On the Jewish Question
When i lost my faith i still wanted to be "Jewish" but i kept on asking myself: how can i do that without being religious? I destroyed the bondage of religion but now i had to recreate the tradition in my own image.
Ethnicity isn't a rigid identity but it's not completely fluid. People coming to America chose to shed their old Identity and take on the American Identity. But ethnic identity revolves around traditions and most people didn't completely abandon them. if you're Irish you can celebrate St. Patrick's day even if you're not religious. Many Chinese Americans celebrate the Chinese New Year. In America, we celebrate state holidays like Thanksgiving and Independence day. Choosing the Jewish identity means celebrating Jewish tradition. The difficulty of that is that once you lose the religion then what does it mean to keep the traditions?
you're born and Jew and you die as a Jew.That comment can be true even if you're not religious. You can still follow the Jewish traditions, eat a little gefilte fish, celebrate Pesach and the High Holidays, maybe even circumcise your boy on the eighth day.There is a vibrant ethnic identity simmering under the religion, one that doesn't require God.
The lack of God is very freeing. it releases you from the bondage of Sinai while giving you the permission to interpret your tradition as you see fit. You can keep Shabbat because you want one day of the week to be just for family. You can choose to celebrate the High Holiday as a meditation on yourself. Pesach can be the transmission of the culture while Hanukuah is the defending of it. New reasons for old traditions can evolve the culture for the modern Jew.
I say all this because times are changing. in the western world more people are dropping their religions faster than ever and for the Jews it is no different. This scares the Jew since the religion was all he had to hold on to his unique identity. He fears that once he drops his faith he'll drop his identity and will ultimately assimilate. That is the Old Jew. That Jew that should have died when those ghetto walls came down. It saddens me because the Old Jew puts up walls between himself and his fellow Jew and we don't need hatred among ourselves since we get it enough from the others. The New Jew should embrace the culture as a whole. They should redefine, refine, and evolve the culture for the time and place so our culture will be proactive instead of reactive. It should start with accepting any religious denomination and individual who wants to identify as a Jew. All i ask from someone willing to identify themselves as Jew is to share not only our joy but also our pain. That is the price to pay for being Jewish. The individual should take part and continue the Jewish adventure and if it is all too hard you can always assimilate.
you're born and Jew and you die as a Jew.That comment can be true even if you're not religious. You can still follow the Jewish traditions, eat a little gefilte fish, celebrate Pesach and the High Holidays, maybe even circumcise your boy on the eighth day.There is a vibrant ethnic identity simmering under the religion, one that doesn't require God.
The lack of God is very freeing. it releases you from the bondage of Sinai while giving you the permission to interpret your tradition as you see fit. You can keep Shabbat because you want one day of the week to be just for family. You can choose to celebrate the High Holiday as a meditation on yourself. Pesach can be the transmission of the culture while Hanukuah is the defending of it. New reasons for old traditions can evolve the culture for the modern Jew.
I say all this because times are changing. in the western world more people are dropping their religions faster than ever and for the Jews it is no different. This scares the Jew since the religion was all he had to hold on to his unique identity. He fears that once he drops his faith he'll drop his identity and will ultimately assimilate. That is the Old Jew. That Jew that should have died when those ghetto walls came down. It saddens me because the Old Jew puts up walls between himself and his fellow Jew and we don't need hatred among ourselves since we get it enough from the others. The New Jew should embrace the culture as a whole. They should redefine, refine, and evolve the culture for the time and place so our culture will be proactive instead of reactive. It should start with accepting any religious denomination and individual who wants to identify as a Jew. All i ask from someone willing to identify themselves as Jew is to share not only our joy but also our pain. That is the price to pay for being Jewish. The individual should take part and continue the Jewish adventure and if it is all too hard you can always assimilate.
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