Judaism as Culture - a personal viewpoint

Judaism as Culture - a personal viewpoint.
Martin Ben Moreh
(Notes for lecture to 40 Jewish religious educators (Amit) at Herzog center, Israel.)

''This generation of young Jews will have to choose to be Jewish''
Herman Wouk – GA, Chicago, 11/00

1. Questions: How do I define my Jewishness? Do I have a feeling of solidarity with the Jewish people? What's my Jewish/Israeli identity? What does Secularism mean to me? What are the expressions of Jewishness in my life? Who is the source of authority in my life? - God? Text? Rabbi? During this lecture I'll try to answer these questions through describing my own odyssey in the world of secular Judaism.

2. To be a non – Orthodox and secular Jew - means, to me - to be connected spiritually, historically, philosophically with Jewish traditions and culture. In this age of Globalization, - we are all citizens of a global village – I have a strong desire to also belong to my own specific culture. To feel solidarity with Jewish communities all over the world. To want to study Jewish history throughout the centuries. To learn the various stories of the Jewish people – the trials and tribulations, the customs, the values and the fables. I feel that in my way I've made a choice to be and remain a Jew. I don't believe in a predestined future that some supreme entity has made my life plan for me.

3. Is man born with his life long specific identity or does he redesign it into personal identities, linked closely to one and other? We are born to particular parents, language, culture, period, State, zeitgeist. Our reaction to our first '' identity '' could be a point somewhere between acceptance and rejection. In my particular case it was a long debate with parents, peer group, and other social forces which gradually redefined my Jewish identity.

4. A feeling of being Jewish - a sort of ''social agreement'' - without checking what does it actually mean. As a teenager I became the chairman of the local young JNF - I enjoyed the leadership role and the excitement of raising money for Israel - without giving deep thought what was my commitment to Judaism and Israel. A few years later when I was 21 I decided to make a major change in my life and start looking for a deeper meaning to my existence

5. Aliya - 1970 from Glasgow, Scotland - feeling of looking for meaningful identity. Born to a middle class Jewish family, my mother’s family came to Manchester from Vienna, just before the first World War, my father’s family came from Russia at the times of progroms at the turn of the 20th century. My parents were founder members of their orthodox Synagogue in Glasgow but were not practicing orthodox Jews. My father owned the most famous Jewish delicatessen in Scotland, a shop that became a well-known Jewish culture spot for locals and visitors, especially from Israel. Our Jewish life was rich but full of contradictions - enjoying the traditions of festivals held in a warm family atmosphere but without the trappings of religion. We ate kosher at home but everything outside the home. Going to shul on high holidays mostly by car, not understanding the service conducted in Hebrew. I studied in a ''cheder'' for my Barmitzva – reading my portion of the ''law'' before the whole congregation but forgetting it quickly very shortly afterwards. From 9 years of age I was sent to study at ‘’The Glasgow High School’’ for boys, we were 40 Jewish boys among 1,000 pupils having a special Jewish prayer session every morning. I remember distinctly asking my father when I reached the tender age of 14, why I never saw non-Jewish people at our house – I’ll never forget his answer, ''I don’t feel comfortable around non-Jewish people''. His Jewishness was deep and defined his whole being but he was never in any way religious. Deciding at 21 to leave it all and start my life away from home. What were the options: London, America, Canada and maybe Israel. Eventually chose Israel, for a very practical reason, it was much easier to enter the country for a year's trial period.

6. In Israel, the Jewish State, I came face to face with the questions I raised at the start of this address: for the first time in my life I felt compelled to seriously address major questions about my identity. How do I define my Jewishness? I've never felt any compulsion to believe in an external God who can see the future and through disciples, make for mankind commandments that have to be carried out. I always felt fully responsible for my actions and had to make my own decisions about my identity, which will mould my life in the present and the future. Therefore my solidarity with the Jewish people, which I strongly felt without being able to rationalize it, was not based on a religious belief. However I did feel a deep compassion for the fate of the Jewish People - that is my narrative – historically up to the present day. A need to belong. To learn about Jewish traditions, history, philosophy, literature and culture - to be part of the Jewish civilization. I began to study different aspects of Judaism at Haifa University: Jewish and General history and the link between them. I had a strong desire to know more about my roots, to touch the core of my Jewish identity. To understand the major values which appear so strongly in Jewish tradition, such as: constant learning as an ideal, social justice, the longing to make the world a slightly better place, '' Tikkun Olam '', the famous saying of Hillel, '' don't do unto others what you hate would be done unto you ''. These values have led Jewish people to stand for many causes - Jewish and general - all over the world. Albert Einstein, one of the most famous non-religious Jews of the 20th century, summed up his Jewishness: ''The pursuit of knowledge for its own sake, an almost fanatical love of justice and the desire for personal independence - these are the features of the Jewish tradition which make me thank my stars that I belong to it ''. I completely concur with Einstein's remarks. The basic fact that there is no Pope in Judaism who decides what is right and what is wrong. Jewish culture is based on hundreds of years of argument and discussion. From Biblical times, the Mishna to the Talmud, Questions and Answers, the Shulchan Aruch, etc. Jews all over the world have questioned time and again the meaning of the words of the Bible and of the Jewish Sages. Judaism is a dynamic culture in constant debate –in reality there is not one Judaism but many Judaisms.

7. During my Jewish studies at Oranim - Haifa University, I began to ''wrestle'' with my own Jewish identity. Meeting new '' heroes '' every day: Abraham, Moses, King David, the Prophets, Ezra and Nechemia, the Maccabim, Bar Kochva, Rabbi Akiva, Joseph Flavius, Sadia Gaon, Rambam, Judah Halevi, Moshe Mendelson, Baal Shem Tov, Baruch Spinoza, Kafka, Hertzl, Bialik, Brenner, Berdishevski, Achad Ha'am, Buber, Brandeis, Berlin,Weitzman, Ben Gurion and many more. Reading critically for the first time the Bible, the Talmud, The Guide for the Perplexed, The Shulchan Aruch, texts from the Enlightenment period, early Jewish Zionist Philosophy and literature up to contemporary Israeli and Jewish thought. I began to form my opinions of Jewish traditions and festivals and looked to see how they could be adapted to my family and communal life. It was not by chance that I decided to make my home on a Kibbutz. The idea of community is very important to me, I see the community as an essential part of cultural life, in many ways the Israeli Kibbutz, was the first Jewish secular community, based on traditional Jewish values of mutual help and solidarity. The Kibbutz Movement, nearly 70,000 members sees it's self as a Jewish secular movement and from its very beginning looked for ways to make Jewish tradition alive and relevant for its members. I read with great interest the Kibbutz Movement's Passover Hagada (Yhuda Sharet), the Kibbutz Bar/Bat mitzvah, Kabalt Shabbat etc, Taking symbols from early Jewish traditions and giving them a modern interpretation which is meaningful to a particular community. Showing that Jewish culture is alive and in constant change.

8. From my first days in Israel I felt the need to be active in the resurgence of Jewish secular identity which is taking place in Israel, a modern Jewish democratic State which is continually striving to define its Jewish soul. My feeling of solidarity to Judaism and Israel had to find a more definite shape. I wanted to be part of the ongoing defining process for young Jewish Israelis in reference to their Jewish - Israeli identity. I chose to play a leading role in my Kibbutz and in the Kibbutz movement. I studied to become an educator in Israeli State schools, and tried to live the words of Robert Frost the famous American poet, ''I’m not a teacher but an awakener.'' After spending 2 years at the School for educational leadership in Jerusalem, I became the Director-General of Meitar - The College of Judaism as Culture. A college which in different and innovative ways is a supplier of Judaism to non- religious people. We want to give the ''tools'' which allow people to choose their particular Jewish identity. Our educational work is done in the field - in Israeli State schools, with new immigrants, in the academic track and with the general public.

9. The educational process that I see is Problem Orientated Education. Meeting young people, hearing and understanding their problems in defining their Jewish identity. Through learning about Judaism in an open and critical way - from books, texts, art, poems, architecture, historical places, meetings etc, we can debate how we see our own particular Jewish identity. How we want to shape our life circle - the values we choose, the cultural riches which are important to us, the traditions we want to keep in our own way. For me to be part of this Jewish renaissance is a never- ending compelling endeavor.

10. Judaism as Culture for me, is part of the different ‘’Judaisms’’ that exit in our times. All of them have a place at the table. In the words of the Israeli author and Israeli prize laureate, Amos Oz, '' We (secular Jews) too are the heirs of the culture of Israel. Not the only heirs, to be sure, but legitimate heirs all the same. Legitimate heirs are not slaves to their inheritance. They have the right to develop a dynamic relationship between the Jew and his or her culture, a relationship that has a suitable rhythm. What blossomed yesterday will fertilize what blooms today, and what blooms today will perhaps fertilize what will flower tomorrow. - There are seasons in the life of culture. For thousands of years, Jewish civilization has received the pollinating seeds of other cultures, even as it has made its mark on other cultures. All of this is contained, perhaps, in the passage from the traditional prayer book: 'Renew our days as in days past'. We cannot renew without the past, but the past has no presence without renewal.''

11. Finally I would like to finish this essay where I started: the importance of choice. As Herman Wouk told the national gathering of Jewish organizations at Chicago '' this generation of Jews will have to choose to be Jewish'' They won't be able to choose without learning about the Jewish tradition in an open and pluralistic way. To be literate in their culture, we have to build the bridge to knowledge. The bridge is education. My choice in life is to be a secular Jew, proud of his identity, and my vocation is to be an educator and awakener.

Non-Orthodox Israeli and their Jewish Identity

Non-Orthodox Israeli and their Jewish Identity
"Does the Non-Orthodox Israeli have a Jewish Identity?’’
Martin Ben Moreh, Exec Director, Meitar – The College of Judaism as Culture May 2006
For many non – Orthodox and secular Israelis Jews born and bred in Israel, there is little understanding of what it means to be a Jew, and the bonds that tie them to their Jewish heritage are weak. Moreover, the basic level of Jewish knowledge has plummeted to the point that many have become like the son who doesn't even know how to ask.

The Facts
While the Orthodox and Ultra-Orthodox have separate educational streams that focus on Jewish content, the vast majority, or 67%, of Israeli Jewish school children attend non-religious public schools. These academically-oriented public schools concentrate primarily on the study of English, Mathematics, Computers, and Hebrew. The traditional Jewish subjects - Bible, Talmud, and Jewish Thought – are not required subjects for the matriculation exams and, therefore, receive much less emphasis.
In 1994, the Israeli Government's Shenhar Report, which assessed the need to teach Judaism in the Israel public schools, found that, "non-Orthodox students are increasingly alienated from Judaism and that the existing curriculum does not appeal to them." The Shenhar Commission called upon the Education Ministry to teach Judaism in an open and pluralistic way, and to ensure that educators who teach Judaism are equipped "with a worldview and lifestyle acceptable to the secular public in all its diversity, and appropriate to the distinctive character of the communities served by state schools," A decade later, Prof. Shenhar wrote: "During the last few years there was a shift in educational goals(added emphasis on matriculation) and as a result, secular children are left to continue believing that the Jewish heritage does not concern them and is the sole property of the ultra-Orthodox…”.
In the illusion of familiarity, the young Israeli lives in modern Israel – by definition a Jewish state – and, therefore, it seems clear that his Judaism is obvious. That is until you scrape under the surface. Then the large gaps of ''Jewish illiteracy'' become blaringly apparent. Many "Sabras" were born into non- religious/secular families where Jewish religious traditions and heritage were not discussed and, in many cases, not practiced. The crux of this dilemma is, according to Prof. Moshe Kaveh, an Orthodox Jew, President of Bar-Ilan University, that, "We must recognize that the secular culture is the dominant one in Israel and the world….Jewish identity and heritage belongs to you, the secular majority in Israel, just as it belongs to me. I say to you get organized and take charge of your children's Jewish identity for the future."
And so the crucial question becomes "how do secular educators not only ensure that their students achieve Jewish literacy, but reclaim ownership of their Jewish identity?"

Experiencing Judaism as Culture
The key lies in exposing the children to the very essence of Jewish culture. This requires a complete rethinking of how we teach Judaism to secular pupils, today.
The normal teaching methods of presenting knowledge of the Jewish heritage, to the pupil is not sufficient. Ultimately, the challenge for the teachers will be to create a reflective environment where the young students are given the opportunity to explore their own minds and souls, and to gain greater insight into their Jewish heritage. While in principle this sounds simple, in actuality it is about as easy as climbing Mount Everest.
Transforming teachers into educators who can teach Jewish knowledge in a way that challenges every pupil to look inside himself and reclaim his Jewish identity is crucial.

Providing a Jewish compass
Judaism as Culture is much more than an academic discipline: it is a mindset which perceives Jewish culture and values as a compass to life. Judaism is bigger than studying Bible, or Talmud, Jewish Thought or Kabbala. We are exposing our students to the Jewish values that are central to our tradition - the ideals of continuous learning, social justice and Tikkun Olam. Judaism is a dynamic culture in constant evolution – it demands that each generation, secular and religious, redefines it for itself.
Pedagogical methods for teaching and experiencing Judaism as Culture
Meitar – the College of Judaism as Culture has developed a five-pronged approach for working with different populations in Israel, this method has proven to be highly successful in the field:
Meitar’s educational approach: everything taught in Israeli State schools as Humanities, Social Sciences, Arts and Civics falls under the title of “Judaism as Culture.” Stemming from this approach, we strive to influence the mindset of every teacher and pupil, and if possible the parent, to accept that what we do, experience and learn at school, is in essence an expression of our Judaism. Moreover, that the school is the ultimate workshop for creative Judaism.
Problem-oriented -presenting content through dilemmas and choices. Meitar is creating unique educational programs relevant to the challenges and needs of the participants as it related to their Jewish identity.
Empowering the participants - to explore their individual Jewish identity through personal educational experiences such as: critical/creative dialogues with ‘’your own’’ Parashat Hashavua, Bar/Bat Mitzvah projects, defining what the Jewish holidays mean to me, Jewish identity programs, Dilemmas in Jewish History, etc.
Meitar uses interdisciplinary materials, blending intellectual stimulus, with emotional experiences. Integrating various media, such as Cinema, Drama, Art, Music, literature and other areas of the creative arts into the programs. Incorporating field trips to sites significant in the Bible.
Forging Cultural Communities - Meitar's community model fosters a pluralistic environment in which Jewish identity is the common denominator. Bringing people together and creating Jewish solidarity, for the secular Israelis. Meitar communities exist in five different towns in Israel, encompassing children, educators, students, families, youth movements, Olim, women’s groups, senior citizens, volunteer local leadership etc. We have developed together with each community, tailored made programs relevant to the specific population

"This Generation of young Jews will have to choose to be Jewish’’
Herman Wouk
As citizens of the ''Global Village,'' each Jew - whether in Israel or the greater Jewish world - has to make a conscientious effort to explore his or her individual identity. Actively choosing to be Jewish, learning about our culture and traditions, and gaining an understanding of the core Jewish values will provide a Jewish compass to the complex world we live in.
The concept of Judaism as Culture allows the majority of Jews, non-Orthodox and secular, to identify with their Jewishness in a way compatible to the mindset and lifestyle they live. Judaism as Culture is the common denominator to the evolving Israeli society and the Jewish world where each one of us has the right to a place at the Jewish table.