Why dont the number of jews grow?

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adamhovey1988 said:
Maybe the fact that conservative estimates of the Holocaust put the number of Jews killed at 5.9 million has a lot to do with it.
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I was just thinking of a conversation with a friend of mine, around 2000 or so. Somehow it came up that there are a lot of Jews in England. I wouldn’t have thought of England as being particularly Jewish, so I asked him why. He, who is himself Jewish, responded simply “Because Hitler never invaded England” and I thought wow I hadn’t thought about it like that.
 
I actually heard a rabbi address this at a recent talk. Intermarriage is a big factor, and from studies made by the Jewish community, it seems that in a Jewish-Christian marriage, it is usually Judaism that gets abandoned, at least in Reform and Conservative circles. Furthermore, just as “mainstream Christianity” is experiencing, the general influence of anti-religious cultural influences, religious indifference, etc., all play a part. Plus of course Judiasm is not a faith that proselytizes.
 
Stop attacking the Jews, they are not in the business of converting people.

I feel thlike same way, because I was raised Catholic, I do not have a reason to go to church other than for myself.

I am usually very wrong in these arguments, so I beg your indulgence.
 
Tarpeian_Rock said:
I actually heard a rabbi address this at a recent talk. Intermarriage is a big factor, and from studies made by the Jewish community, it seems that in a Jewish-Christian marriage, it is usually Judaism that gets abandoned, at least in Reform and Conservative circles. Furthermore, just as “mainstream Christianity” is experiencing, the general influence of anti-religious cultural influences, religious indifference, etc., all play a part. Plus of course Judiasm is not a faith that proselytizes.
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Indeed. My father is Jewish and my mother is Catholic, and here I stand as a proud Catholic today. In addition, as many people know, many Jews today are merely cultural Jews, and so the children of cultural Jews are probably less and less likely to “identify” as Jewish.

Let’s wait and see what melzterboy has to say on this matter.

May God bless you all! 🙂
 
Judaism is not evangelical, it not about gaining converts. The Jews are both a religion and a people, an ethnic group. The Jews were spread around the known world by the Diaspora, but today are concentrated in only the US and Israel. Persecution of, and discrimination against, Jews is increasing in most other countries.
 
Cardinalsin said:
it always seems the same amount.
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Love it. Actually Judaism does have its converts, though I agree it is relatively rare compared to other major religions, East and West. Also factor in the number of Orthodox Jews vs. secular Jews. Really jaw dropping. Not just the US and Europe, even in Israel. I can only guess at the US ratio but I have heard 8 out of 10 Jews in the US are secular. For these 8 out of 10, secular liberalism (political, social, moral) is really an ideology - they follow it like religion. Very committed. Serious stuff. Their ‘core.’
 
Tarpeian_Rock said:
I actually heard a rabbi address this at a recent talk. Intermarriage is a big factor, and from studies made by the Jewish community, it seems that in a Jewish-Christian marriage, it is usually Judaism that gets abandoned, at least in Reform and Conservative circles. Furthermore, just as “mainstream Christianity” is experiencing, the general influence of anti-religious cultural influences, religious indifference, etc., all play a part. Plus of course Judiasm is not a faith that proselytizes.
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I think these are all good reasons. Of course, Orthodox Jews are still having larger families but this is apparently not enough to offset the large number of cultural Jews who have virtually no connection with the religion. However, at the same time, more unassimilated Jews than ever before are turning toward Orthodox Judaism, which is growing, while those Jews who are Reform are also moving toward more ritualistic aspects of their own movement than previously. The older Reform Judaism, shorn of religious rituals, is dwindling, as is Conservative Judaism. So there seem to be several, often conflicting, forces in play.
 
Zerg said:
Stop attacking the Jews
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I think that if dmelosi had called this a “harsh response” rather than the earlier post, I might have to second it. I’m not saying that your intentions are bad or mean spirited, but I just don’t think you should be so quick to assume an attack.
 
Jews, as per their theology, do not proselytize. Either you’re one of the “chosen people” or you’re not (although they completely accept converts). They will explain the basis of their beliefs (in person or on-line), and if anyone accepts that, fine. They do not consider winning more converts as a method to, well, “win.” For them, the “fact” that they are “god’s chosen” is enough. Whether they are 10,000,000,000 or 10, their god will accomplish what it wills through that and everyone else doesn’t matter because their god says so. Now that’s called faith.
 
Jews don’t have missionaries. They don’t actively prosletyse.
 
Peter_J said:
I was just thinking of a conversation with a friend of mine, around 2000 or so. Somehow it came up that there are a lot of Jews in England. I wouldn’t have thought of England as being particularly Jewish, so I asked him why. He, who is himself Jewish, responded simply “Because Hitler never invaded England” and I thought wow I hadn’t thought about it like that.
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Only about a quarter of a million in the UK according to the last census. But that’s still one of the largest in the diaspora, I think.
 
Is it because a Jew will marry a Jew?

I’ve never myself known a Jew to marry a non-Jew but I haven’t really known many Jews myself.
 
Culurecatholic said:
Jews, as per their theology, do not proselytize. Either you’re one of the “chosen people” or you’re not (although they completely accept converts). They will explain the basis of their beliefs (in person or on-line), and if anyone accepts that, fine. They do not consider winning more converts as a method to, well, “win.” For them, the “fact” that they are “god’s chosen” is enough. Whether they are 10,000,000,000 or 10, their god will accomplish what it wills through that and everyone else doesn’t matter because their god says so. Now that’s called faith.
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It is definitely NOT true in Judaism that “everyone else doesn’t matter.” Everyone else certainly DOES matter, and just as much as the most religious and righteous Jew. There are NO second-class human beings according to Judaism. The notion of the “chosen people” simply means that Jews bear a particular responsibility to uphold the religious and moral teachings of the Torah and may thus serve as a model for others to do the same in accord with their own religious teachings.
 
meltzerboy said:
It is definitely NOT true in Judaism that “everyone else doesn’t matter.” Everyone else certainly DOES matter, and just as much as the most religious and righteous Jew. There are NO second-class human beings according to Judaism. The notion of the “chosen people” simply means that Jews bear a particular responsibility to uphold the religious and moral teachings of the Torah and may thus serve as a model for others to do the same in accord with their own religious teachings.
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When I said “everyone else doesn’t matter,” I did not mean that, according to Judaism, anyone who isn’t Jewish is considered less than nothing by the Jewish god. I never said that. Judaism teaches that their god has chosen Jews as its “chosen people,” whatever their number. According to Judaism, their god can also work through “other” people. It’s not necessary to be Jewish to have their god do what it wants to do.
 
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