Basic HTML Version
ISCH/JEWISH FAMILY CRISIS
31
nslave him spiritually. He reacts by runn ing away into the world
f the “shikses.” T hu s we are talking about a biological rebellion,
ne directed against the home itself and the continuity o f Jewish
ife tha t it implies.
T h e reference here is not to a strictly literary phenom enon but
o a social crisis as well. We witness a th rea t to the very found a
ions o f the Jewish family, especially in the Diaspora o f the West,
hich has resulted in the alienation and loneliness o f the child
ho no longer finds spiritual suppo rt in the family (Compare
avid Riesman
, The Lonely Crowd,
1969 ed., p. 52). T he symptoms
f this crisis are often found in d rug addiction, sexual anarchy
nd the throwing o ff o f the burdens o f society, its rules and insti
utions (See David Gutmann, “Men, Women and the Parental
mperative,”
Commentary,
Dec. 1973, p. 64). This danger is partic
larly great for the Jewish family, seeing tha t the Jews tend to be
iddle-class and concentrated in the larger cities, belonging to
hat segment o f the population which is most exposed to these
orces.
We have now reached a point o f radical crisis within the
nuclear family” bu t whose consequences are even more far-
eaching. As suggested above we are not talking about a rebellion
gainst the fa ther alone but against “ou r heavenly Father,” not
gainst the mo ther as such but against biological continuity, or in
the r words, against the very continued existence o f the Jewish
eople. This is the biological regression taking place at the
oment within large segments o f the Jewish People in the Dias
ora. Once more we must point out the element o f distortion
resent. It may be doubted whether the “yiddishe mama,” as she
merges in modern literature, is really a Jewish mother! In the
iblical stories, the maternal models which figure most prom i
ently are those who send the ir beloved sons away. The first feast
entioned in the Bible is held by Abraham “on the day tha t Isaac
as weaned
” (Genesis 21:8). The victims o f the “yiddishe mama” in
odern literature do not seem to enjoy such a “weaning.” Later
ebecca sends Jacob away, Jochebed brings Moses to Pharaoh ’s
augh ter, H annah places Samuel in the sanctuary to serve Eli the
riest. This phenom enon is also a part o f Jewish sociology in
odern times. Any family o f Eastern European extraction can
estify to examples o f the Jewish mo ther who sends her child far
way, at a young age, in o rd e r that he should study Judaism o r a
rofession. T he Jewish mother, unstinting though she was in her