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From: lionel@garfield.UUCP (Lionel H. Moser)
Newsgroups: net.religion.jewish
Subject: Re: % of "Non-Religious" Jews and Brass Tacks
Message-ID: <3434@garfield.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 17-Aug-85 19:28:49 EDT
Article-I.D.: garfield.3434
Posted: Sat Aug 17 19:28:49 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 18-Aug-85 21:43:23 EDT
References: <549@bu-cs.UUCP>
Organization: Memorial U. of Nfld. C.S. Dept., St. John's
Lines: 100

In <549@bu-cs.UUCP> Shelli Meyers  writes:

> .... I am in no position to tell you what that's supposed
> to mean...whether it's supposed to be by virtue of birth or whether
> it means you're forbidden or supposed to adhere, etc.  I don't know
> where you pulled that stuff from.  It's just that I've really never
> met a non-religious Jew who still feels it important to BE a Jew.
> Shelli Meyers
> sam@bu-cs.UUCP

   I don't know whether I feel it is *important* to BE a Jew. There are,
however, reasons to feel Jewish without religious belief being one of
them, and it makes sense to try to be a good Jew as far as behaving
ethically is concerned. 
   I misread your question and wrote down how I can feel Jewish without
being religious. Thus I don't answer your point about how a
non-religious Jew can think it is important to BE a Jew. I feel Jewish,
and it is important that I BE ME, namely, a non-religious Jew.
[The list which follows is actually a response to a question which has
occasionally been posed to me: how can I call myself an atheist Jew?)

Non-religious belief reasons for identifying one's self as Jewish:

(1) Not wishing to be Christian
 a) Catholicism is really unappealing;
 b) Christianity has been the cause of much murder, war, etc., over
    the last couple of thousand years.
   note: I have found that if my friends and colleagues do not know
     that I am Jewish, then they assume that I am Christian and
     all that that entails (Christmas celebrations, certain
     ethics, ...). None of this supposes any religious belief. In
     fact, not celebrating any Christian holidays makes me feel
     different from those around me, which is okay, since I am.

(2) Being born Jewish. It doesn't make one feel Jewish, but it helps.
Add to this category having had some Jewish environment in the home.
For example, Passover is a traditional occasion for the extended family
to get together. It is also the one religious service I can enjoy for
its own sake. I wouldn't get off on thanking the lord for killing
the first-born children of Egyptians, but celebrating Freedom is not
such a bad idea.

(3) Exposure to and/or knowledge of antisemitism. There is nothing
like good old prejudice to make one aware of one's place in the
scheme of things. Like going to the toilet at the University of
Manitoba and seeing KILL THE JEWS scratched on the stall wall.
Or knowing that McGill University, University of Manitoba, and
presumably many others had quotas on Jews in professional schools
after the Second World War. (At this school there more swastikas than
Jews, but few of either.)
   Realising that no matter how one feels about being Jewish, Nazis
consider only (2) when deciding your fate. A good portion of the
Russian Jews who arrive in Canada have little interest in living a
Jewish life. Many have not practiced Judaism for more than a generation
and did not emigrate in order to be able to more easily practice their
religion. They left because (a) life is better outside of the Soviet
Union, and (b) they were discriminated against in the Soviet Union
for *being* Jewish, not for practicing Judaism.

(4) Having grown up in a Jewish ghetto, feeling a kinship with Jewish
people. It's like Vonnegut's extended family theory. I move to a new
province, and the Jewish community welcomes me like a member of some
tribe.

(5) Having had some Jewish parochial training, ie., Hebrew or Yiddish
language instruction. Perhaps also Torah studies, etc. Note that
none of this implies belief. Think of it as "comparative religious
studies." You don't have to study Christianity to learn a bit about it
when growing up in a Christian society.

(6) Having relatives in Israel (read having Zionists in the family).

(7) Getting off on visiting places which have a "Jewish" feel to them,
eg, Israel, NYC, Toronto.

(8) Pride in the fact that Jews have given much to Mankind
(eg, ). (An aside: I asked
some years ago a Jewish friend whether he was "proud to be a
Canadian," to which he replied, "No. What profound contributions
has Canada made to the world? If I *was* going to be proud of
some group affiliation, I'd be more proud of being of Jew." And
in fact, being Jewish meant little to him.)

(9) Finding Jewish philosophy easier to digest than most other religious
philosophies. Jewish philosophy places the emphasis more or less in the
right place more than most others. Viz., upon the sanctity of human life
and upon the the absolute importance that we, as Jews, be an ethical
role model for all peoples.
   Being glad that my religion is non-evangelical. While Jewish
law states that it is important for a Jew to be a good (read
observant of belief and custom) Jew, it does not try to convert
anyone else to behave in this fashion. I find religions which state
that non-believers in that particular truth are unfit to share
either society or heaven a bit hard to take.

Disclaimer: My knowledge of Judaism, which I unabashedly brandish about,
is rudimentary and probably error-ridden. Somebody may wish to correct
any misconceptions I have about Jewish philosophy.
							Lionel Moser
UUCP: {ihnp4, utcsri, allegra, philabs} !garfield!lionel