AN EXPERIMENT WHOSE TIME IS YET TO COME

Felix Posen

There is a place for secular and cultural Jews within the "rainbow of Judaisms" today.

The most common form of Judaism today is what is generally called cultural, secular, or humanistic Judaism. About half of our people are estimated to fall into this category worldwide. A new survey being carried out on American beliefs should give us up-to-date figures for the USA later this year. Israeli statistics show that 72% of Israeli children are in the secular school system.

Secular Jews are no more monolithic than religious Jews. There are dozens of definitions and permutations leading to a veritable rainbow of Judaisms. Some secular or humanistic Jews believe in a God or a transcendent deity; some see God as a literary hero; some are agnostics, or atheists.

The forces of secularization have nowhere completely eliminated the aesthetic, psychological or even intellectual affinity for the symbols, traditions, practices and legends associated with religion. Many unaffiliated secular or humanistic Jews may harbor a variety of religious sentiments and beliefs, or cherish customs, which are not secular. By the same token, how many religious Jews would say they have not been deeply or somewhat affected by secularity?

An Orthodox rabbi, writing in the Jewish Chronicle, labeled cultural Judaism as nothing more than chauvinism. But what, then, do we call the various Judaisms that espouse the concept of the "Chosen People?" Does he also believe that the Nazis' motivation for murdering Jews was due to the Jews' "mythological traditions" or because of their "race?"

We Jews have been brutalized for millennia for a variety of reasons - because we are outsiders and stir things up, or just because we are known throughout history as being scapegoats. During religious times, our enemies used religious reasons and in secular times there were secular reasons.

To understand Judaism as an evolving pluralistic culture, which includes religion, does not at all mean you nullify any connection with the past. By virtue of identifying yourself as a Jew, there is the implicit and sometimes very deep connection to the past - history, literature, customs, and life-cycle events. But this does not mean that you have to accept everything from the past, particularly when it comes to what some people regard as myths.

Being a secular Jew reflects a serious Jewish conviction and lifestyle. Israel is a laboratory where a great deal of searching and experimentation takes place to find innovative forms of Judaism - all of which are anchored in the ancient Jewish traditions as they evolved over millennia.

The bar mitzvah ceremony, for instance, is not a Biblical or Talmudic tradition. It is only about 500 years old. During the Biblical period, Jewishness was determined patrilineally (as is the status of Cohanim to this day). The change to matrilineality came only about 2,000 years ago. Even a decade or two ago, let alone in Talmudic times or earlier, would it have been conceivable to have Orthodox women as poskot halachah, interpreters of Jewish law, as there are in Israel now? The very idea would have had you excommunicated or consigned to the lunatic asylum years ago. Are these changes of "holy" customs not evolutionary?

You will find, in Israel, two colleges and already two or three universities beginning to teach Judaism as a culture. These are the first such attempts in history. Television programs have attracted as many as 250,000 viewers for Tikkun Leil Shavuot (a nightly learning vigil for Shavuot), secular Seders, shiurim and intellectual discussions on Biblical and Talmudic subjects as they might relate to the modern world. Often secular and religious interpreters appear on the same program. There is a desire and thirst among some determined secularists to reclaim our ancient tradition.

Live and let live is my motto. Stop knocking the other person on your right or left. There are numerous ways to cut the pie. Only fundamentalists know the "right" and "only" way.

Heaven preserve all of us from them. Just reread the works by the very quintessential Jew called Isaiah who warned us to beware of those who believe they have the hold on truth. He also told us that liberty and pluralism of values - many of which are not commensurate - are the way to a good life.

That's Isaiah Berlin, of course.

Felix Posen is a governor of the Hebrew University, a board member of Alma College in Tel Aviv and Meitar College in Jerusalem, and European Co-Chair of the International Federation of Secular Humanistic Jews.

This article was published in the Jewish Chronicle (London, England), June 1, 2001, and is reprinted with permission of the publisher and the author. It also appeared in Contemplate, Issue One/2001, published by the Center for Cultural Judaism.

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