Authors See Unaffiliated Jews as Achievement, Threat

The largest and fastest growing group of American Jews today is made up of the unaffiliated--those not connected with a synagogue or any other Jewish organization. And according to a new book, their existence in such large numbers represents an achievement and a threat.

In “Saving Remnants: Feeling Jewish in America,” published recently by The Free Press, authors Sara Bershtel and Allen Graubard present a lively collection of profiles of American Jews. Most of the subjects consider their Jewishness to be ethnic rather than religious, and even those who have joined Orthodox revival movements may have done so for non-religious reasons.

The authors, both of whom came from intensely Jewish homes and went on to personal and professional lives unconnected to the Jewish community, describe themselves as typical of the people they interviewed. Bershtel is executive editor at a New York publishing house and Graubard is a teacher in the Oakland public school system.

Referring to the majority of unaffiliated Jews, the authors write, “They will not deny that they are Jewish, but this may be their only act of Jewish identification.”