Thank you so much for this Rabbi Esther. You've touched on so many of the things I have felt but not quite known how to express. Also watching from the UK.
Only a Rabbi could explain what a Jew is without mentioning Abraham and his covenant with God, Mt. Sinai, and the Torah with the commandments. As a Jew and former Jewish Educator, I am scratching my head. We have a beautiful story. Why are you not telling it? The story is defines our identity. There are commandments to that assertion.
I don't think that clarified much. All you said is that there is no real definition for Jewishness except what an individual imagines, and that can vary so much that no two Jews are necessarily going to agree about it. Besides which, you clearly are not being historically honest when you say that Jewishness has never been exclusionary, and I don't need to look far to find any contradictory evidence. And God got very little mention, except as the "Holy One Of Blessing," which is whoever anyone invokes in a ritual of their own device. A 'collective' was probably the most acccurate definition you offered.
Thank you for taking the time to watch. To be clear (and you can easily find this information on my channel, including the description): I am a non-Orthodox rabbi. Hence, I am quite comfortable using not just religious but also scientific and critical-historical methods for understanding Judaism. If you think I didn’t clarify much, it is because that is exactly the point: Jewish identity and status aren’t clear-cut. They can be clear-cut within the realm of certain sub-communities of Judaism (ie. the Orthodox world, the Reform world etc), but as a sociological and historical phenomenon, Jewish identity has shifted over the millennia. If you read the p’shat of Torah, you will find that Jewish status was transmitted patrilineally. In rabbinic Judaism, this became matrilineal. In contemporary Jewish civilization, there are Jews who do not adhere to Halakhic or religious criteria for self-definition. Or different religious denominations interpret the sources for determining religious status in different ways. If you’re expecting an Orthodox or fundamentalist answer to the question of Jewish status: you’re not going to get it here. I will say that according to most forms of Orthodoxy, the rabbinic matrilineal principle is adhered to, or conversion through an all-male Orthodox Beit Din. But that is only the standard of one sector of the Jewish world. I am also not saying that ‘imagination’ suffices. I hold two truths at once: that our inner sense of self and identity is inviolable AND that each community has the right to arbitrate how status is recognized. As a congregational rabbi, I set clear standards for the recognition of Jewish status and we adhere to them according to my community’s norms. But often, a sensitive conversation about ‘who is a Jew’ is missing in our communities and it frequently devolves towards boundary policing. As for your claim that I am not being historically accurate and that Judaism has been ‘exclusionary’, I invite you to bring the receipts. All Jewish communities - except for one that I know of, which is the Syrian Jewish community under the authority of a unique takkanah (ruling) - accept converts. Some do so readily; others grudgingly. But Judaism is not a ‘closed shop’ and therefore not exclusionary. Even historically, at the pain of death, people still converted to Judaism. A Beit Din may apply discouragement and/or rigor for the aforementioned historical reasons but that doesn’t mean we are ‘exclusionary.’ As for the mention of God: you may have noticed that this is a three part series. I also recorded an introductory episode. This first part dealt with identity and status alone. The next one will deal with belonging and community. The last one will deal with covenant - and that is where I will talk extensively about God. Stay tuned! ✌️
@@asmallsanctuary Thanks rabbi. I will stay tuned because I have a number of Jewish people who are dear to me and I'd like to see how you treat these questions to get a sense of what some of the broad currents in Jewish life are. One subject of particular interest is how a Jew who comes to believe Jesus is the Messiah, but still has an ethnic identity as a Jew, might be regarded in a more open-minded congregation like yours, since Jewish identity seems constructed around the exclusion of that possibility being valid. You said that nothing should take away one's joy in being a Jew, and this seems like a good test case for that proposition.
I knew it would only be a matter of time before someone would bring up Messianic Judaism or ‘Jewish believers in Jesus.’ It is a complicated and difficult point in our global Jewish community and I want to say this with as much respect and compassion as I can: Not a single Jewish denomination, from Humanistic Judaism to Hareidi Ultra-Orthodoxy, considers a Jewish believer in Jesus a Jew in the religious sense. A Messianic Jew would not be welcome to affiliate with my synagogue although would be welcome, like any other human being, to worship with us. And I do want to add to this. This is not because we want to be exclusionary but because belief in Jesus violates the core tenets of Judaism. Even secular Jews who cannot affirm a personal belief in God will affirm that the God-idea in Judaism is of a singular, undivided unity and that our Messiah (or Messianic era) has not yet come. Of course, ‘ethnic’ Jews who match denominational criteria for being Jewish who believe in Jesus are welcome to return to normative understanding of Judaism (so for Reform, that means by Reform standards, for Orthodox according to Orthodox standards at ) but part of that return to Jewish belonging means giving up Jesus. Jesus and Judaism are fundamentally irreconcilable. Having said that: this does not mean we should be unkind or disrespectful to Messianic Jews or Jewish believers in Jesus nor am I going to arbitrate the sincerity of their beliefs or self-identification. There is a lot of reactivity around this issue for very understandable historical reasons, but I would actually like to make a counter proposal and extend a warm invitation. I invite Jewish believers in Jesus to truly explore the rich spirituality, deep connection to a loving God and the beautiful journey of a Torah life - authentically and without Jesus. To embrace the covenant and our holy Torah on authentic grounds is to enter into a deeply joyful and meaningful life. I love being Jewish so very much and I love God and Torah so very much. Instead of being reactive, I’d say: feel welcome to learn with us and explore why we reject Jesus and what we affirm instead: our eternal covenant with a compassionate Creator who yearns for the redemption of all humankind . Stay tuned ✌️ for my covenant video and thank you for asking the hard questions. Shalom uv’rachah, with peace and blessings.
@@asmallsanctuary Thanks rabbi. I didn't mean Messianic Jews, I meant when a Jew becomes an Orthodox Christian, for example. Do they get bagel privileges revoked or something? Of course such a convert isn't going to worship in a synagogue, but what about all the ethnic-sociological identity stuff? Do they get to consider themselves to be a Jew, according to your criteria?
@@asmallsanctuary Let me tell you what I learned about Jewish "boundary policing," My older half-brother has a Jewish father. His father's family are of an ethnically Romanian Jewish background, completely Jewish but not of a particularly religious type. They live in NYC and my brother's father, who was the son of an eccentric and gifted silversmith and mathematician, married my mother (a "shiksa" was what his mother referred to her openly as) out of going to Cooper Union together and getting her pregnant. So they got no support from his family, particularly his mother, and as my mother was a difficult woman to begin with, their marriage was troubled. After a while D. (my brother's father) began to have some depression. His family sent him to Belvue hospital, where under the guidance of an eminent Jewish psychiatrist, he was subjected to electroshock torture, until finally he "realized" that he just wanted a divorce. They parted on more or less amiable terms, and became estranged. Now this was in the early 1960's. My brother remained attached to his Jewish cousins, and his aunt was in my mother's life for many years after, and I called her my aunt too. At some point D. renounced his atheistic skepticism, and became enculted in a Hasidic sect, I think the Chabad Lubavich. This was probably a result of their aggressive proselytizing to ethnic Jews coupled with his need for mental coherence and regimentation. At some point in the 1990's, my brother was invited to the wedding of one of his cousins, and while he was attending the event his father approached him and made a big public show of disowning him and ritualistically proclaiming him dead, for the sole reason that his ethnic impurity put him outside of the bounds of those whom a Hasidic Jew can associate. So there you have it, my brother's father killed him symbolically over his mixed race. Makes me think twice about Judaism.
I appreciate this discussion so much. Thank you .
You are so welcome. I am glad it was helpful.
Thank you so much for this Rabbi Esther. You've touched on so many of the things I have felt but not quite known how to express. Also watching from the UK.
I am so glad. We need to find sensitive ways to talk about these issues in the Jewish world. Take good care!
Shalom Rabbi Esther. Love this video. Watching in the UK.❤
Shout out to my UK fans! 😃 I am glad you like it and I hope it’s helpful on your journey, Tudor. Expect more useful content soon! ✡️
Only a Rabbi could explain what a Jew is without mentioning Abraham and his covenant with God, Mt. Sinai, and the Torah with the commandments. As a Jew and former Jewish Educator, I am scratching my head. We have a beautiful story. Why are you not telling it? The story is defines our identity. There are commandments to that assertion.
Don’t be impatient: all that stuff will be dealt with in the third installment: covenant.
I don't think that clarified much. All you said is that there is no real definition for Jewishness except what an individual imagines, and that can vary so much that no two Jews are necessarily going to agree about it. Besides which, you clearly are not being historically honest when you say that Jewishness has never been exclusionary, and I don't need to look far to find any contradictory evidence. And God got very little mention, except as the "Holy One Of Blessing," which is whoever anyone invokes in a ritual of their own device. A 'collective' was probably the most acccurate definition you offered.
Thank you for taking the time to watch.
To be clear (and you can easily find this information on my channel, including the description): I am a non-Orthodox rabbi. Hence, I am quite comfortable using not just religious but also scientific and critical-historical methods for understanding Judaism. If you think I didn’t clarify much, it is because that is exactly the point: Jewish identity and status aren’t clear-cut. They can be clear-cut within the realm of certain sub-communities of Judaism (ie. the Orthodox world, the Reform world etc), but as a sociological and historical phenomenon, Jewish identity has shifted over the millennia. If you read the p’shat of Torah, you will find that Jewish status was transmitted patrilineally. In rabbinic Judaism, this became matrilineal. In contemporary Jewish civilization, there are Jews who do not adhere to Halakhic or religious criteria for self-definition. Or different religious denominations interpret the sources for determining religious status in different ways.
If you’re expecting an Orthodox or fundamentalist answer to the question of Jewish status: you’re not going to get it here. I will say that according to most forms of Orthodoxy, the rabbinic matrilineal principle is adhered to, or conversion through an all-male Orthodox Beit Din. But that is only the standard of one sector of the Jewish world.
I am also not saying that ‘imagination’ suffices. I hold two truths at once: that our inner sense of self and identity is inviolable AND that each community has the right to arbitrate how status is recognized. As a congregational rabbi, I set clear standards for the recognition of Jewish status and we adhere to them according to my community’s norms. But often, a sensitive conversation about ‘who is a Jew’ is missing in our communities and it frequently devolves towards boundary policing.
As for your claim that I am not being historically accurate and that Judaism has been ‘exclusionary’, I invite you to bring the receipts. All Jewish communities - except for one that I know of, which is the Syrian Jewish community under the authority of a unique takkanah (ruling) - accept converts. Some do so readily; others grudgingly. But Judaism is not a ‘closed shop’ and therefore not exclusionary. Even historically, at the pain of death, people still converted to Judaism. A Beit Din may apply discouragement and/or rigor for the aforementioned historical reasons but that doesn’t mean we are ‘exclusionary.’
As for the mention of God: you may have noticed that this is a three part series. I also recorded an introductory episode. This first part dealt with identity and status alone. The next one will deal with belonging and community. The last one will deal with covenant - and that is where I will talk extensively about God.
Stay tuned! ✌️
@@asmallsanctuary Thanks rabbi. I will stay tuned because I have a number of Jewish people who are dear to me and I'd like to see how you treat these questions to get a sense of what some of the broad currents in Jewish life are. One subject of particular interest is how a Jew who comes to believe Jesus is the Messiah, but still has an ethnic identity as a Jew, might be regarded in a more open-minded congregation like yours, since Jewish identity seems constructed around the exclusion of that possibility being valid. You said that nothing should take away one's joy in being a Jew, and this seems like a good test case for that proposition.
I knew it would only be a matter of time before someone would bring up Messianic Judaism or ‘Jewish believers in Jesus.’ It is a complicated and difficult point in our global Jewish community and I want to say this with as much respect and compassion as I can:
Not a single Jewish denomination, from Humanistic Judaism to Hareidi Ultra-Orthodoxy, considers a Jewish believer in Jesus a Jew in the religious sense. A Messianic Jew would not be welcome to affiliate with my synagogue although would be welcome, like any other human being, to worship with us.
And I do want to add to this. This is not because we want to be exclusionary but because belief in Jesus violates the core tenets of Judaism. Even secular Jews who cannot affirm a personal belief in God will affirm that the God-idea in Judaism is of a singular, undivided unity and that our Messiah (or Messianic era) has not yet come.
Of course, ‘ethnic’ Jews who match denominational criteria for being Jewish who believe in Jesus are welcome to return to normative understanding of Judaism (so for Reform, that means by Reform standards, for Orthodox according to Orthodox standards at ) but part of that return to Jewish belonging means giving up Jesus. Jesus and Judaism are fundamentally irreconcilable.
Having said that: this does not mean we should be unkind or disrespectful to Messianic Jews or Jewish believers in Jesus nor am I going to arbitrate the sincerity of their beliefs or self-identification. There is a lot of reactivity around this issue for very understandable historical reasons, but I would actually like to make a counter proposal and extend a warm invitation.
I invite Jewish believers in Jesus to truly explore the rich spirituality, deep connection to a loving God and the beautiful journey of a Torah life - authentically and without Jesus. To embrace the covenant and our holy Torah on authentic grounds is to enter into a deeply joyful and meaningful life. I love being Jewish so very much and I love God and Torah so very much. Instead of being reactive, I’d say: feel welcome to learn with us and explore why we reject Jesus and what we affirm instead: our eternal covenant with a compassionate Creator who yearns for the redemption of all humankind .
Stay tuned ✌️ for my covenant video and thank you for asking the hard questions.
Shalom uv’rachah, with peace and blessings.
@@asmallsanctuary Thanks rabbi. I didn't mean Messianic Jews, I meant when a Jew becomes an Orthodox Christian, for example. Do they get bagel privileges revoked or something? Of course such a convert isn't going to worship in a synagogue, but what about all the ethnic-sociological identity stuff? Do they get to consider themselves to be a Jew, according to your criteria?
@@asmallsanctuary Let me tell you what I learned about Jewish "boundary policing," My older half-brother has a Jewish father. His father's family are of an ethnically Romanian Jewish background, completely Jewish but not of a particularly religious type. They live in NYC and my brother's father, who was the son of an eccentric and gifted silversmith and mathematician, married my mother (a "shiksa" was what his mother referred to her openly as) out of going to Cooper Union together and getting her pregnant. So they got no support from his family, particularly his mother, and as my mother was a difficult woman to begin with, their marriage was troubled. After a while D. (my brother's father) began to have some depression. His family sent him to Belvue hospital, where under the guidance of an eminent Jewish psychiatrist, he was subjected to electroshock torture, until finally he "realized" that he just wanted a divorce. They parted on more or less amiable terms, and became estranged. Now this was in the early 1960's. My brother remained attached to his Jewish cousins, and his aunt was in my mother's life for many years after, and I called her my aunt too. At some point D. renounced his atheistic skepticism, and became enculted in a Hasidic sect, I think the Chabad Lubavich. This was probably a result of their aggressive proselytizing to ethnic Jews coupled with his need for mental coherence and regimentation. At some point in the 1990's, my brother was invited to the wedding of one of his cousins, and while he was attending the event his father approached him and made a big public show of disowning him and ritualistically proclaiming him dead, for the sole reason that his ethnic impurity put him outside of the bounds of those whom a Hasidic Jew can associate. So there you have it, my brother's father killed him symbolically over his mixed race. Makes me think twice about Judaism.
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