Howard Lovy

Tag: Cultural Judaism

  • My Notes From the Birth of Birthright Israel

    My Notes From the Birth of Birthright Israel

    Birthright Israel
    I took these pictures 20 years ago at one of the first Birthright Israel trips. Young Jews were encouraged to meet one another and see what happened next.

    When I was managing editor at JTA (1999-2001) I covered the birth of Birthright Israel and other issues involving younger Jews searching for connection to Judaism. Strangely, at the time, there was a fear that an end to anti-Semitism would further erode the tenuous connection young people had to Judaism.

    Folks like Birthright Israel founders Michael Steinhardt and Charles Bronfman, leaders at Hillel, and others were actually bemoaning the fact that young Jews were not having to deal with anti-Semitism, as their parents did, so they’d have to bring young Jews together in other ways.

    Much of the Birthright story I wrote was left on the cutting-room floor, so here are some more details from my notes. Today, I find them especially interesting. I’ve placed some text in bold now for emphasis.

    Michael Steinhardt
    Michael Steinhardt at Birthright Israel in 2000.

    Tears welled up in Michael Steinhardt’s eyes as he was given a raucous rock-star greeting Saturday night by roughly 4,000 grateful young Jews who packed the Binyanei Ha’umah convention center in Jerusalem. He and fellow Jewish philanthropist Charles Bronfman were joined by Israeli Knesset Speaker Avraham Burg and other Israeli officials in welcoming participants of Birthright Israel, many of whom had already spent a week in the Jewish State as part of a program to provide Jews between 18 and 26 with free trips to Israel.

    Steinhardt told the young Jews that the price of Jewish success and a retreat of anti-Semitism has been a weakening of Jewish ties. He called on the Birthright participants, most of whom are unafilliated, to rise to the task of “renewing Judaism.”

    Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who was in the United States talking peace with Syria, sent a videotaped message in which he promised full participation of young Israelis in the Birthright program to enhance the bonds between them and their Diaspora peers. Burg told the group that they are “the first generation that can ask the question, ‘Can the Jewish people survive without an external enemy?’ ” The Knesset speaker looked at the young faces and said that seeing Israeli and Diaspora Jews together makes the Jewish people “complete.”

    In my coverage that Birthright Israel trip, that “cultural Judaism” mantra was treated as an epithet, including this quote from Richard Joel, who at the time was president and international director of Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life.
    If you push the students who say they are culturally Jewish, and ask them to tell you what it is, ask them to tell you about their story, you don’t hear a lot of culture, you hear a lot of vagueness.
    Maybe so, but later, when I covered a meeting of synagogue leaders at a conference in Chicago, Steinhardt stopped the show, and caused a lot of grumblings in the sidelines. He asserted that all non-Orthodox Jewish denominations will disappear. This quote did not make it into my story, but here’s what he said.

    I tend, in my dourest moments, to consider both the Reform and Conservative Jews as historic accidents in the 21st century and suspect before the end of this century they will have disappeared.

    The hotel ballroom was filled with men and women who have dedicated their lives to using their voices. Yet at that moment, not a sound was heard. The grumbling during the next 24 hours was quiet and largely “off the record,” and worrisome. “Ignorant,” is the word one rabbi used to describe the philanthropists.

    As I talk to Jewish thinkers, they tell me that even Tikkun Olam is bad for the Jews, or that “cultural Judaism” still means death to Jews. Most of them say that this notion of Judaism without God or synagogue is not sustainable. I’ve been told this by rabbis of all denominations for thirty-five years. Yet cultural Judaism endures.

    Today, as I interview people whose connection to Judaism is strengthened through the rise in anti-Semitism, I argue that, while we’re all together feeling united as Jews as anti-Semites from all political points of view close in on us, let’s also revive the discussion of what it means to be a Jew. When faced, again, with existential crises, now is the time to talk about what being Jewish is and what it means. In fact, it’s the perfect time, because people who never thought about their Judaism before are now constantly reminded of it by anti-Semites.

    I quit Jewish journalism in 2001 after the failure of Oslo and the outbreak of the 2nd intifada. I rejoined in 2016 with the rise in anti-Semitism. But I don’t want anti-Semitism to define the way I write about Judaism. I want to get back to the Judaism of meaning I began to explore 20 years ago.
  • In Search of the American Jewish Future

    In Search of the American Jewish Future

    Jack WertheimerIn an article for Publishers Weekly, I asked Jack Wertheimer, author of The New American Judaism: How Jews Practice Their Religion Today, whether the current rise in anti-Semitism is leading to increased Jewish religious involvement. His answer did not make the final edit in my piece, but here’s what he said about how anti-Semitism impacts the American Jewish future.

    “Synagogues have served as gathering places at times of stress and Jews who otherwise might not attend on a Friday night or a Sabbath morning do attend when there’s some major crisis. Does that translate into ongoing Jewish religious involvement? I haven’t seen evidence of that.”

    He may be right, but Wertheimer was measuring specifically Jewish religious involvement and not this feeling of cultural solidarity that the rise in anti-Semitism has created between Jews. Most religious Jews dismiss “cultural Judaism” as not sustainable. I am not so certain.

    My complicated relationship with Judaism is handled in my memoir-in-progress, but I’m searching for how others connect. And I’ve interviewed many Jewish thinkers over the years, and most of them say that this notion of Judaism without God or synagogue is not sustainable. I’ve been told this by rabbis of all denominations for 35 years. Yet cultural Judaism endures.

    As for synagogue-based Judaism, Wertheimer seems more positive, since Jews previously on the fringes have been forcing synagogues to change and adapt for them. I know I’m a little out of date, but I remember how attending B’nai Jeshurun on New York’s Upper West Side was almost akin to going to a Broadway show. I’ll have more to say about “BJ” later, since it appears in my memoir, but here’s a link to my full feature on Jack Wertheimer.

    The American Jewish Future May Be Found in the Margins

    Pinning down how Jews in the United States practice their religion can be tricky, since there are so many ways they define themselves. So, is there a way to corral the disparate pieces into a full picture of American Jews? Professor of American Jewish History at the Jewish Theological Seminary Jack Wertheimer says there is, and it’s precisely this diversity and constant state of innovation that gives him some hope in a future for U.S. Jewry. More here.

    Longer Version of Wertheimer Feature

    Or, you can read the unedited, 1,140-word version at this link from my old Patreon page, which goes a bit more into Wertheimer’s thoughts on whether the current rise in anti-Semitism is bringing American Jews back into synagogues. He also talks about Tikkun Olam as a phenomenon among progressive Jews and whether that translates into Jewish religious commitment. You might be surprised by his answers. More here.