Sunday, August 3, 2008
how to begin?
I have been thinking about what the first post should be. I did not want to do an explanation of what I hope to do with this blog because I have no concrete intention. I do, however, hope this will be an honest inquiry into Jewish thought and its relevance to *non-religious* Jews or non-Jews. I emphasize "non-religious" it is a term I hope to understand more about before I am comfortable with its use. I ought to have many of the terms present offset by asterisks for lack of understanding, i.e. *Jews* *secular* *society* *dogma* *deity* *intention* *thought* and so on. Perhaps it is easier to apply the notion of negative philosophy to defining (by not defining) this project. Saying what it isn't because I can't possibly know at this point what it is. That in mind, this project/blog is not a place for dogmatic, unquestioned ideology.
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Only last week I avoided a conversation with two people passing out pamphlets for "Jews for Jesus" - a name that I have always found offensive because I felt they were Christians with an inferiority complex. In hindsight (often the best sight), I missed an opportunity to learn what makes another being happy because of my own pre-judgments. I was in a hurry doing whatever it is that I do that spins me from place to place with no time for other than me.
But, hey, maybe "Jews for Jesus" feel they are "other" than Christians. Perhaps they feel more Jewish than Christian. Or better still, maybe they identify with the pre-Roman Christians, the true followers of the teachings of Jesus. It begs the question: what is Jewish? What is a Jew for Jesus? And, in regards to this blog, what makes a secular Jew? Is Jew then a cultural identifier? Is it a race? An ethnicity? If I strip the religion from the Jew, what is left?
Is it wrong to say I hate Jews for Jesus? Not because I'm a Jew and not because I take issue with Jesus... just because.
Poor taste, perhaps, but I am very interested in these intersection points of self-identification. I had a professor say that I wasn't "really Jewish" because I do not attend Temple/have faith in G*D/ I'm not quite sure what.
"Jewish" is an interesting term in that it is both a religion and a cultural marker. I am concerned for the Jewish people as larger numbers of practicing Jews move toward secularization. Will this mean the end of the Jews? In my opinion No, but I also think that large strides must be made to recognize the cultural significance that is Jewish. Some of the most famous Jews in the past century were not practicing, i.e. Emma Goldman, Freud, Einstein, and so on.
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