The synagogue of my youth is not like the denominational synagogues of the United States, and it is this island synagogue that formed my understanding of Judaism. So, I’m having difficulty understanding the segregated nature of Western Jewish communities. Let me explain what I mean through my experiences in life, so that readers of this post can understand my “open question” to Jewry of the United States (and Canada, as well, from what I’ve experienced online).
In my short decade and a half living on this continent called the United States, I have visited Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform synagogues/communities with my family, and experienced Renewal and Reconstructionism online. This was in my early years here, before I decided – despite my need for Jewish community – that prayer Judaism was not for me, after all. As well, I’ve been inside a few Jewish Community Centers – curious as to, “What is the difference between a JCC and a synagogue?”
On the prayer part, don’t misunderstand me, the lifestyle of Rabbinic Judaism I have always loved – especially, the discussions of Jewish law and our inherited Torah. And my appreciation for the ritual of siddur chanting has always been strong! But, I was never good at dates and times (by genetic development, I think!) and – more importantly – I had no empirical reason to believe in our ancestral YHWH god as an actual deity demanding our obedience to Halakhah, outside of our communal and written imagination that “he” exists and, thus so, demands it. So, I eventually gave up the prayer part of Judaism entirely. For it made no sense to pray to an imaginary god, solely out of some form of reverence or devotion to this aspect of Jewish tradition. But, before I stray too far off topic, let’s get back to my USA synagogue experiences.
What I most noticed about synagogues in the United States is that they are, by denomination, demonstrably different from each other – in physical looks (both building and Jews), in dresswear, in the expressions of language, and in the availability of ritual behaviors to engage in (I’ll probably need to explain this later). When I finally discovered secular Jewish communities, this only further added to my confusion with Western Jews in the USA. Secular Judaism was the least Jewish looking, behaving, and sounding – outside of occasional Hebrew written phrases and Hebrew-or-Yiddish/Israeli songs. Thus, when I discovered the SHJ and IISHJ, I had hoped that maybe Judaism in the secular Judaism world is not so entirely segregated, as religious Judaism very obviously appears to be from each other – and, obviously, from secular Judaism.
At this point, you might be confused – either about my outside perspective on “American” Jewry, or on my confusion with this denominational approach to Jewish life. Hopefully, I can successfully explain this to you. As a comparison to the denominational lifestyle of Jews in the United States, the next paragraph will contain a glimpse into the experiences ingrained from my island synagogue experience of Jewish life. Experiences which literally formed my expectations of Jewish communities anywhere upon the lands of this world.
Many moons ago, on a little island in the Pacific, I regularly attended a Masorti-style synagogue. The entire liturgical part of this synagogue’s services was done fully in Hebrew, faithfully, everytime. It was assumed within this synagogue that if you are here with us, then you must be Jewish. Why else would you be walking through these doors? It was the nature of the members of this Jewish community to accept all Jews as they present, without “litmus test” questions, and to increase individual Jewish education in every area each Jew felt a need to improve on.
Here’s what did not matter in this island Jewish synagogue: Whether you believe in “G-d” or not is your business. Whether you follow halakhah outside of community gatherings or not is your business. Whichever denomination’s set of behaviors you choose to express within the community presence (this is important, listen!!!) is your expression of Judaism to display. The Rabbi only sets the expected civil-ritual behaviors (Orthodox-leaning-Conservative in our Rabbi’s case) for the community.
In any given Shabbat, we would have the most Reform members to the most “traditional” Orthodox members present and displaying – in behavior and in dress – their version of Judaism. Even the tatoo-ed secular Jew wearing the NY baseball cap was no less a member than the Orthodox Israeli who moved to the U.S. and joined the U.S. military to avoid direct Israeli military service. Absorbing each other’s stylistic expressions of Judaism – ritual behaviors, words, dress – was appreciated. Think deeply upon this! I sure know that I embraced the fullness of being Jewish in this synagogue through all these welcomed expressions. Many members had already planned aliyah to Israel for themselves and family, before I finally left the islands for the last time due to military service.
I think about my island’s ways of life a lot, living here in the United States. I think about the Jewish communities in the Middle East a lot. I think about the First Peoples of this continent a lot, as well. And I wonder, why do Western Jews have to be so communally divided in look and representation? Each version is distinctly different, and fully representative of Western either-or-ism. A Cherokee is a Cherokee, regardless whether he wears indigenous (aka, ethnic) clothing and hairstyle, or the white man’s clothing and hairstyle, or some combination of both. And all versions of these are represented in each reservation of First Peoples on this continent. Same for Native Hawaiians in the Pacific Isles. Same for Yemeni Jews in the Middle East. Same for Israeli Jews in modern Israel. So,…
Why do Canadian and United States Jews, specifically, have to be so divided – in every way possible? Hellenistic Jews, theistic or non-theistic, must look and behave like the general populace (t-shirt Jews), or members will face criticism. Ethnic Jews, theistic or non-theistic, who look the “traditional” part (pe’ot and tzitzit) must be theistic supporting, or members will face criticism. In the USA, Jews very well represent the greatly segregated nature of the general population they/we are in. There are the Ashkenazi European Jewish communities, the Mizrahi/Sephardi Arab communities, the Ethiopian Jewish communities, and so forth. Then, within the Ashkenazi communities, there is the Heredi, Orthodox, Modern Orthodox, Conservative, Reconstructionist, Reform, and Humanistic Jewish communities. As well, let’s not forget to add to this, the lesser known Qara’im Jewish communities, whose minority-size version of Judaism is just as authentic as the predominant Rabbinic and secular Judaisms upon this continent. And, each is by deliberate determinance different from the others in as noticeable of ways as is possible. For the most part, everyone stays in their camp and does not share the natures of the other camps – rather, actively seeks to be different.
Even my raising the suggestion, at times – of blending the communities in looks and sounds, while remaining true to your communities beliefs in words and actions – generates great angst by those “Jewish Americans” who hear such thoughts from my lips, here in “America” (the incorrectly slanged “melting pot” nation, in my experienced opinion as an islander!). Now, I could look upon this as, each denomination of Jews is like a tribe within a confederation of tribes. Okay, I get this definition of “denomination.” But, what I don’t get is this: We, Jews, are ultimately all the same one tribe – the tribe of Yehuda. And the confederation would be between Jews, Arabs, Samaritans, and Druze – like what exists in modern Israel! So, I find myself incapable of buying this Western denominational thing. Everything Jewish belongs to all of us all of the time!
Let me say this again for emphasis: Everything Jewish belongs to all of us all of the time! We very well should represent all of it in every community, while staying true to what we believe and teach as a community.
No exceptions to this, ever. And, the only real issue among Jews is the status and place of “God” within our communities, and what Jewish halakhah is communally acceptable. Tying anything else Jewish to this core issue is an act of segregating ourselves from each other. Why can’t we just be Jews?! Mixed in every ethnic way, without non-theists feeling they *must* Hellenize everything Jewish (or outright reject many outward displays of Jewish ethnicity) to be distinguished from theists. Why can’t we be always seeking to add more ethnic-ity, while also being devotedly *non-theistic* in thought and behavior? It seems to me that either/or-ism in the West forces Jews to be half of what they can and should Jewishly be. Too much having to pick sides, when the *only* thing dividing our Jewish communities is the “G-d” authority thing behind our ethno-religious way of life. As non-theistic Jews, why sweat the ethno thing, when we could be using it to transform Judaism as a whole? The more Jewish, without the theism, the better – it seems to me!
USA Judaism is as segregated denominational-ly, as the nation itself is segregated by races. And, it’s taken me years to get over the culture shock of this. Why is it always an either/or situation between atheists and theists, and between theists and theists among our people? Can the logical rational left brain alone really be a full human being’s mind on its own? Can the imaginative creative right brain be this solely on its own? What is the purpose to left and right views, atheist and theistic views, if not to create a balanced human mind from the merging of the two? An act of pluralism.
As I have written many times on my basically unread blogs, there is nothing wrong with being a whole human being – rational and fictional believing – so long as we remain honest to ourself and with others what is fiction and what is fact. In other words, this applies to both our rational expressions/presentations and our religious expressions (whether theistic religion or non-theistic religion) – for, both, tell stories that others must then choose whether to believe in or not.(1)
So it is with our ethnic dress, inherited Jewish languages and literatures, and ways that we approach rituals. These things do *not* have to be denominational-ly segregated! Only the community professed beliefs create this imagination of denominations among Jews. It seems to me, what separates Western Jewry is the inability to be this collectively, while still keeping to the particular beliefs of our respective movements. And, for me and my island synagogue of youth, this is really sad.
So, now we get to the reason for this “open question” post: Why Can’t Jewish Secularism Include Deeply Ethnic Lifestyles?
I have a serious question for both the religious and secular Jewish communities here within Canada and the USA – but, specifically, for those devoted to secular Judaism. I wish to understand the Western Jewish “mind” on Jewishness. As someone who has affinity for and appreciation of ethnic Jewish way-of-life (some would say more “insular” Jewish lifestyles – minus the patriarchal-ism and prayer-ism) – in contrast with the preferred Hellenized Western way of life (even within communal gatherings) among “Liberal” Jews (and I do hate those words, “Liberal” and “Conservative,” when applied to Jews!) – here are my questions:
When non-theistic and deistic Jews (aka, secular Jews) and “Liberal” religious Jews see clothing, ritual, and language lifestyle representations of what is called (wrongly!) “traditional” Judaism, do you automatically equate these lifestyle expressions with theism itself?
Is the wearing of a fedora, tzitzit, and pe’ot (on men), singing of Hasidic nigunim, and the chanting of Hebrew (sidur/torah) only what a theistic Jew would do, in y’all’s mind – even if all the wording that is in Hebrew is focused on secular/humanist beliefs and actions – thus, rejecting the ancestral god worship?
I ask, because it seems to me that Western Jews that identify with secularism or humanism seem bent on being in lifestyle – including communal lifestyle – like those Western folk around them. As if, to be non-“traditional” is to reject all representations of “traditional” ethnic lifestyle, in favor of a Hellenized version of these Jewish things, because it is tainted by the theism that is generally associated with it. Is this the general belief? And, if so or if not, why is this so? And, feel free to elaborate in your comments! Much appreciated.
I leave the floor open to your all’s unfiltered (if you will) responses.
יוסף פרקשדי
(1) – Even scientific researchers and theorists must ultimately tell us stories. To interpret and present their collected data, they have to, in order for it to make sense to us. The reason for this is because the human mind and, more specifically, human language is geared towards stories/gossip. Now, the difference is this: Our scientific beliefs and stories are based on the rigorous standards of verifiable evidence, and our religious stories and beliefs require no peer reviewed demonstrable evidence to support them – religious myths and beliefs are self-supporting on “faith” alone. But, this is the only difference (though very significant!) between these two types of human fictions. And, humans who have not done the research themselves have to choose whether to trust the evidence-based stories of scientists who have and teachers who share, just like a follower of a religion who has not rigorously self-studied has to trust the teachings of a pastor, priest, rabbi, iman, etc.
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