Jewish in North America Today

1. Jewish in North America Today Dr. Laurence Boxer for REL 306, March, 2002

2. Aspects and Issues • Religion • Charities • AntiJudaism, antisemitism • Holocaust • Israel, Zionism • SATO - Social Action / Tikun Olam (healing the world) • An Issue of Controversy

3. 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 members • Conservative ~ 35% - 45% of synagogue members • Reform (least traditional) ~ 35% - 45% of synagogue members • Small movements: Reconstructionist, Jewish Humanist • Unaffiliated – a considerable fraction

4. Charities Tzedakah: charity = righteousness • 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

5. 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.

6. 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)

7. 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.)

8. Anti 4 – early Christian 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.” • 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. Anti 8 - elsewhere • FSU – Orthodox Church, rightist anti-communists, left • Latin America – Nazi havens Antisemitism “without Jews” • Poland, German neo-Nazis • Japan

13. 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” US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC • “Never forget” – Memorial museums, Yom HaShoah, Holocaust studies • Outreach – Jews more engaged with non-Jews; teach tolerance, history

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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)

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

18. Abortion - 2 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 ….” • 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….”

19. Abortion - 3 Biblical source: Numbers 24:5: “How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob; thy dwellings, O Israel!” • 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

20. Abortion 4 – Jewish values PersonalSociety • 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 • Abort for economic or social convenience – no • Abort to protect mother’s health (including mental) – yes • Consult rabbi with physician