On election day 2016, Hillary Clinton won more than 70% of the Jewish vote. But that number tells only part of a story. In some predominately Orthodox Jewish precincts, Donald Trump’s numbers were straight out of the rust belt or the deep south. [...]
The book chronicles how the constitution’s establishment clause led to the laity’s supremacy within the synagogue. Most notably for Weisman, a schism within a Charleston shul triggered a landmark lawsuit and decision. Unlike Europe, the civil authorities would not pick sides even when asked. Ultimately, a South Carolina appellate court ruled in 1846 that the judiciary must avoid “questions of theological doctrine, depending on speculative faith, or ecclesiastical rites”. [...]
At times they really did. Weisman describes an actual riot that broke out on Rosh Hashanah 1850 in Albany, New York, over the nature of the Messiah. The police were called and the congregation dispersed, but not before the synagogue president taunted the rabbi, Isaac Wise, saying: “I have $100,000 more than you.” Yet it was Wise’s rejection of a personal and national Messiah that shaped Reform Judaism. It represented a break from 2,000 years of tradition. [...]
Looking at America’s religious landscape, “nones” are now the single largest subgroup among millennials. Among America’s Jews, the tale is not much different. Three in 10 reject denominational identity. Outside the Orthodox community, the Jewish birthrate is below the national average. American Jewry will probably endure, but its demographics stand to be different: from the looks of things, more religious but less educated, affluent and influential.
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