As I recently walked with my friend, Rabbi Adam Naftalin-Kelman—the Hillel Director at the University of California, Berkeley—we processed the challenges of our time with respect to Jewish life. Confronted with antisemitism, hostility to Israel, rifts within our own community, and a concurrent diminution of Jewish engagement, we Jewish professionals have much to consider. At the same time, Jews have never had it so good: We are solidly established in the U.S. with substantial representation (well beyond our proportions) in academia, government, and business. The intermarriage rate alone points to the truth that we are so much a part of the fabric of American life that religious mixing is far from an aberration; it’s become the norm.
As we crested the hill along Casiano Road, Adam turned to me and said: “When I speak to students at Cal, they acknowledge proudly that they are Jewish, but can’t really define what makes them so.” That is: They don’t really have a Jewish identity story to tell. He went on to say that this is mostly true of Conservative, Reform, and assimilated Jews. The Orthodox community has succeeded quite well in creating an idea of Jewishness that is enduring. It mostly revolves around Shabbat and holiday observance (including synagogue attendance), multiple trips to Israel, and for many, attendance at Jewish day schools, from preschool through high school. The ultra-Orthodox community, of course, isn’t present at Cal or any secular university, but their Jewish story is partially defined by their separateness from the secular world as well as a variety of positive affirmations.
We—those who have chosen the liberal (that’s a religious definition, not a political one) path of a Judaism that brings us into close contact with the secular world and offers an integration into that world that almost leaves us indistinguishable from most non-Jews—have a very different challenge. If we don’t actively seek out experiences that reinforce our Jewishness (and that of our kids), our own Jewish story becomes increasingly hazy, even shallow. Importantly, our Judaism can’t only be defined by what we are against (antisemitism), or what we must defend (Israel), it must be experienced with pride and joy to be sustainable.
The question we will explore in this week’s Kavanot, and the question I pose to you: What are the actions, ongoing experiences, or behaviors that you take on that reflect your Jewish identity?
—Rabbi Ron Stern