Bill Gates challenge to the super-wealthy set is admirable and no doubt will end up benefiting large swaths of humanity. Gates called on other billionaires and mega-millionaires to give away half of their wealth. Many have answered his call, no doubt inspired by the initial pledge of Warren Buffet, who volunteered some $37 billion to Gates charities a few years ago.
Among the addressees of Gates are a significant number of Jews. As the lugubrious story on page 1 of this weeks edition shows, an initial analysis of how much of those megabucks will go to Jewish causes is pitifully small, relatively speaking. The basic profile is this: mostly, the eight- and nine-figure gifts go to universities, the arts and health-related fields, while five-figure gifts (and occasional larger ones) go to Jewish causes. The imbalance of, say, $100 million in gifts to universities and $4 million in gifts to Jewish causes (and thats one of the better percentages) is glaring, and so are the reasons.
We do not begrudge the universal recipients, but in the balance between universalism and particularism within Judaism, it is crystal clear that ever since the mass immigration of Jews to this country around the turn of the 20th century, the particularistic roots of Jewish pride have played second fiddle, if that. Read the related news coverage
Jewish literacy was replaced by Jewish illiteracy (advanced secular knowledge coexisting with low or no knowledge of Hebrew texts). Jewish symbols were replaced by secular ones (jewels replacing the primary Jewish jewel, tefilin). Jewish observance was replaced by other lifestyles not that Jewish and secular lives cannot be integrated, but it was rarely done. Jewish schools suffered because potential supporters lacked a sophisticated Jewish education (a vicious circle).
With all this, it should come as no surprise that, when truly big charitable dollars become potentially available, and when the idealistic challenge is laid down by Bill Gates, Jewish causes will come in at the bottom of the list, if they make the list at all.
There is no magic bullet to rebuilding Jewish pride on a mass basis. There is only one Jew at a time, one teaching at a time, one school at a time, one student at a time, one advancement at a time. There is only authenticity, depth and commitment.
The search for magic bullets designed to reclaim the entire Jewish people over the last two decades policies such as Birthright might be inherently lovely, but the huge funds expended on them divert us from the real work. A century-old problem will not be solved without rebuilding the basic infra- structure of the Jewish community, based on Jewish literacy, Jewish pride, symbols, practices, pursued with zest and love, 365 days a year. Its a slow process. Its the only one that works.
Copyright © 2010 by the Intermountain Jewish News
