My first year at college has been one of many changes, and one of the biggest ones I’ve faced is realizing and coming to terms with the fact that I’m a member of a religious minority. Before college, I lived in jewish neighborhoods and went to an (unofficially) jewish sleep-away camp, so I was always surrounded by others with whom I shared the Jewish faith. And while the college I now attend does have a vibrant Jewish community, going from majority to less-than-a-quarter Jewish still represents a significant change for me. And it has profoundly altered my relationship with Judaism. At the beginning of second semester, I bought myself a Star of David necklace and put a mezuzah on my door. And I’ve given more thought to how I view Judaism, both in the wider world and as a part of my own identity.
Throughout history, from ancient Egypt to the Roman Empire, in fifteenth-century Spain and twentieth-century Germany, the Jewish people has always faced external threats to their existence and beliefs. However, the religion has always persevered. Today, these threats still exist, as is exemplified by the recent attack on the JCC in Kansas and Israel’s continued struggle for existence and peace in the Middle East. But I believe the biggest threat to Judaism today is something completely different, and does not come from those who wish to harm us. Rather, it is apathy. Today, the number of mainstream Jews in America who identify with Judaism as a religion (defining mainstream as anything other than ultra-orthodox) is declining. Even in my own family, my grandparents’ generation mostly married jewish raised my parents’ generation with hebrew school and Bar Mitzvahs. On the other hand, in my parents’ generation, intermarriages are the norm and most of my cousins are not on track to celebrate their bar or bat mitzvahs anytime soon. I usually consider myself progressive when it comes to my views on religion and marriage, and I believe that people should believe whatever they want to so long as it doesn’t hinder the ability of others to do the same. But being raised and immersed in the Jewish faith has profoundly affected who I am as a person, shaping my values and exposing me to the beauty and spirituality that religion can offer the world. Although I do have my doubts about many of the stories in the Torah, and I have had my doubts about the existence of a higher power, I still consider myself a reform jew as my set of values (education, repairing the world, social justice) lines up almost perfectly with the religion’s. It has also come to make me realize that I truly want reform judaism to grow and continue on. In the future, I would like to marry and have kids, and when I do I want them to also be immersed in Reform Judaism, the same way that I was.
This brings me to my second topic of today’s post, which is that today is Yom HaShoah. Personally, I have never felt like I would be in danger just for practicing my religion. I am very much aware of how lucky I am because of this. Israel, as the one majority-jewish country in the world, is constantly under attack both in the papers and in the streets, and while there is no doubt that anti-semitism is far from the only motivation for these attacks, it is a contributing factor. Even in the United States, which is considerably more friendly to Judaism than most of the rest of the world, incidents of anti-semitism are commonplace, whether at a JCC in Kansas or even in New York State. And the Holocaust, although clearly in the past, really wasn’t all that long ago. Auschwitz was liberated 69 years ago today. Most people my age have grandparents who were alive at the same time as these atrocities were happening! Last night, I attended a concert in which works by or inspired by composers who perished in the holocaust was featured. Poetry by children who were victims of the holocaust was interspersed with the music. The concert really opened my eyes to the scale of the destruction that the Holocaust was, and how it didn’t just wipe out over a millennium of jewish culture in Europe, but how it took so much potential from the world. Many composers who were already starting to make a name for themselves were taken from us, as were mathematicians, scientists, poets, writers, musicians, businessmen, and others who could have added so much to the world. And the one million jewish children who were exterminated also had so much potential that was destroyed before their lives even truly began. It is incredibly difficult for me (or anyone for that matter) to truly understand the scale of the destruction that took place in the holocaust, but I believe one of the most important aspects of Judaism is never forgetting that it did take place, and knowing that it could (although praying to god that it won’t ever) happen again to any people, anywhere.
George AF - The Blog 