Jewish people? What Jewish people?

The headline of the Commentary magazine article is indeed provocative: Whatever Happened to the Jewish People. It was written by Steven Cohen, research professor of Jewish social policy at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York, and Jack Wertheimer, provost and professor of American Jewish history at the Jewish Theological Seminary. A friend sent it to me a couple of weeks ago suggesting it might stir some real controversy - and I'm curious to find out whether he was right - as he should be.

One of the authors, Wertheimer, told me that they have gotten "quite a bit of feedback, much of it very positive" on the article. A follow-up in Shmah has been already scheduled.

The basic argument is straight forward and quite simple: "It is almost inconceivable that the American Jewish community could muster the will to mount [a] massive a show of unity," the authors write. Based on data they suggest that "something vital has changed a weakened identification among American Jews with their fellow Jews abroad, as well as a waning sense of communal responsibility at home."

They remind us, toward the end of the article, that the "once upon a time" slogans of the United Jewish Appeal were "we are one" or "keep the promise" - making the case for Jewish unity and peoplehood. But today, this message was abandoned for the likes of "live generously: it does a world of good," proving that "the once-forceful claims of Jewish 'peoplehood' have lost their power to compel."

Cohen and Wertheimer write about the familiar dichotomy of Judaism - a religion that is also a nation. "Through centuries of life as a minority group," they write, "Jews could thus function as something of a global polity. The second half of the 20th century marked a high point of this spirit of engagement." However, they say, some troubling evidence shows that this phenomenon is in real danger of being over for some. And they see this change as a gradual one.

"On the eve of the Six-Day War in June 1967, American Jews rallied to render massive financial and emotional support to an embattled Israel; around the same time, they launched their epic struggle to free imprisoned Soviet Jewry? Thereafter," say the authors, "things began to change." And the first victim was their connection to Israel ("despite assertions by critics that the Jewish community continues to command vast powers of internal mobilization on this front").

At the end of the 1980s, 73 percent of Jews agreed that "caring about Israel is a very important part of my being a Jew;" the same question, in 2005, got a similar answer from just 57 percent. But Cohen and Wertheimer aren't only concerned about the widening distance from Israel. The current younger generation of Jews in America is "significantly less likely" to take positions such as "Jews in the United States and Jews around the world share a common destiny."

Especially telling is the age gap reflected in responses to the statement: "I have a strong sense of belonging to the Jewish people" - there is 75 percent chance that someone 65 years and older will agree to this statement, but "the proportions strongly agreeing drop steadily" as you go down in age. Only 47 percent of adults under 35 agree - less than half see themselves as part of a larger, global community of Jews.

The effect "of these attitudinal shifts" can be "easily traced." In the second intifada "a demonstration in Washington at the peak of the wave of Palestinian suicide bombings of Israeli civilians could muster only a relatively meager turnout." And as money always talks, you can see the same trend with the "giving on behalf of the needs of the Jewish people as a whole."

In 1985, $656 million were raised by American federations of Jewish philanthropy. This should have translated today (because of inflation) to $1.19 billion, but instead "total campaign receipts increased to only $860 million, a shortfall of 18 percent." In the amount allocated to Israel there was a drop by "almost two-thirds." The number of Jewish households giving money fell by one-third, showing that "both dollars and donors have been in decline."

Now, the more tricky part - as always - is explaining the growing sentiment of detachment. The authors suggest more than one reason for it - some obvious, some more intriguing.

Intermarriage is a huge problem, as everybody knows by now. But intermarriage is just a reflection of "fluidity in relations between Jews and Gentiles," which has many more implications:

"Two-thirds of Jewish baby-boomers still have mostly Jewish friends, two-thirds of their children, now young adults, have mostly non-Jewish friends," thus affecting their "identification with the Jewish collective."

The authors also argue that American Jews don't live under the same cultural conditions as Jews in other countries. They write that "contemporary American society seems less hospitable to the perpetuation of strong bonds of peoplehood... despite the modish talk about multiculturalism... ethnicity is in fact a weak and weakening form of identification here, at least among white people of European descent."

Another American characteristic that influences Jewish society is that Americans' social cohesion has weakened. So, too, has the participation of Jews in their own civic activities. The only field in which there has been no decline is the one related to religion.

Membership in synagogues and "measures of ritual observance.... American Jews have also increased their participation in educational programs."

And the authors remind us also of "American inclination toward congregationalism, individualism, and unfettered experimentation in religion [which] serve to promote variety rather than uniformity."

Finally, they argue, "one should mention the new 'globalist' consciousness. Absorbed into the mindset of educated Jews, this cluster of ideas works powerfully to undermine the concept of a distinctive Jewish people." For some, giving to Jewish causes became a thing that should even be condemned "as unseemly, or retrograde." Thus, it is easier today to attract Jewish activism for causes not "specifically Jewish". Darfur is the obvious example.

Why does this matter? In what sense is it "bad"? Cohen and Werheimer have an interesting answer - which they describe as "unabashedly essentialist" that is also simple. Caring for the Jewish people is, in fact, being Jewish. "Jews are not solely the agglomeration of adherents of a particular faith, each seeking personal meaning; they are a people whose primary mark has been the conviction of a uniquely corporate role in history. To use classical theological language, this is the mark of being "chosen." To retreat from peoplehood is to repudiate what has been at the core."