integrationist and accommodationist Orthodoxy diat had begunrna generation eadier in the United States, and a generationrnbefore that in Germany and Britain.rnWhen we contemplate the contemporary condition ofrnJews as an ethnic group and Judaism as a religious tradition,rnwe confront a remarkable fact: the advent, for the firstrntime, of Jews who identify themselves as Jewish in ethnicity. Tornfind those Jews, and there are many, we have to take account ofrnthe entire population of Jews in the United States, half of whomrndo not belong to synagogues and who—if they practice any Judaismrn—do so in ways other than those defined as normative byrnorganized Judaisms. To state matters simply: one, a person mayrnbelong to no institution of a Jewish character but define beingrnethnically Jewish as a matter of personal identity alone; it is howrnhe feels. Two, a person may belong to a synagogue or activelyrnparticipate in a religious institution of another sort, such as arnyeshiva, where the focus is on learning but where prayers arernsaid, and define being Jewish as belonging to holy Israel, God’srnfirst love, the kingdom of priests and holy people of whomrnScripture speaks; it is how he lives the holy life. Three, a personrnmay belong to an institution of a Jewish character that is not religiousrnand define being ethnically Jewish as a matter of bothrnpersonal and public identification; it is how he votes and determinesrnwith whom he associates for secular sorts of activities.rnThis differentiation into ideal types obscures the everydayrnfact that about half of American Jews fall into both the secondrnand the third categories. The reason is that most of the samernpeople who sustain the community in its secular formulationsrnalso belong to synagogues. In the United States, ethnic Jewsrnmay take active roles in Zionist organizations such as Hadassah,rnin Jewish community philanthropies called Federations or WelfarernFunds, in political organizations such as the American JewishrnCongress, or in service organizations such as B’nai B’rith,rnand may also belong to synagogues. When it comes to publicrnactivity, they practice secular Jewishness, invoking the twinrnsymbols, the holocaust and the state of Israel, to explainrntheir identification as participants in the American commonwealth.rnWhen it comes to private activity in home and family,rnto rites of passage (birth/circumcision, pubertyAsar mitzvah,rnmarriage/huppah, and death), to certain religious rites celebratedrnin the home and family, they practice classical Judaism,rnwhether in its normative or reform formulations. The dualityrnmay be expressed by saying these Jews wish to be Jewish in public,rnin a political way, and Judaic in private, at home and in familyrnin a religious manner.rnSo much for the Jews as a community. What about the otherrnhalf—those who belong in one category only? A very smallrnnumber of Jews, mainly in segregationist Orthodoxy, definernthemselves in wholly Judaic-religious terms, living out theirrnlives in yeshiva-study and synagogue worship; a much smallerrnnumber belong to Reform Temples and define being Jewish inrnequally limited, narrowly religious terms. In the neariy completernethnicization of Reform Judaism, these classical reformersrnare swallowed up: they identify not with secular-Jewish but onlyrnreligious-Judaic institutions.rnBut the rest—about half of the Jews who live in the UnitedrnStates—define themselves in singularly ethnic terms. Forrnthem, “being Jewish” is a matter of who they are and what theyrnare—it is something of which they are proud—but it carries nornrequirement to participate in public life as part of a community.rnHere Spinoza’s model governs: the radically isolated individualrnof Jewish origin and Jewish predilections and proclivities,rnhowever these may be defined, even down to a style of jokctelling.rnSecular Jewishness defines traits deemed ethnicallyrncharacteristic, even innate. Feelings and personal preferencesrntake over, as secular Jews elevate the importance of having thern”correct” feelings. In place of faith, history, and covenantal loyalty,rnthey invoke personal opinion, memory, and ephemera ofrnattitudes and political sympathies, certain that the right opinion,rnthe correct collective memory, and the accepted attitudernwill suffice to make this person Jewish, that one not.rnMore to the point, secular Jews outside the framework ofrncommunity suppose themselves smart, witty, and focused. Inrnthe hands of enemies, Jewishness finds its definition in suchrncounterpart traits as clever, nihilistic and cynical, and aggressive.rnBoth sides appeal to what we may dismiss as either racismrnor cultural determinism, depending on whether we opt for thernexplanation of traits by reason of nature or nurture. It hardlyrnmatters. When it comes to the privatization of secular Jewishness,rnwe enter a world without rationality, racist or cultural.rnLike Hermann Goering, who said he would decide who was arnJew, secular Jews decide what “being Jewish” means to the ultimatern”mc.” Once the individual decides to be Jewish on hisrnown, then idiosyncratic interpretation takes over, and all largerrnpublic meanings fail.rnHal B. Levine’s recent study of New Zealandcrs of mixedrnparentage, with one Jewish parent, is instructive here, consideringrnthat one out of every two American Jews marries an unconvertedrnGentile. Whom did Levine interview? There is Kevin,rnson of a Jewish mother and a Gentile father. Of his mother’srnJewishness: “I lis mother distanced herself religiously and culturally;rnshe was Jewish ‘in her way.’ He identifies her sense ofrnhumor and the fact that she knew Yiddish as evidence of this.rnHe does not deny being Jewish himself, saying that he feels ‘internallyrnJewish’ and is not preoccupied with external definitions.”rnThose Levine interviewed emphasized “the voluntaryrnand psychological nature of identification: you can choose,rnbased on how you feel.” All this is private, rarely even familial,rnlet alone communal. Perhaps Tara stands for the lot of them.rnShe has a Jewish father and a Maori mother: “Tara is proud tornhave Jewish relatives. . . . She attributes certain aspects of herrnexpressive nature to her Jewish background, which she knowsrnaren’t Maori and certainly aren’t European.” Here, then, is thernother secular Jewishness: residual, individual, and trivial. Fewrnof Levine’s subjects contemplated a Jewi.sh generation beyondrnthemselves.rnIn the context of radical privatization of secular Jewishness,rnhalf-Jews, quarter-Jews, whole Jews, children of a Jewish motherrnbut a Gentile father (thus part of Israel as defined by Judaism),rnchildren of a Jewish father but a Gentile mother (partrnof Israel as defined by Reform and Reconstructionist Judaismrnbut not according to Orthodox and Conservative Judaism)—allrnof these varieties produce a vast spectrum of choices. Approximatelyrna quarter of a million American Jews practice a religionrnother than Judaism, whether an Eastern religion (many membersrnof the Unification Church are Jews), or Christianity in onernor another of the evangelical definitions framed by “Jews for Jesus,”rn”Messianic Jews,” and the like. Here ethnicity loses allrnmeaning, and “Jew” and “Jewish” stand for whatever someonernwishes them to mean. In this setting many fear for the futurernof “the Jewish People.”rnEven now the debate over what to do next rages. One side,rnrepresented by militant secular activists, wishes American JewsrnNOVEMBER 1997/23rnrnrn