While I applaud the efforts of the Russian Jewish community in attracting more young Russian Jews to become leaders in the community, and can understand the community`s concern about its aging population, I can`t help but find the merits of a birth grants program to be questionable.
While economic factors definitely play a role in determining family size, it is not the only factor. One can look at the high birth rates of many peoples in poor countries to see that other factors play a part, such as cultural values and ideals about family size. In the wealthy West, large families are not favored by the mainstream because we favor quality of family experience over quantity of children. Some of us don`t even want children.
I`m an American Jew, so I can`t talk about the Russian Jewish community. But making Judaism relevant to the everyday lives of young Jews can go a long way to bringing them back to the fold. As for having larger families, that is a far more complex issue. |
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