Answer to Question 1
Jews have traditionally remained in extended families, intensifying the transmission of Jewish identity. Numerous observers have argued that the Jewish family today no longer maintains its role in identity transmission and that the family is consequently contributing to assimilation. The American Jewish Committee released a report identifying ten problems that are endangering the family as the main transmission agent of Jewish values, identity, and continuity. The following issues are relevant to Jews today:
1 . More Jews marry later than members of other groups.
2 . Most organizations of single Jews no longer operate solely for the purpose of matchmaking.These groups are now supportive of singles and the single way of life.
3 . The divorce rate is rising; there is no presumption of the permanence of marriageand no stigma attached to its failure.
4 . The birthrate is falling, and childlessness has become socially acceptable.
5 . Financial success has taken precedence over child raising in importance and formany has become the major goal of the family.
6 . The intensity of family interaction has decreased, although it continues to be higherthan in most other religious and ethnic groups.
7 . There is less socializing across generation lines, partly as a result of geographicmobility.
8 . The sense of responsibility of family members to other family members has declined.
9 . The role of Jewishness is no longer central to the lives of Jews.
10 . Intermarriage has lessened the involvement of the Jewish partner in Jewish life andthe emphasis on Jewish aspects of family life.
Answer to Question 2
Reform Jews, although deeply committed to the religious faith, have altered many of the rituals. Women and men sit together in Reform congregations, and both sexes participate in the reading of the Torah at services. Women have been ordained as rabbis since 1985 . A few Reform congregations have even experimented with observing the Sabbath on Sunday and freely allow its members to drive to attend (thus violating an Orthodox prohibition against operating machinery on the Sabbath). Circumcision for males is not mandatory. Civil divorce decrees are sufficient and recognized so that a divorce granted by a three-man rabbinical court is not required before remarriage. Reform Jews recognize the children of Jewish men and non-Jewish women as Jews with no need to convert. All these practices would be unacceptable to the Orthodox Jew.
Jews historically have not embarked on recruitment or evangelistic programs to attract new members. Beginning in the late 1970s, Jews, especially Reform Jews, debated the possibility of outreach programs. Least objectionable to Jewish congregations were efforts begun in 1978 aimed at non-Jewish partners and children in mixed marriages. In 1981, the program was broadened to invite conversions by Americans who had no religious connection, but these very modest recruitment drives are still far from resembling those that have been carried out by Protestant denominations for decades.
Some Reform leaders are rethinking the requirement that one has to attend three or four years of religious school as a prerequisite to bar or bat mitzvahs. Others are considering dispensing with the youth reading from the Torah in Hebrewonce regarded as a central point of the ceremony.
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