Is Judaism a significant part of your identity?
When you travel, do you visit Jewish sights? Do you notice when someone in the news is Jewish? Are a lot of your friends Jewish? Do you wonder about why all of this is so or why it describes others but not you? Is Judaism more than ethnic or cultural identity for you?
This is an interesting question because I feel that the header question – “my Jewish identity” – is somewhat unrelated to the sub-questions, at least some of them. Thus, yes, I visit Jewish sites when traveling as that gives me perspective on where I… or more precisely, we… come from. It’s been especially fascinating to attend services in other countries (at least 3 for me outside of the US) to compare and contrast practices and mannerisms. Thus, this is cultural and my observation is the Ashkenazim are remarkably similar in some ways even when local county customs would generally make them different.
But noticing when people in the news are Jewish? Yes, I notice, but that’s external to my identity. I notice when they do/don’t reinforce the stereotypes and I consider how that will affect other people’s impression of me… not how I consider myself. This is ethnic, or at least how external society defines our ethnicity.
-When you travel, do you visit Jewish sights (sic?) ?
We always try to attend Shabbat services when we travel, and it’s always an enlightening experience. It can give one a sense of how dangerous being Jewish can be. In Geneva, that quintessentially civilized city, the synagogue was hidden, and we had to go through several telephone interviews before they would reveal its location. In foreign countries we often visit the “Jewish Quarter” of some city, and are saddened that these are most often historical artifacts rather than thriving communities.
-Do you notice when someone in the news is Jewish?
I try not to, but it’s hard to avoid. Of course in today’s world names don’t always tell the story. Like most of us, I think, I cringe when some -berg or -baum or -stien gets arrested for white-collar crime, and at this season I peruse the Nobel list to see if we’re keeping our streak going.
– Are a lot of your friends Jewish? Do you wonder about why all of this is so or why it describes others but not you?
Yes, most of my friends are Jewish. My wife and I grew up in an exclusively Jewish world, and when we moved to Lexington Temple Isaiah became the center of our social life. So it’s not, I hope, a case of xenophobia but rather simple propinquity.
Is Judaism more than ethnic or cultural identity for you?
Yes, much more. Social justice, humanist philosophy, gender equality, intellectual curiosity: those are the touchstones of my Judaism.
I’m with you until the last part, Charlie. Things like “gender equality” may *now* be touchstones of *liberal* Judaism, but just about every woman in my family would point out that it was not always so, nor is it so in some sects today. That emphasizes that these are cultural norms… which change over time… not ethnic (which one may associate with genetics… um… I guess as long as the mother is Jewish).
I think you may be with me even on the last part. Please note that I referred to “MY Judaism” (and I think yours) when ascribing all those ideals to it. I agree with you that Judaism in general hasn’t stood for those things at every time and in every place.
Sorry for the delayed response; I just came across this while re-reading all the comments after Rabbi Hoffman’s weekend. If this system continues, I hope it will include email notices when there have been new posts to a thread of interest, as with most such BBS systems.
Yes – when traveling we look for and visit Jewish sites out of respect to our heritage and to the Jews who came before us and “kept the tribe” in difficult circumstances. These are often sad reminders of the dark times – Middle-Ages in Spain, 20th-Century Europe, but also pride overflowing experiences of watching the accomplishments of Jews in the US and Israel.
Yes- I do notice Jewish names in the news and the press and I am very proud of their artistic and scientific achievements. I am equally embarrassed by the misdeeds. This has nothing to do with religion, but everything to do with the sense of belonging to a unique ethnic group of which I want to be proud at all times.
I am fully aware that the reason I feel that I belong to a Jewish people is because thousands of religious Jews in Europe and the Middle East in centuries before us kept to their strict religious regulations, disapproving of intermarriage, and thus defining a separate ethnic population. As contemporary liberal Jews we may disapprove of such exclusive philosophy, but we cannot deny the facts.
I would humbly paraphrase Albert Einstein’s words in saying that I am not religious, but I feel a very strong sense of belonging to a people whose history and experiences were part of many generations of my family.
I hope that we can find a way to preserve and perpetuate this sense of belonging in our children and grandchildren who are likely not to be religious, and whom we cannot restrict from marrying non-Jews.
I am very glad that we are having this conversation as a Temple Isaiah Community. Together we should find the right way.
I learned to love being Jewish around a family table. I learned to share being Jewish in my kitchen. From there, I began to study and my Judaism fed by intellect and my sense of self. Being Jewish for me is more than a cultural name, it is my spirit, my mind, my community, my prayer. It is a religious construct in addition to a social one.
I am not religious but I am, culturally, very Jewish. I have been to Israel twice and I visit “Jewish” sites whenever I travel. Most of my good friends are Jewish, but I am closest to my family. All of my siblings strongly identify as being “culturally” Jewish. We cherish spending the Holidays and Jewish celebrations together. Family and Judaism is interconnected for us.