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The Jewish Future II: Israel & the Diaspora
- Abstract
Robert S. Wistrich [“Do the Jews Have a Future?,” July] is concerned about the disappearance of the Jewish people, but he ignores the mathematics apparent in his own article.
If he is right and the Hasidim number 350,000 in Israel, with a similar number in the Diaspora, we have a total of 700,000. If we assume that one-quarter of this population is of childbearing age, we would have 175,000 families in formation. And if each set of parents has 8 children in each generation of 25 years, we would have 700,000 children, who would then produce 2,800,000 children in the following generation, and 11,200,000 in the ensuing 25 years. This totals almost 15 million Hasidim—an incredible number.
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