Decrease and growth
Both persecution and assimilation have
resulted in small Jewish numbers
vis-a-vis the world's population.
Wars against the Jews
Many empires and rulers have sought to
"liquidate" the Jews through wars of
destruction, extinction, genocide,
expulsions, exiles, and torture. Some
examples in the
history of anti-Semitism are: the
Great Jewish Revolt against the
Roman Empire as described by
Josephus; the
Spanish Inquisition led by
Torquamada and the
Auto de fe against the
Marrano Jews; the
Bohdan Chmielnicki
Cossack massacres in the
Ukraine; the
Pogroms by the Russian
Tsars
Alexander III and
Nicholas II and the
Cossacks;
Blood libels;
Adolf Hitler's
Final Solution which lead to the
Holocaust and the
World War II atrocities in Poland and
elsewhere; and modern wars and
Jihad via "suicide
bombing" against
Israel and its Jewish citizens.
In addition to the above examples, one
must review the historical record of the
destruction and persecution of the Jewish
communities throughout the Islamic
Empire. As the empire expanded during the
centuries, the status of the non-Muslim
communities remained precarious and
subject to dhimmi laws. The Jewish
communities were not second class
citizens, they were not considered to be
citizens of the larger community at all.
Repressive measures against their persons
occurred with regularity as the Muslim
majority massacred them with impunity.
There was no protection under the laws
and the word of a Muslim was sufficient
to subject any Jew to harsh punishment.
Assimilation
Secular Jews tend to marry late and
have smaller families with wide
acceptance of
birth control. When granted
political,
economic and
religious freedom, many Jews,
probably the majority, choose to adopt
the ways and religions of their host
nations, abandoning many vestiges of
their own ethnicity and religion, and
then frequently choose to marry non-Jews
when living outside of Israel. In the
United States, the
National Jewish Population Survey has
shown that over 50%, and as high as 75%
according to some calculations, of
America's Jews presently marry non-Jewish
partners. These figures are probably also
true for the Jews of
Europe today. Most non-Jewish spouses
do not convert to Judaism, surveys show.
This phenomenon is known as "intermarriage"
and is the leading cause for the
shrinkage of almost all Jewish
populations in Western countries since
World War Two, it has been called the
"Silent Holocaust" by some social
observers.
Growth
Only in the
State of Israel have secular Jews
increased due to natural growth and
immigration, and both
Orthodox Jews and
Ultra-Orthodox Jews, who shun
birth control for religious reasons,
have increased due to their large
families. The
Reform Judaism movement has
officially launched an "outreach" effort
to bring in not only the non-Jewish
spouses of Jews, but to actively seek new
members for the faith. There is also a
growing movement of
Jews by Choice by
gentiles who make the decision to
head in the direction of becoming Jews.
There is a "return to Judaism" movement
known as the
Baal Teshuva movement that has
brought many secular Jews to become more
religiously observant. There are a number
of efforts undertaken by all the
denominations to re-introduce alienated
Jews to Jewish religion and customs
through educational and beginners
programs.
Related topics
Jewish history
External links
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Zionist and Israeli institutions
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