Thursday, June 22, 2006

OY, the future of the Jewish people?

Never before have I read a more absurd article than what I just read. I've created a filter on my Google News so I have a section that is purely "Jewish News." It's religious, secular, historical in nature and usually it's someone complaining about Israel. Today, however, there was a column about how we must offer a secular conversion in Judaism. You've got to be kidding me.

Secular conversion? When I think of secular conversion, I think of those who adapt certain aspects of a people and live their life in that manner and are happy as clams with it, meanwhile being shunned by the people of which they took mannerisms from. While I'm not about to claim that Jews are made up of more than a religion and a nation and are a full-fledged race, there's arguments there that are legitimate in some ways. But secular conversion? It's like trying to convert to ... gosh, I don't know ... be Chinese, but refuse to become a Buddhist (a SLIGHT generalization there, though). You can't suddenly decide one day that you really like Chinese history and the language and everything and then just be like 'BAM! I'm Chinese!' It beckons the many times that white people often have confused themselves with black people and live a life of African tradition and lifestyle. It just doesn't work that way, or does it?

Am I being simpleminded? Should there be no limitations? Is secular conversion to Judaism completely logical? I guess I'm not the one to be the end-alls judge here, but it just seems idiotic. I understand that there is more to being Jewish than just the religion, but I also understand that the Jewish people are the Jewish people because of a rich religious identity. The woes of rabbis and Jewish leaders is that nowadays Jews are more secular than ever, but show me a Jew who doesn't have an every-so-often desire for the smell of shabbat candles or the sound of the shofar. Even the most secular Jews pull the "twice-a-year" shtick for High Holidays and Passover.

If you convert to Judaism via a purely secular route, what does that mean? You read a lot of books by Jews? You really dig the fall of the Second Temple? You're fond of those cool little beanies that Jews wear? You really, really love Jewish cuisine? What does it mean? How do you define someone who is "converted" via a secular route?

It just DOESN'T make sense. But enlightened am I, as I start to read an article in Commentary Magazine that highlights the following fact: "For the most part, Jews have always understood that the two sides of this dual identity—the religious and the ethnic/national—are inextricably intertwined. As between the two, indeed, there are striking examples of a precedence being given to the dimension of peoplehood."

But more on that article later.