What makes a society, and a country, Jewish? As the seventieth anniversary of the state of Israel approaches, people are asking this question again and again.
Ask an Israeli what makes the state Jewish and you’ll get numerous answers: “a majority of Jews living within boundaries”; “living in a society in tune with the Jewish calendar”; “that people get angry when I eat treyf (non-kosher foods)”; and “people living according to (Orthodox) Judaism—and those that reject it.” The diversity of answers reflects the diversity of Judaism. Judaism can be a religion, a society, an ethnicity, and even a civilization. How one relates to Judaism influences both one’s definition and the role of Judaism in one’s life. In many ways, what makes Israeli society beautiful, amazingly complex, and difficult is the navigation of Judaism and Jewish identity in the private and public spheres.
As an American, what is most interesting about Judaism in Israel is how the Jewishness of society affects secular Jews. Secular Judaism is not necessarily the opposite of Orthodox or Ultra-Orthodox Judaism. The two approaches to Judaism have influenced each other since the Haskalah, the Jewish Enlightenment that occurred from around 1770 to 1880. Referred to as hilonim (הילונים), these “secular” Jews are often more “Jewish” than their North American counterparts. Fluent in Hebrew by virtue of being Israeli, they grow up in a society attuned to the Jewish calendar. Breaks fall around Jewish holidays such as Passover, Sukkot, Rosh Hashanah, and Yom Kippur. Food is defined by whether it is, or isn’t, kosher.
The result is different than the North American counterpart. In America, we talk about “continuity,” the decline of synagogue affiliation, and assimilation. This is due, in part, to America being a secular, Christian country. For though the freedom of religion is enshrined in the First Amendment, the country runs on a Christian calendar. Schools schedule “spring break” around Easter and “winter break” around Christmas. Even consumerism is attuned to the Christian calendar, advertising “Easter sales” and turning Christmas into a two-plus-months-long retail frenzy.
American religious minorities—whether Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, or atheists—can never tune out to the rhythm of secular Christian life. Most religious minorities gain a basic knowledge of Christianity through the majority culture. For some, gaining religious literacy and knowledge of one’s own minority tradition can become an active rather than a passive act. These communities have to seek out opportunities for education rather than having them readily available. For Jews in particular, this has resulted in a robust American-Jewish infrastructure built upon federations, Jewish community centers, synagogues, and youth groups. Opportunities had to be created, in part, because Jews were largely discriminated from fully participating in American society until well after World War II. In addition, people wanted to socialize their families with others like them.
For secular Israelis, being Jewish can come second to being Israeli. Their Judaism is not that of Jewish schools (yeshivot) and adherence to Jewish law (halakha). It’s a Judaism based upon secular, Zionist ideals that define “Israelism.” Yet it has evolved in the past 70 years to become more than that. What continues to make it unique, however, is being Jewish in a Jewish society. It results in living a secular life within society’s Jewish framework.