Ask the Rabbis, a forum that appears in each issue, provides a rare opportunity to read the opinions of rabbis from across the spectrum of Judaism. Its purpose is to illuminate the diversity within Jewish thinking and create a cross-denominational discussion that leads to deeper understanding.

What Does it Mean to be Jewish Today?

What Do Jews Bring to the World?

Independent

Independent Jews in America are now creating an identity, which is not so much based on Israel but on different modes of religious expression. The popularity of Jewish Renewal, JuBus (Jewish Buddhists) and the chavurah movements show the search and need for community in contemporary Jewry. Jews today are moving away from the large synagogues, perhaps due to the rigid infrastructure or high cost of synagogue membership. We have a booming interfaith Judaism now due to intermarriages, and this hybrid-Judaism of merging Judaism and other cultures is uniquely American. The Jewish contribution to the world is based on the interrelationship between the particular and the universal. Genesis is a universal creation narrative, while the Sinai revelation deals with the particular covenant between G-d and the people Israel. But the prophets call on this particular people to strive for universal justice and peace. In our global environment, a particularistic identity allows the individual to strive toward universalism without becoming lost in the process.

Rabbi Harold S. White, Senior Jewish Chaplain, Georgetown University, Washington, DC

Humanist

For secular, cultural Jews, who make up half the American Jewish community, being Jewish is about choice and personal discovery. It has nothing to do with being chosen. Or being obedient to divinely revealed commandments. Or being a full-time enterprise. It is a balancing act. We decide how much and how often, with whom and where, to be Jewish. We can offer the world the lesson of our journey from degradation to freedom, from oppression to liberation. As inheritors of the prophetic tradition, we will continue to be at the forefront of a call for justice, peace and equality. Although we cherish our roots, we neither retreat to some overly romanticized past nor escape to some idealized messianic future. Rather, we live in the moment!

Rabbi Peter H. Schweitzer, The City Congregation for Humanistic Judaism, New York City, NY

Renewal

Being Jewish means being ourselves. In Jewish Renewal that means being joyfully engaged with Shabbat and with prayer, meditation, chant, study, social justice and human rights. It means composing spectacular music; weaving stunning tallitot; designing traditionally drenched, yet original participatory ritual; raising the next generation of progressive, egalitarian, eco-kosher, open-hearted, welcoming souls; and training the next generation of knowledgeable, talented, out-of-the-box lay and ordained spiritual leaders. We offer what we are learning: how to maintain culture, knowledge, community, spiritual practice, ethical constructs, and working with others, to enact healing and repair. Having experienced both oppression and empowerment in the past century, Jews seem to be uniquely situated to apply complex and nuanced strategies to seemingly insoluble problems, making peace where none seems possible. Ken yehi ratzon. May it be so.

Student Rabbi Debra Kolodny, Executive Director ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal, Silver Spring, MD

Reconstructionist

We Jews, collectively, share a few things: being in conversation and relationship with each other; sustaining various facets of our rich Jewish civilization; a history of facing and overcoming oppression; possessing an unfolding body of work called “Torah” that means that we do and we learn. Many seek tikkun olam, enriching and repairing our world. Beyond that, Jewishness has so many disparate meanings that “we as Jews” means little. In putting our rich heritage and history to constructive use, we can build a positive basis for Jewish identity. And we ought to give back, since so many of us enjoy unprecedented comfort and privilege. I’m most proud of the following mandates to serve: We make good on being the People of the Book by educating others and striving for universal literacy. We are a true “Light to the Nations” when we lead in solar power. We are Israel/Yisrael (“God-Wrestler”) when we grapple with today’s weightiest issues and help solve them. We are Hebrew/Ivri (“crosser-over”) when we reach out to others, and love the stranger—for we know the heart of a stranger, having been there ourselves.

Rabbi Fred Scherlinder Dobb, Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation, Bethesda, MD

Reform

My core Jewish values are posted above my desk, so that I can remind myself of them each day. I created inscriptions on a drawing of my hand that read shalom (peace), tzedek (justice), kavod (respect), emet (truth) and ahava (love). Living according to these values through the works of my hands and the words of my mouth is my Jewish commitment to completing the work of creation. Today we have a different communal understanding of what it means to be Jewish. Previous generations measured Jewishness by activities: How often does one light Shabbat candles? How many Jewish organizations does one belong to? Today, to be Jewish is about understanding one’s place in the world. That process requires self-reflection, learning, experimentation and engaging in dialogue with fellow Jews. Through that process, you may identify your core Jewish values. Offer those values up to the world through the works of your hands and the words of your mouth.

Rabbi Laura Novak Winer, Union for Reform Judaism, Livermore, CA

Conservative

The Talmud asks, “What is greater, study or deeds?” Rabbi Akiva answered that study is greater because it leads to doing. His answer helps us understand what we, as Jews, offer the world. Since becoming a nation at Mount Sinai, we have maintained our identity as a separate, distinct people in part because Torah study has been central to Jewish life. Judaism is known for allowing a variety of understandings and demanding a respect for both majority and minority opinions. The Talmud carefully records disagreements among our sages. These sometimes contradictory approaches have allowed Judaism to change and adapt. Today there are a variety of serious approaches to Jewish life: some halachic, some not, some secular, some oriented to Israel and some to the diaspora. Ultimately, there is not one authentic Jewish way. There are many. We Jews show the world that it is possible to adapt to a variety of times and places while maintaining a consistent core. Our tradition, rooted in antiquity, responds to the present and prepares us to face the future. As Rabbi Akiva suggests, study leads to action. Over the centuries we have succeeded in fostering a commitment to taking care of other Jews as well as contributing to the general community.

Rabbi Amy Wallk Katz, Temple Beth El, Springfield, MA

Modern Orthodox

For almost four millennia, Judaism has taught that this world is not a random cosmos, but a world of order and unity, ruled by natural laws—because it is a creation. Its invisible, but omnipresent, creator (whom we call God) sustains it. The creator asks humans to join in a covenant (partnership) to work together to repair and perfect the world (tikkun olam). The people Israel and the Torah came into existence to fulfill three functions: 1) to teach this message to the whole world; 2) to lead in creating a model community that lives by these principles; and 3) to work alongside other groups, religions and nations to achieve tikkun olam. Because this goal cannot be accomplished in one lifetime, the covenant is between the generations. Each generation moves this world forward as far as it can and must educate and recruit the next generation to take up the task. To be a Jew today is to join in this covenant, knowing that you are working for the partnership that has had the greatest influence of all on human history—but whose mission is not finished.

Rabbi Yitz Greenberg, New York, NY

Sephardi

To be a Jew means the same today as it did when Abraham took leave of Mesopotamia nearly four thousand years ago. Being a Jew means proclaiming a message of monotheism, rationality, justice and compassion to the entire world, through speech and through deed. It means not merely preaching the truth but translating abstract and eternal principles into a concrete way of living life on a daily, monthly and yearly basis. It means recognizing that the battle against oppression, discrimination and corruption is a divine mandate in which we are all morally bound to participate while also realizing that we cannot effectively wage battle against the policies and actions of others until we have successfully exorcised the demons that lurk within our own souls and backyards. It means endowing the physical, the temporal and the mundane with supernal qualities of beauty, holiness and transcendence. Most of all, being a Jew means committing yourself to the mission of inspiring, educating and redeeming humanity, no matter how long, arduous or hopeless that process may sometimes appear.

Rabbi Joseph Maroof, Magen David Sephardic Congregation, Rockville, MD

Chabad

A Jew is here for one reason alone: To change the world. Abraham did not smash the idols in his father’s house; Moses did not rebel against inhumanity in Egypt simply to foster yet another obscure cult. And the Jew has succeeded. The modern mind paints its thoughts on a canvas of Jewish axioms: the sanctity of human life, universal education, monotheism, a sense of purpose, an ideal of world peace. Yet monotheistic faith and human reason remain pitted in battle. Both have responsibility for the greatest casualties of history. Faith without reason has proven a vicious affront to our humanity, while reason without faith leaves humankind without a common ground; indeed, without any ground at all. The Jew wrestles with the G-d in whom he believes—and finds in that no contradiction. As such, he holds the glue that can bind together today’s fractured world: The knowledge that a man of faith must reason while a man of reason must have faith.

Rabbi Tzvi Freeman, chabad.org, Thornhill, Ontario