BE BARREN AND DISAPPEAR:

age=ViewsPage&enDispWhat=object&enDispWho=Article^l2808>Demographic decline
on two fronts (Shalom Freedman, September 30, 2003, Israel Insider)

Historically, the answer to the problem in Israel would be Aliyah. But the declining, aging, and prosperous populations in the Diaspora do not seem real candidates for this now. And the kinds of numbers involved suggest that even if an idealistic minority does make Aliyah, this will not contend with the major trends. Reversing the decline in the birthrate is something which has been state-subsidized in a number of European states, and never worked. It is doubtful that it would work in Israel either.

There are other possibilities, among them the conversion of large, relatively poor populations which are in some way affiliated to, or sympathetic to the Jews, and would wish to come to Israel. There is the possibility of making the kind of peace agreement which would cede Israel's
Arabs to an Arab state, and thus greatly reduce pressure on Israel as democratic and Jewish state. Another possibility is the return of more Jews back to Jewish religious life, a step that would no doubt lead to higher birthrates. This, however, seems a highly unlikely possibility.

Numbers are of course not everything. And the Jewish community in Israel, at nearly ten times the size of the Jewish community at the state's founding, is certainly large enough to be a viable and productive community. In some ways, Israel can already be thought of as the most powerful Jewish community that has ever existed. Even without the demographic threat from its
minority, Israel has a large enough Jewish population to sustain itself.

Strange, in Genesis, God is pretty specific about what he expects:

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

There's nothing there about being a mere community that dwindles away because it's too selfish to multiply.

Posted by Orrin Judd at October 2, 2003 07:03 PM