A point that I made was that Jewish life and identity in America is more focused on the religious aspect of the religion rather than the culture, while Israeli Jewish identity is largely secular. In the paper, I cited a document that stated that the American is essentially a hyphenated character; i.e. a Jewish-American or an African-American, and there is no such thing as a pure American.
I found the identity of the Israeli Jews to be most interesting. I have interacted with many Israelis in my life, and I am happy to have many Israeli friends. Over the years, I have had many conversations with Israelis about their Jewish identity. When I went to Israel in the Summer of 2005, I was shocked to find that a great number of people identify as secular Jews. Many Israelis have explained this trend by claiming that living in Israel makes their lives Jewish by default, and they do not have to work so hard with the religious aspect to maintain a Jewish identity. While in America, people hold religion very close to Jewish identity- and identify with a specific denomination or movement.
Another interesting point that I came across in my research for my paper is the idea that Jews have a constant feeling of minority status engraved into their cultural memory and identity, regardless of their status in the country. By numbers, Jews may be a minority. However, with regards to impact on life in the Diaspora (especially North America), the Jews are most certainly not a minority.
Just something to ponder...
1 comment:
i think your opinion on the cultural aspect of judaism being greater in israel than america is quite interesting, and that american-jews (there's the hyphen!) are more focused on the religious aspect. this strikes me as interesting because a lot of the people i know who have made aliyah have done so because of how much easier leading a religious life would be in israel versus in the diaspora.
as i have suggested in class, in my experience in israel you either choose to lead a religious life or a secular life, but there isn't so much wiggle room in between. this can cause a lot of turmoil among those jews who are trying to figure out their religious jewish identity and israel might not be the best place for them.
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