Tablets Shattered: The End of an American Jewish Century and the Future of Jewish Life

Tablet’s Shattered is a reflection on the failures and future of Judaism. The 20th century saw the center of gravity of Jewish life shift from Europe to America, both due to the integrationist success of Jewish immigrants and the catastrophe of the Shoah. But by 2000, mainstream Jewish institutions had been rudderless for decades and there were roughly as many Jews in Israel as in America. The next few decades will see the numbers shift only further towards Israel. Given the nationalistic and overtly genocidal character of Israeli politics, that leaves liberal American Jews in an uncomfortable place.

Leifer’s personal journey traces out the four quadrants of the Jewish future he discusses. He was born in 1995 and grew up in mainstream Judaism in New Jersey. As a reaction against his strongly Republican Bush-era public high school, he became an antiwar activist, lived in Israel for (at least) a year, and worked with a variety of political groups he deems “progressive prophets”, organizations like Jewish Voices for Peace, If Not Now, and Never Again Action, which break with the Zionist monolith of mainstream Judaism. He married a woman in an ultra-Orthodox family. And for his own interests and the sake of the book, he has explored alternative Judaisms being developed as Queer and syncretistic practices.

By far the strongest part of the book is his description of the Haredi community of Lakewood, a 130000-strong Haredi community centered on Beth Medrash Govoha (BMG), where 800 students partake in traditional Talmudic study under the auspices of the Rabbi Kotler’s descendants. The Orthodox, Lakewood being just one sect, have much to be proud of: a vibrant and authentic spiritual tradition; a robust social safety net, and a community of trust so strong that children run from house to house and people park at BMG with their keys in their cars, so that whoever they’ve blocked in can rearrange the parking lot and escape.

There are also things to be skeptical of. Orthodoxy is not a commitment for the faint of heart, requiring a life centered around Torah, prayer, and community, as well as familiarity with Yiddish, Hebrew, and Aramaic. The Haredi exist inside, but almost entirely separate from mainstream society, a profoundly antimodern culture. The state of their schools for anything beyond the Talmud is atrocious. Boys graduate from high school unable to write a 5 paragraph essay in English, do more than basic arithmetic, or be familiar with basic scientific concepts like molecules. Women get a better education, since they have to work to support the family, along with doing all the household tasks in a strongly patriarchal culture.

Frankly, as much as Leifer sees Ultra-Orthodoxy as the best alternative, I can’t see it as anything but a cult. The social harms are too high, ranging from everything from shunning of “deviants” to concealment of sexual abuse scandals that likely rival the Catholic Church (patriarchs gonna patri). The visible Jewish scandal that comes to mind are Ultra-Orthodox rabbis who have a sideline in kidnapping and torturing husbands until they agree to divorce their wives, since the husband’s consent is halachically necessary to a Jewish divorce. Conditions under which consent is obtained are not discussed. Ultimately, an Ultra-Orthodox Jewish future is the Amish, but they can use cars six days of the week.

The discussion of the Jewish political alternatives is the second strongest part of the book, drawing from Leifer’s extensive work with these groups and a variety of Leftist publications. These groups are small, under-resourced, but scrappy. And frankly, authentically in line with my existing political and identarian commitments. However, Leifer is also right to note that coalitional politics is hard, and fighting the global right wing tide even harder. More fatally, groups focused on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process are as tied to Israel as the Zionist groups, just on the other side of the intellectual fence. This movement is fundamentally parasitic.

Alternative Judaism can create moving experiences, but it is deeply unclear if it can sustain communities. Clever spiritual events are Torah by way of Burning Man, just another option in an American landscape of non-committed partial believers. It’s hard to take partial Judaism seriously when Commandment One is Thou Shalt Have No Other God Before Me.

Talking about the failures of mainstream Judaism is necessary in this book, but honestly, if you’ve set foot in a Reform temple in the past decade, you already know. Leifer excoriates mainstream Jewish leaders as complacent, uncreative, and unlearned, and he’s not wrong. However, Eric Alterman covered the creation and fossilization of the Zionist consensus far more thoroughly in We Are Not One. Leifer’s one contribution is to note the inclusion of LGBT rabbis in mainstream denominations through the 90s and 00s, and the acid irony that having fought so hard to be let inside, they may have the task of turning out the lights.

Finally, much of the ethnic background, on his great-grandmothers, is perhaps a necessary affirmation of Jewish bona-fides, but also largely redundant. I know a lot less about Judaism than Leifer, but I do know more about foresight than he does. I can sense the outlines of solid work on foresight in here, and a necessary one, but Leifer is too close to the subject to step back and see the full shape of what he wants to describe and manifest.