It is difficult enough to have to leave Israelfor the USduring Chanukah but the let-down of galus descended upon me quite quickly — while still on the plane. I opened up a magazine and the ad hit me right between the eyes:  “CELEBRATE THE WARMTH AND WONDER OF BOTH CHANUKAH AND XMAS. The    perfect way for interfaith families to celebrate both holidays … the Chanukah Tree Topper makes a great gift for Chanukah or Xmas traditions.… A must-have for interfaith marriages. Yours for only $19.99” The “Tree Topper” is a specially designed Magen David that fits perfectly on top of an Xmas tree.

Help! Once upon a time an intermarriage was an embarrassment to a Jewish family. But today with an intermarriage rate in US of over 50% and inEuropeover 70% it has become quite acceptable and normal. Although Chanukah celebrates the miraculous victory over a Hellenism that wanted to obliterate all signs of Jewish distinctiveness this ad demonstrates that the battle is still raging and that the forces of obliteration are only getting stronger.

How did it happen that 2000 years after the miracle of Chanukah we are still losing millions of Jews to the scourge of assimilation and intermarriage? It happened primarily because some misguided Jewish leaders tried to “save” Judaism for future generations. And as the night follows the day it was inevitable that it would all end with the must-have Chanukah Tree Topper for $19.99. 

Here is the path of the race to the bottom: In order to bring people back to the synagogue certain restrictive disciplines of Torah were relaxed or eliminated. Prayers were changed from Hebrew to English kashrus restrictions were eased mechitzos between men and women were dropped tzniyus standards were eliminated driving to shul on Shabbos was permitted. These steps were not deliberate attempts to destroy Torah but to save it and preserve it. The theory was that unless such emergency measures were adopted Judaism was doomed.

What these Judaism-savers did not realize was that once certain barriers were broken it became quite easy to break down others. And soon enough davening was abbreviated the siddur was abridged conversion procedures were abandoned.

But even with these “improvements” their Judaism was failing. It was clear that more resuscitation was needed.  For the higher purpose of saving Judaism it seemed necessary to ordain women as rabbis; and soon enough it was discovered that that which the Torah clearly calls abomination and toevah was actually not forbidden at all; and then it became easier to encourage rabbis to officiate at same-gender marriages. All this not because there was any evil desire to destroy Judaism but in order to save it.

But all these efforts did nothing to improve the parlous state of their Judaism. Their numbers were dwindling lost to assimilation and intermarriage. So in order to preserve Judaism for the future they permitted rabbis to officiate at intermarriages and they accepted intermarried couples without even a pretense of a minimal conversion to Jewish practice.

And so it developed that their form of Judaism in our time has been denuded of its uniqueness and has become indistinguishable from the majority religion. The Chanukah Tree Topper is a perfect symbol of a Judaism that was saved by destroying it. It is a worthy companion to the “Chanukah bush” and to the chubby gift-giving “Chanukah man.”  The operation was a success; the patient died. The slippery slope had done its work.

I remember a recent conversation with a prominent American Conservative rabbi. He had been raised as an Orthodox Jew had been a brilliant yeshivah student was scholarly and still personally observant. But decades earlier in the 1950s he had led his prominent Orthodox congregation into the Conservative camp because he believed that Torah would not survive in Americaand that he would save whatever remnants he could.  When we spoke he had long since realized his fatal error. He brought to mind the advice my late father who was a rav in Baltimore for 40 years gave me as I began my own rabbinate in Atlanta. “Do not try to save Yiddishkeit. Simply do your job as a rav every day: teach your flock and guide them gradually into Torah observance and learning — and let G-d worry about the future of Yiddishkeit.” In other words G-d is not asking us to save Torah but to live Torah to teach Torah to do Torah — and leave the saving to Him.

Although outnumbered decades ago the Orthodox today embody the rabim b’yad mi’atim having kept alive the spirit of the Maccabees who fought for the integrity of Torah. The Orthodox went about establishing schools of Jewish learning day schools yeshivos kollelim and intensified Torah study — while everyone else was busy trying to save Judaism by abandoning its central core.

Travel they say is broadening. It can also be disheartening. I have a strong desire to return to my cocoon inJerusalem where no one is trying to save Judaism by fixing it. They are too busy living it.