A bridge across the religious-secular divide
At least since the 2004 election, we are said to be in a war between religious and secular values.
You’ll forgive me if, as a Jew, I sit this one out.
The battle imagines two distinct worldviews, one steeped in worship and a higher belief, the other in things of this world and this world only. The religious are building a future on a foundation of absolutes, the secular on a framework of choice.
There’s even a growth industry among Jewish conservatives in blaming secularists for the decline of just about everything. They tend to refine this thesis in the company of their Evangelical friends by singling out the Jews among the non-believers. Jewish talk-radio host Michael Medved, currently promoting a memoir about his turn from the Left to the Right, was reported to have drawn a warm round of applause at the National Religious Broadcasters’ convention when he declared, “When you see Jews who are part of the attack on Christmas you know they have rejected their own faith.” Medved must know that some of the strongest defenders of the separation of church and state happen to be observant Jews, but talk-radio demagoguery considers nuance a major buzz kill.
Folks like Medved need to feel that the religious-secular dichotomy is unbridgeable, or, to the extent that religious folk seek to embrace secular values and vice versa, irreconcilable. As David Brooks, another Jewish conservative with a case of Evangelical-envy, put it in his book, Bobos in Paradise: “Can you have freedom as well as roots?… Can you establish ritual and order in your life if you are driven by an inner imperative to experiment constantly with new things?”
I suppose these are rhetorical questions, but I still want to raise my hand and say “Yes.” For at least the past 100 years, the American-Jewish community has managed to recover from disaster and flourish because it has refused to be defined in religious or secular terms — only. It is a gambit familiar to anyone who ever sat through those interminable Sunday school discussions on “Who is a Jew?” (“Are we a race or a religion? A people or a nation? A dessert topping or a floor cleaner?”) The beautiful thing is that there is no right answer.
A product of the post-war, suburban baby boom, I grew up in a world that was intensely and proudly Jewish, infused with meaning and connection, despite the distance many of our friends and neighbors put between themselves and the “tradition.” And while I’m now a regular synagogue-goer who sends his kids to day school, my upbringing helped me see the innumerable practices, behaviors, and rituals that allow Jews to feel intensely connected with each other — and the holy — beyond a narrow definition of “religious.”
A few years back I compiled a list of some of these “secular” Jewish practices. What’s thrilling about the list is not only the creativity that the choices imply, but the ways in which seemingly “secular” behaviors tend to mesh with a “religious” worldview.
Here’s a sampling from the list. You decide: Religious? Secular? None of the above?
Jewish genealogy
In its heyday, JewishGen, the Web Page of Jewish Genealogy (www.jewishgen.org), recorded an average of 29,481 hits per day from users researching their family histories. Connecting with the past has turned a generation of seekers into amateur historians, and allows today’s Jews to remember how their ancestors lived, not just how they died.
Jewish gastronomy
A salty slab of lox, a two-inch-thick pastrami sandwich with a side of cole slaw, a scoop of chopped liver. Eating Jewish deli may be a nutritional nightmare, but it creates a Proustian connection between the eater and his people with every bite.
Jewish preschools
Let’s face it: Not every parent who sends a kid to a preschool run by a JCC or synagogue is in it for the religion. But Jewish preschools are serving as “ramps” to a richer Jewish life for thousands of young families. Toddlers come home with Jewish crafts, songs, and prayers and reverse the process by which Jewish traditions and rituals have been transmitted: It’s the children who shall teach them unto the parents.
Holocaust remembrance
A generation of now elderly people who had every reason to give up on life instead embraced it, pushing aside the horror as they gave their children as “normal” an upbringing as any of us could. That accomplished, they at last began to confront their experiences and inspired a network of Holocaust memorials and museums that are as much about hope for a better and more just future as they are reminders of an unspeakable past.
Jewish giving
It’s easy to denigrate “checkbook Judaism,” but philanthropy can be defined as putting prayer into action. Tzedaka builds Jewish schools, social service agencies, hospitals, old-age homes, and — oh, yes — the State of Israel.
Political activism
No matter the cause or policy, Jews are disproportionately represented in the ranks of the leaders, activists, and opinion-shapers. Scratch a Jewish environmentalist or free-market guru, and you’ll find someone who can discuss how her Jewish upbringing shaped her sense of social justice.
Mah-jongg
Not the game, but the concept: Taking part in “secular” leisure activities but in the company of fellow Jews. Peoplehood is affirmed and celebrated around card tables, on gym floors, in aerobics studios, and at summer camps.
None of this is to say that “secular” pursuits are better than “religious” endeavors. Or that Jewish communities can thrive without those who are firmly grounded in synagogue, mitzvot, Shabbat, and the holy days. The point is that strong Jewish communities, in their diversity, have reconciled the religious-secular “divide.” Our roots are deep, our foundation is strong, and our branches constantly grow in new and exciting ways.