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Monday, January 17, 2011
One of "Bieganski's"
contentions is that many contemporary American Jews feel uncertain about their Jewish
identity. For some, use of the Bieganski stereotype serves to reinforce a sense
of Jewish identity.
The New York Times publishes many
articles on contemporary American Jews' struggles with identity. "You're
Young and Jewish. Discuss" by Laura M. Holson appeared in the Times on
January 14, 2011.
An organization called Reboot, the
Times reports, has been working to establish a sense of Jewish identity among
young, wealthy, and successful American Jews "disconnected from their
heritage." "They want to make it hip and cool to be identified as a Jew."
Reboot "since 2002 has conducted an annual conference for young, affluent
Jews to discuss their ethnic and religious identity, in between spa treatments
and walks among the ponderosa pines of the Wasatch Mountains."
Nicola Behrman, a playwright, said, "I do not think I
regretted my Jewishness. But when I look at my life, I hadn't expressed my
Judaism in any way."
Christians and Christianity
help Rebooters to define themselves as Jews: "Guests explore topics of
their choosing, like what Mel Gibson was thinking when he made Passion of the
Christ."
The Holocaust also helps to define Jewish identity.
"For so many years being a Jew was defined by the Holocaust on one side
and Israel on the other."
Roger Bennett is a Reboot
"founder who lives in New York and is senior vice president at the Andrea
& Charles Bronfman Philanthropies, an initial contributor to Reboot that
now has 18 donors and a yearly $1.8 million budget." Rebooters voiced the
loss of tradition. "Mr. Bennett … talked of his great-grandfather, a
Polish butcher who built one of the largest synagogues in Liverpool but whose
present-day heirs inherited none of his devotion to prayer and ritual."
One hears something similar again and again from American Jews.
One of "Bieganski's" informants said to me, "When my grandmother
got on the boat in Germany, she was a Jew. When she got off the boat in Ellis
Island, she was an Episcopalian." This informant is an atheist and has no
connection to his own Jewish ancestry. I'd known him for years before I began working
on the book and had no idea he had Jewish ancestry, till he volunteered to be
interviewed.
Recently, my friend Mark mentioned to me
that he regrets that his daughter has not inherited his Jewishness. For
example, Mark expressed appreciation for the Sabbath, which provides an
opportunity for reflection. But Mark is an atheist and does not observe
Sabbath.
I shared with Mark this quote from Abraham
Joshua Heschel:
"To the uninspired, the Shulhan
Arukh is like the score of an oratorio to those who cannot read musical
notations; to the pious Jew, it is full of choruses and arias. Jewish law to
him is sacred music. The divine sings in noble deeds. Man's effort is but the
counterpoint to the music of his will. There is a price to be paid by the Jew.
He has to be exalted in order to be normal. In order to be a man, he has to be
more than a man. To be a people, the Jews have to be more than a people."
I think that Heschel would tell Mark that you can't have the "secular"
benefits of Sabbath that atheist Mark can appreciate without having God. I
could be wrong. There may be atheists who fully appreciate and live the values
of Jewish tradition without any attendant faith in God. If so, I'd love to hear
about them.
Rebooters seemed to be having the same
conversation. They discussed whether or not they could have Christmas trees, or
Sabbath rest in a wired and hyperactive world. One man dressed in drag, and
"said something about God being a black woman," and others operated a
"pretend" mikvah. Yoga and snowshoeing provided breaks.
In the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth, the Council of Four
Lands enjoyed exceptional autonomy. Jews organized and held power over other Jews.
There was pressure to be traditionally, religiously, Jewish. Abraham Joshua
Heschel described Jewish life in Poland as a spiritual paradise; Israel Shahak and
Anzia Yezierska describes this same community and its traditions as an
oppressive theocracy. However one assesses it, as positive, negative, or
neutral, in the territories of the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth, there were
pressures and rewards for being traditionally, religiously, Jewish.
Once those Jews immigrated to the US, many dropped the outward
signs of religiosity, and assimilated. The challenges of assimilation remain;
one answer is Bieganski – using stereotyped images of Eastern European
Christians to reinforce Jewish identity. Another answer is Reboot. It will be
interesting to see what develops from Reboot.
You're
Young and Jewish. Discuss.
Readers'
comments about the Reboot article.
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