Changing Observance of Traditional Jewish Religious Practices: A Study of Generations
Changing Observance of Traditional Jewish Religious Practices: A Study of Generations
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Date
1956
Authors
Greenberg, Meyer
Advisor
Hoffsommer, Harold C.
Citation
DRUM DOI
Abstract
Changes in the observance of traditional religious practices among
Jewish families during the course of three generations are the subject of
t his paper. The religious practices studied are those related to the cycle
of the year--the Sabbath and holy days--and kashruth (the dietary laws).
The population is a group of 180 families, chiefly from Baltimore and
Washington, D.C., with children in the freshman class at the University
of Maryland in the spring of 1949.
The first generation, the grandparents, are in the main immigrants
to the United States from Eastern Europe during the years of mass immigration
which ended shortly after World War I. The second generation are
the parents, most of them American born, while the third generation consists
of freshmen at the University.
For the earlier generations the interaction with the American
environment is analyzed in terms of acculturation and social mobility.
In the third generation attention is focused on changes in religious
practice from the time the student was a child and under parental control,
through his last year in high school, and then into the latter part
of hi s first year at college.
Information on the background of students and parents and on their
religious observance was obtained by means of a questionnaire. This was
followed by an interview to learn the circumstances surrounding changes
in the student's observance.
It was found that the parents belong almost entirely to the middle
class and are engaged in business or the professions. The student group,
of whom two-thirds are male, does not differ appreciably from the general
student body either in scholastic aptitude or in grades.
Upon analysis, the combinations of religious practices observed by
the individuals were found to fall into seven repeated patterns or types.
This classification system was used to compare the observance of the different
groups into which the sample was divided.
The relatively sharpest break with tradition occurred in the
immigrant generation. The second generation continued to move in the
same direction. The third generation departed even further from tradition,
especially when under the influence of the college environment, but
the rate of change appears to have slowed down.
The process of discarding ritual practices has been a selective
one. Observances which are frequent and involve economic sacrifice, such
as the Sabbath and holidays, have been the first to be dropped. Others
such as formal daily prayer and kashruth outside the home have been abandoned
because of inconvenience and because they differ widely from accepted
social norms. A minimum observance level seems to have been reached in
the evolution of Jewish religious life. Attending synagogue and fasting
on the High Holydays and participating in a Passover Seder are still observed
by the overwhelming majority of American Jews. The lighting of
Sabbath candles is widespread, and kashruth in the home is kept by a
substantial number, though only a very small proportion of the students
observe the dietary laws.
The subjects of the study were also classified according to their
self-identification with one of the three branches of Judaism--Orthodox,
Conservative and Reform. It was found that while the first generation
were overwhelmingly Orthodox, the members of the second and third generations
have been moving increasingly into the Conservative and, to a
lesser degree, the Reform groups. The Orthodox Jews indicate greater
average observance than the Conservative, who in turn tend to observe
somewhat more than the Reform. However, the observance of all three
groups falls far below the standards set by the movements officially.
In the student generation, the differences between the groups are further
narrowed, and there appears a marked tendency toward similarity in
observance patterns.
Future studies are needed to analyze the continuing development
and relative strength of the Orthodox, Conservative and Reform groups.
It would also be worthwhile to learn whether the students here studied
at what is thought to be the lowest point of their religious observance
will modify their practices when they are married and have families.