Our colleagues Steven M. Cohen and Jack Wertheimer have published “Whatever Happened to the Jewish People” in the June issue of Commentary.

In response to a conversation initiated by Jewschool.com’s Mobius, Steven has responded with a Top 7 list of what he calls “reasons for the decline of peoplehood, most of them (no surprise), sociologically rooted, and few of them blaming anybody in particular. In no special order [NB: the comments in parentheses are his]:

1. American society"s support for innovation and diversity (a good thing, I think, in its own right, but a challenge to peoplehood nonetheless).
2. The focus on the pursuit of individual meaning in religious life and Judaism (same comment).
3. The ascendance of sample-and-assemble identities (same comment).
4. Greater fluidity of identities and the decline of institutional and partisan loyalties of all sorts (actually, this trend I"m not so happy about).
5. Decline in Israel"s ability to inspire (also not such a good thing).
6. Distance from American Jews" pre-American ethnic origins (inevitable).
7. Declining inter-personal connections among Jews as spouses, friends, neighbors, and co-workers (possibly the biggest factor and not at all a good thing).

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