jewry in Germany? It is the second question complex which tends to attract the most attention, both within Germany and outside the country: ‘Jews and non-Jews in Germany’. How come there are still any Jews at all living in Germany after the Holocaust? How do these Jews get along with the Germans (a loaded question if ever there was once, since it assumes that Jews are not Germans, and Germans are not Jews) and vice versa? What role does anti- Semitism play in Germany, assuming that it does play one? What do the Jews living in Germany perceive as the major issues confronting their relationship with the ‘outside world’ – that is, with anybody and everybody who is not a Jew living in Germany, and in particular, with Jews living in the United States? And this last question brings us to the third complex, since we are back to considering Jews among themselves, this time not just within Germany but across the Atlantic. I call this complex ‘the American factor’ and extend it to include the current state of the so-called German-Jewish dialogue. This too is a loaded concept, complicated by the fact that the ‘Germans’ in this case are automatically non-Jews, and the ‘Jews’ are usually American Jews. In the pages to follow, I shall try to give a brief overview of all three complexes. The first is probably the most interesting, if only because only the people concerned, the Jews living in Germany, know anything much about it. Certainly, the internal Jewish complex is generally little known to, and even less understood by, the rest of the German population. For the most part, the rest of the world, including other Jewish populations, either have no interest in the topic, or have erroneous ideas based on myth and prejudice. I shall therefore start with the Jews among themselves.
Abstract: In this policy paper:
Renowned demographer and President of JPR’s European Jewish Demography Unit Professor Sergio DellaPergola explores possible futures for the Jewish People over the next century, not by making precise predictions, but by identifying the core structural forces that have shaped Jewish history and will continue to do so. It highlights the enduring complexity of Jewish identity and existence, examining not only whether the Jewish People will endure but also in what form.
Some of the key findings and arguments in this policy paper:
Three enduring questions will shape the Jewish future: What defines Jewish identity? How is it transmitted? How do Jews relate to non-Jews as a minority? How does the Jewish collective organise and defend its shared interests?
Jewish existence will continue to rest on three interconnected pillars: Israel – a sovereign Jewish state, demographically strong but politically challenged; Diaspora – diverse minority communities, often influential but structurally vulnerable; the Israel–Diaspora relationship – a critical but fragile axis.
Three key dynamics affect Jewish demographics: Ageing and low fertility in most Diaspora communities; higher fertility in Israel, especially among more religious groups; and potential long-term transformation of the Jewish population’s internal composition.
Future migration patterns will depend heavily on political stability, economic conditions and levels of security and antisemitism.
Assimilation and identity erosion remain major challenges, while new forms of ‘joining’ Judaism may emerge.
Jews will continue to represent a tiny global minority, and Jewish life will continue to be shaped by external perceptions and pressures. At the same time, antisemitism is expected to persist in evolving forms.
Israel is likely to become home to the majority of the world’s Jews within decades. This shift will redefine the meaning of Jewish peoplehood, its cultural and political priorities and the power dynamics within global Jewry.
Rapid growth of more religious populations (particularly Haredim) may reshape economic structures, political systems and social cohesion.
Leadership capacity must include three key requirements: the ability to unite diverse segments of the Jewish People, a realistic assessment of challenges and opportunities, and the development of new or improved shared decision-making frameworks.
Abstract: Zwischen Berghain und Club Odessa, zwischen Assimilation und Desintegration, zwischen orthodox, liberal und säkular: Achtzig Jahre nach der Reichspogromnacht zeigt sich das jüdische Leben in Deutschland in einer ungeahnten Vielfalt. Junge Jüdinnen und Juden ergreifen in diesem Buch das Wort. Gibt es im 21. Jahrhundert so etwas wie ein „deutsches Judentum“? Wie sinnvoll ist das Reden von einer jüdischen Renaissance, wenn sich Jüdinnen und Juden heute ganz neu und in Abgrenzung zu alten Bildern und Vorstellungen definieren? Was bedeutet es für Deutschland, wenn sich Jüdinnen und Juden mit anderen religiösen, ethnischen und kulturellen Minderheiten solidarisieren und sich nicht gegen sie ausspielen lassen möchten? Und wie ist dem neu erwachenden Antisemitismus zu begegnen?
Die Generation der Autorinnen und Autoren in dieser Sammlung steht heute für ein neues jüdisches Selbstbewusstsein und für neue Selbstbehauptung. Es wird deutlich, dass sich die Autorinnen und Autoren einbringen möchten. Es wird gegen altbewährte Klischees und Voreingenommenheiten angeschrieben. Der Band fasst die Entwicklungen der letzten dreißig Jahre zusammen und weist hinaus auf die Zukunft einer Gemeinschaft, die sich in einem Prozess der Identitätsfindung neu definiert. Es entsteht das Bild eines lebendigen, vielfältigen jungen Judentums in Deutschland, das immer stärker Räume für sich innerhalb der Gesamtgesellschaft einfordert. Pluralität ist eine der neuen Werte einer sich verändernden deutschen und europäischen Gesellschaft. Diese Pluralität ist dem Judentum seit jeher inhärent. Und in Anbetracht gesellschaftlicher Diskurse, in denen die Herausforderung der Pluralität immer an erster Stelle genannt wird, zeigt dieser Band für alle Leser*innen: Juden und Jüdinnen haben der Gesellschaft viel zu geben an Erfahrungen mit Pluralität. Dass zu dieser ein intensiver Streit gehört, das ist so selbstverständlich wie das Ziel, dass das Streiten zu einem Gelingen einer gemeinsamen Lebenswelt beitragen muss, soll der Streit fruchtbar und somit sinnvoll sein. Das Machloket, für das Hannah Peaceman in ihrem Beitrag plädiert, ist ein wesentliches Merkmal einer jüngeren Generation an Jüdinnen und Juden, die streiten, auch streitbar sein möchten. Aber alle Autorinnen und Autoren dieses Bandes vereint der Wunsch, unsere gemeinsame deutsche und europäische Lebenswelt mitzugestalten, sie für alle lebenswerter zu machen.
Abstract: An important study using UK Census data to assess how the composition of the British Jewish population is likely to change over the coming decades.
UK Census data continues to be by far and away the most comprehensive and valuable dataset that exists on the UK Jewish population as a whole. Whilst the census does not capture the entire Jewish population, census data allow us to examine the socio-demographic characteristics of the Jewish population in greater detail than any other source. In this report, we utilise these data to explore how the numerical balance between the 'mainstream' and the strictly Orthodox (haredi) Jewish population is shifting over time, and what the age profiles and total fertility rates of both groups indicate about the future.
In particular, we highlight how the haredi population is growing at an extraordinarily fast rate, due to its rare combination of high fertility and low mortality. By contrast, the non-haredi Jewish population is declining, not least due to its below replacement level fertility. We note how these measures, combined with an analysis of population momentum over time, help us to develop a probable picture of a future in which the haredi population will become an increasingly large part of the whole.
Whilst this is a demographic certainty, the report also notes that 30% of all haredi adults are aged 15-24. Proportions at this type of level in other populations worldwide have been associated by political scientists and demographers with a range of social problems, not least due to the existence of large numbers of young people who are unemployed or on low incomes. There is no suggestion here that haredi Jews are likely to succumb to the worst of these problems – on the contrary, the community has very high levels of social cohesion and a large number of mechanisms that help to counteract these – but the possibility of increased apathy, disillusionment or abandonment of a strictly Orthodox lifestyle should not be dismissed. Indeed, examined from a demographic perspective, these types of possibilities represent the clearest and most obvious risks facing the haredi community.
In presenting a probable picture of the future of the British Jewish population as a whole, the findings in this report should be utilised for the specific purposes JPR intended: to help Jewish community leaders, operating either within the haredi or the non-haredi sectors, to develop policy to respond to the various challenges that are highlighted.
Topics: Antisemitism, Citizenship and Nationality, National Identity, Jewish Relations With Non-Jews: Jewish - Muslim Relations, Antisemitism: Muslim, Anti-Zionism, Migration: Immigration and Immigrants, Migration: Emigration and Emigrees, Migration: Aliyah and Olim, Jewish Continuity, Main Topic: Other, Jewish Communal Futures
Abstract: Du phénomène antisémite qui a marqué le début des années 2000, on ne retient généralement que des explications idéologiques ou psychologiques, sans voir qu'il trouve son origine dans l'évolution même de la société française bien plus que dans le conflit du Moyen-Orient. Le modèle d'identité juive hérité de l'après-guerre, conjuguant
appartenance et citoyenneté, est devenu impossible. Telle est la thèse défendue par ce livre. Le déclin de la nation, le choc démographique découlant de l'immigration, la dérive des institutions juives représentatives, pour une partie d'entre elles instrumentalisées par la politique depuis l'ère mitterrandienne, tout concourt à le rendre caduc. Pour les Juifs de France, comme pour une forme de notre démocratie - celle de la laïcité ouverte -, une
époque se referme qui laisse place au trouble et au désarroi. Y a-t-il encore un avenir pour les Juifs en France ? A travers l'analyse des scénarios possibles, dans une confrontation
inquiète et lucide avec la réalité, Shmuel Trigano interroge le devenir des Juifs, et celui de notre société tout entière, à laquelle il tend un miroir inattendu.
Abstract: Jewish leaders, policy-makers, academics, researchers and communal leaders attended the historic three-day conference on 'Planning for the Future of European Jewry'. Over 200 delegates came from over 25 countries. Delegates from Eastern and Western Europe were joined by leading members of the American Jewish Committee and academics from the US and Israel. The conference was held from 2 to 5 July 2995 at the Hotel Forum in Prague. It was co-chaired by Professor Dominique Moisi from France and Lord Weidenfeld from the UK. The aims of the conference were to share existing ideas, proposals and policy options, and, to generate new ones, with the aim of providing those working for a viable Jewish future in Europe with the tools to achieve it, to develop a culture of strategic policy planning so that change can be managed as systematically as possible, to set up a dialogue between researchers and decision-makers with the aim of coordinating their work, to provide an opportunity to inform others about European Jewish problems.
