Jewish in North America Today

Dr. Laurence Boxer- for REL 306, March, 2002

Aspects and Issues

Religion Charities AntiJudaism, antisemitism Holocaust Israel, Zionism SATO - Social Action / Tikun Olam

(healing the world) An Issue of Controversy

Religion Until 18th century, Jewish practice was

largely what, today, we call Orthodox Today, Jewish practice is split:

Orthodox (most traditional) ~ 10%-20% of synagogue membersConservative ~ 35% - 45% of synagogue membersReform (least traditional) ~ 35% - 45% of synagogue membersSmall movements: Reconstructionist, Jewish HumanistUnaffiliated – a considerable fraction

Charities Synagogues Israel – general welfare, medical, universities,

ecology, land development, refugee absorption, etc.

Religious/cultural education Hospitals, nursing homes, medical research Social welfare - civil rights, politics, etc. Secular culture: universities, arts

Tzedakah: charity = righteousness

Anti - 1

Term “antisemitism” first used by German writer Wilhelm Marr, 1879, to give a scientific sound to racial “Jew-hatred” – see

http://www.oup-usa.org/isbn/0195040058.html

There was no significant Arab presence in 19th Century Germany – antisemitism was, and is, directed at Jews, not at Semites.

Anti – 2 (pre-Christian) Biblical: Pharoah (Genesis); Amalek (Genesis,

Deuteronomy); Book of Esther – Haman, viceroy of Persia, attempts genocide; fails -> Purim

160’s BCE: Syrians attempt to force Greek paganism on Israel; fail -> Chanukah

Romans (1st Cent. BCE – 3rd Cent. CE): several attempts to ban Judaism, slaughter Jews. Renamed Israel “Palestine” after biblical Philistines to deny Jewish homeland. Rome becomes symbol of cruelty in Jewish literature (Esau <-> Edom)

Anti 3 – Christian roots Matthew 8:24: … there arose a

great tempest in the sea … the ship was covered with waves; but he was asleep.

Compare Jonah 1:4-5: “But the Lord hurled a great wind into the sea … the ship was like to be broken. And the mariners were afraid … but Jonah … was fast asleep”

Example 1 fr. Christian Bible

Christ in the Sea of Galilee – painting by Delacroix (also Rembrandt, Tintoretto, etc.)

Anti 4 – early Christian

Judas’ betrayal appears based on sale of Joseph – Genesis 37:28: “And there passed by Midianites … they … lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph for 20 shekels of silver.”

Name Judas – Judah – Hebrew for “Jew” Early Christians were “selling” Christianity to Romans,

so couldn’t stress Roman guilt for death of Jesus.Church inherited name “Edom” from Romans as symbol of cruelty in Jewish literature

Example 2 fr. Christian Bible – Matthew 26, 14-15: “Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they

covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver.”

Anti 5 - Christian Ignorant or demagogues continued to blame Jews, not Romans, for

murder of Jesus. Christian doctrine of inherited guilt – e.g., “Original Sin.” Jews as scapegoats

Crusades – more killing of European Jewish civilians than Muslim warriors in Holy Land

Expulsions from most European countries Plagues in which Jews fared better due to sanitary practices; provoked

murderous slanders (“poisoned wells”), slaughter Inquisitions – convert, be expelled, or die; origin of Nazi racial laws Ghettos – walled to segregate & degrade – cattle tax to enter/exit;

dumping ground; easy target for violence (arson) Blood libel (popular adoption of today’s Arab antisemites) Limited tolerance often based on Jews’ accepting scapegoat roles (tax

collector, money lender) or being “less Jewish” Nazi – rebels against Christianity, seen as insufficiently antisemitic

Anti 6 - in America Have been violent incidents – Klan; lynching

of Leo Frank; synagogue bombings & defacements

Job & residential discrimination; college quotas

Today, much better; equal rights in law; ill will greatly diminished

Anti 7 – Arab Religious roots – parallel early Christian desire

to dominate world, frustration at resistance to conversion

Modern secular root – Middle Eastern conflict Modern bigotry mimics older European

antisemitism: Arab press promotes Protocols, blood libel, Holocaust denial & Nazi praise

Anti 8 - elsewhere

Antisemitism “without Jews” Poland, German neo-Nazis Japan

•FSU – Orthodox Church, rightist anti-communists, left

•Latin America – Nazi havens

Holocaust A defining event for modern

Jewish life – memories of powerlessness while world pretended not to know

Some feared “making waves” Link to visceral support for

Israel – “Never again”

“Never forget” – Memorial museums, Yom HaShoah, Holocaust studiesOutreach – Jews more engaged with non-Jews; teach tolerance, history

US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC

Israel, Zionism - 1 Zionism: national(ist) movement of

Jewish people – Jews have right to live on own land, Israel, as promised biblically

Contrary to hostile propaganda, Zionism respects rights of all

Love of land of Israel traces to Bible & liturgy: Isaiah, Micah: “For out of Zion shall come law/teaching, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem”; many prayers for peace for people & land of Israel

Israel, Zionism - 2 Israel: haven for persecuted

Jews – refugees from Nazis, Arab countries, FSU, antisemitism anywhere

Israel: magnet for Jews attracted from religious yearnings, Zionist pride, economic opportunity, desire to live in democracy

Religious & cultural center; most diaspora Jews have family, friends in Israel

Regard Israel as “ours” as much as US or Canada

Social Action / Tikun Olam (Healing the World) Vatican II, Pope John Paul teach respect for

Jews & Judaism; not to be proselytized - mirrors ancient Jewish practice of not seeking converts – must make world good, not necessarily Jewish

Active in interfaith dialogues & promotion of mutual respect

Promotion of civil rights; charity; education; medicine for poor here & abroad; ecology – “The earth is the Lord’s” (Psalm 24)

An Issue of Controversy - Abortion

ha-adam b’adam 1: a man, by a man ha-adam b’adam 2: lit., “the person

in a person” – a fetus Symmetric wording of Hebrew:

Shofeich dam ha-adam b’adam damo y’shafeich – don’t take seriously as legislation; rather, as ironic social comment

Biblical source: In covenant with Noah & descendants, Genesis 9:6: “Whoso sheds the blood of ha-adam b’adam his blood shall be shed….”

Abortion - 2

Fetus doesn’t have legal status of born child, hence not of mother

If pregnancy threatens health of mother, may (sometimes, must) abort – Deuteronomy 30:19: “… choose life….”

Biblical source: Exodus 21:22: “And if men strive together and hurt a woman with child, so that her child depart, and yet no harm follow, he shall be surely fined ….”

Abortion - 3

Primary interpretation: tents of learning, homes of peace

Secondary interpretation: tents circled; entrances faced outward; nobody had direct view into neighbor’s home; praises respect for privacy

Biblical source: Numbers 24:5: “How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob; thy dwellings, O Israel!”

Abortion 4 – Jewish values

Abort for economic or social convenience – no

Abort to protect mother’s health (including mental) – yes

Consult rabbi with physician

Personal Society

Respect privacy, even though it may be abused

(Many disagree w. following:) Discourage abortions by education, not legal coercion (Exodus 12:15: “… that soul shall be cut off….” – some justice is divine)

2-way respect for religious differences