Adapted from Nothing Sacred
Back to the Future
By DOUGLAS RUSHKOFF
Can we talk? Why aren’t I surprised that none other than
Joan Rivers is responsible for one of the most accurate condensations of the
core values of a three thousand year old tradition. It was the Jews’ struggle
for self-preservation, after all, as well as their deeply held humanist
beliefs, that made them promoters of open discussion—so much that third century
Romans purchased memberships in Jewish synagogues just so they could take part in
intellectual conversations.
Sadly, for many Jews today, Judaism is a closed book. Jewish texts are not open
for scrutiny; they are intentionally left closed. In many synagogues, community
is either forgone or leveraged in the name of fundraising for a besieged
Israel. The iconoclasm intrinsic to the descendants of Abraham—the legendary
idol smasher—has been discarded, but the obsolete racist and sexist beliefs of
our ancestors—some prayer books still include a prayer that thanks God for not
making us women1—have been preserved.
The good news is that Judaism has faced such crises before and survived. In
each instance, a small minority of the Jewish population adopted a radically
recontextualized understanding of its fundamental tenets. And in each instance,
only that small minority flourished, carrying into the next era what would from
then on be called “Judaism.” Each successful shift involved experiencing, or
reexperiencing, Judaism’s most essential insights of basic humanism and
iconoclasm.
Unfortunately, the current landscape of Jewish offerings isn’t pretty. Take the
New Age movement, which offers a wide variety of spiritual choices for those
fed up with the institutional biases of religion. Kabbalah feels cool and
controversial: not your father’s Judaism. But its “secret” truths have nothing
to do with the origins of Torah or the development of Jewish law. Devotees pay
thousands of dollars for multi-volume sets of the Zohar, an ancient
mystical interpretation of Judaism that is written in ancient Aramaic. They
don’t read these books, but instead, pass their eyes over the cryptic text and
absorb the energy within them. Seeking something spiritual while still getting
to be Jewish, most get neither.
The reinvention of Judaism as “cool” is also the aim of philanthropies and
outreach organizations that have taken it upon themselves to repackage a
religion for a vast population of lapsed and disaffected Jews. Outreach
organizations define Jews as people who are affiliated with a Jewish
organization. Their efforts fail to take into account the sociological research
indicating that most Americans define their social, political, or religious
affiliations not through centralized institutions, but through a more complex
and self-defined set of “loose connections.” Instead of working to strengthen
these connections most outreach groups think of Jews as being “in” or “out”
based on their willingness to pay temple dues. People who don’t belong to a
synagogue are considered “lapsed” and in need of active recruitment. Through
focus groups and consumer research, these organizations seek to identify their
target market’s barriers to participating in organized Judaism and then appeal
to these sensibilities. It all comes down to making Judaism look more hip to a
modern audience, even if this means resorting to the tactics of a soft drink
advertiser.
The challenge to Jews, and to all thinking people, is to resist the temptation
to fall into yet another polarized, nationalist, or God forbid, holy posture.
Instead we must resolve ourselves to reaching back to Judaism’s core beliefs.
The prophets stressed social ideals and compassion; the Jewish holidays are
meant to instill a sense of compassion on behalf of Jews and strangers alike.
And what is the parting of the Red Sea in the Exodus fable if not a singular
act of social justice—the liberation of an oppressed people? While Judaism
holds no exclusive claim to these values, its ability to turn them into life
practices makes it an indispensable resource for a civilization experiencing
such a series of disorienting shifts. It is high time these core values were
exhumed and revived.
Just as the definition of social justice had to evolve over time, so must the
definition of what it means to be Jewish. Fortunately, Judaism is open to
discussion. It can be questioned and reinterpreted; indeed, it is supposed to
be reinterpreted, for the paramount Jewish tradition is to question and break
with tradition itself. Is it so very presumptuous that we might spearhead a
discussion that launches a new set of inquiries into and expressions of what it
means to be Jewish today? It is the way we’ve launched renaissances, after all.
Though it is with great reluctance that we assume this mantle, we—the literate,
intelligent, and somewhat lapsed Jews of today—are as likely candidates as any
to revive Judaism, on our own terms, together.
Back to the Future was adapted from Nothing Sacred: The Truth About Judaism (Crown Publishers, 2003), and published with the author’s permission.
NOTES
1 Part of the Birkot
hashachar, or morning blessings, still often recited by the Orthodox (and
some Conservative Jews, as well). [Ed.]
Copyright 2009 JBooks.com, Inc. |