A lot of
energy is being spent by Jewish organizations and individual Jews in trying to
define Jewish identity. Is it a matter
of ethnicity, culture, or religion?
It struck me
as I was doing some reading this week about defining Jewish identity that the one place we could be looking for the
answer is actually in the Torah. Let me
explain why:
1) The Torah starts with the book of
Genesis. You are all familiar with the
beginning stories…the stories of creation, Adam and Eve, and Noah…all
contribute to our understanding of ourselves as Jews and as human beings. The creation story impacts how we view
ourselves and all of humanity as created in the image of G-d. We recognize that we are not responsible for
creating the world but that we are responsible for preserving it. The story purposefully unfolds with a
universal theme. Each individual is
capable of establishing a relationship with G-d. The issue is that we also have a
responsibility toward one another. Cain
is supposed to know where Abel is, and Noah is considered righteous in his
generation because he does not spill the blood of other human beings. G-d even forms a covenant with Noah and we
understand that the universe has basic rules by which we all must live. We are expected to come away from the
encounter with these stories with an understanding that we must indeed first
and foremost be good human beings who act morally toward one another.
2) After the first stories of Bereishit,
however, G-d shows His road map for humanity that involves His entering history
and establishing a nation that will work for Him. When G-d forms His covenant with Abraham, G-d
is in essence picking one people, elevating them for the purposes of bringing the concept of kedusha (holiness) into the
world. The idea is not to separate the
children of Abraham for the purpose of division but so we can actually funnel
G-d back into the entire group from which we were separated. In order to help us be a light to other
nations, G-d made us a nation, giving us the Land of Israel. The covenant with Abraham that is also
expressed to Isaac and Jacob promises to make us into a great nation that
demands behaviors representing tzedek and mishpat/justice and
righteousness. Those behaviors are the
result of a belief in one G-d who demands such ethical behavior not only of us,
but of others.
3) The Torah moves on from the story of promising
the Jewish people a land to the stories in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and
Deuteronomy. As you know we end up in
Egypt. It is in Egypt that the seed of
nationhood is sown. We do manage to
become a nation in someone else’s land, but we are missing the vehicle from
which our message to humanity can be spread…we are missing the Land of Israel
that has been promised to us. So the
story goes forward as we wander through the desert for 40 years. But just being in the Land of Israel is not
going to be enough. We were in need of
laws that will remind us how to act. We are in need of a guide to remind us how
to be holy. The covenant with Moses and
the children is Israel is given at Sinai through the laws of Torah. It is a reminder
of how we are to make a name for G-d…how we are to act and talk. Rituals are given to help us transmit models of
behavior from one generation to another.
We are reminded that we really do know what it feels like to suffer and
we are reminded throughout the rest of Torah that we must treat others justly
because we once suffered ourselves. We are
reminded that mistreating another human being is like mistreating G-d.
If you just
look at the Torah, you will find a multi-layered definition of being
Jewish. It involves being a
universalist, being a good human being who acts morally and works to preserve
the environment, being tied to the Jewish people and the Land of Israel with
national and ethnic loyalties, living in a way that shows compassion for the
needy, and integrating rules and rituals into our lives by which we show our
relationship with G-d. Even the Torah
understood that the definition of Jewish identity is complex. It involves the way we understand ourself and
interact with our family, our community, and all of humanity. But just as the Torah is one…the commentaries
are many!
So now that
I’ve given you an overview of Jewish identity from a Torah perspective…we’re
going to bring this conversation to a more personal level because I realize
that many individuals define their Jewishness differently. So here are the questions I’d like us to
encounter:
How do you define your Jewish identity?
Are you proud to be Jewish, why or why not?
Has your definition of what it means to be Jewish changed over time? If so, how?
How do you express your Judaism?
(Share the book I Am Jewish by Judea and Ruth Pearl)
One last comment….we will read the book of Ruth tomorrow. Ruth was a Moabite woman who entered the
Israelite congregation even at a time when there was a proscription that
stated, “ An Amonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the
Lord; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation
of the Lord forever.” Ruth takes on the
Jewish people as her people, our G-d as her G-d, and lives among the nation
that she has chosen as her own. And you
probably know the end of the story….she becomes part of the line that gives
rise to King David and King Solomon which is to give rise to the mashiach.
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