Dershowitz, Abrams explore future of Judaism in America

American Jews must confront the challenges of assimilation and an uncertain future -- one that is far from the perils of the Holocaust, but still presents significant obstacles. That future is the topic that Alan Dershowitz and Elliot Abrams, two of the nation's foremost Jewish legal minds, set out to address last night before an audience of 800 who packed the University Museum's Harrison Auditorium. The conversation between Dershowitz, a professor at Harvard Law School, and Abrams, the president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C., was entitled, "Will American Judaism Survive in the 21st Century?" The two speakers treated the audience to a glimpse into two opposing schools of thought on the current situation faced by American Jews. Their arguments diverge over a possibly unanswerable question -- the proper role of God. Abrams stresses the role of religion in American Jewish life, while Dershowitz holds that Judaism is more than a religion. "Being Jewish is an identity," said Dershowitz, who was a member of O.J. Simpson's criminal defense team. "It is a heritage, a pride, a way of being. Theodore Herzl, the father of Zionism, "did not believe in God," Dershowitz added, explaining that there is no single definition of what a Jew is -- especially in his relationship with God. "After all, after the Holocaust, some people could only think that God didn't exist, because if He did, how could He let such a thing happen?" Dershowitz said. Abrams staunchly defended his desire for a strong religious basis to Judaism, stressing that it could not be passed on throughout the generations without a foundation "around faith and God." He said Jewish atheist parents practice "hypocrisy" when they pass on a belief in a Jewish God to their children while failing to demonstrate their own belief in God. "As the generations pass, Jews will move further and further away from the Yiddish culture we grew up with," Abrams added. "They need something else to grab onto." Abrams said there is a need for a more concrete definition of what being Jewish means. "This more general sense of 'Jewishness' or a sense of Zionism are not substitutes for actual Judaism," Abrams said. He admitted, however, that secular Jews are just as Jewish as the more religious ones. Though Dershowitz also came out strongly in support of Israel, he was less stringent in his definition of how to be Jewish. "I want Judaism to be positive. I want it to be about what we have contributed and what we have achieved," Dershowitz said. On the other hand, he noted that "struggling and arguing about what is Jewish and who is God and whether God even exists is essentially Jewish." The event was coordinated by the Penn Hillel Education Committee. Sponsors included Connaissance, the Commission of Hillel of Greater Philadelphia, the Jewish Heritage Program, and Harry and Cantor Deborah Stern. Shoshana Cardin, the national vice chairperson of the United Jewish Appeal and a prominent Jewish leader, moderated the speeches.