“If you are in Israel a week, you write a book. If you are
here a month, an article. A year, you don’t write anything.” These words from
our guest speaker for today, pithily summarize our growing realization of the
complexities of living in the Holy Land. The longer we stay, the more
complications we see.
Our speaker, of the Jerusalem
Center for Jewish-Christian Relations, spent an enlightening two hours with
us, discussing the complexities of what it means to be a Jew in Israel. Himself
an Israeli Jew who teaches other Jews about Christianity, he helped us to
understand, if only a little, the wide spectrum of Jewish life particularly in
Israel.
Judaism, it is important to understand, is not only a
religion; it is also a people and a culture. According to religious law,
however, you are a Jew if your mother was Jewish. One finds, then, many ways to
live “being a Jew”. Differing from Christianity, to be Jewish isn’t primarily concerned
with belief, though of course many Jews do believe in the God of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob. Judaism’s concern is living the Torah, the teachings and
instructions given by God and interpreted by tradition on how to live as He has
designated.
One is identified within the Jewish community, then, by his
or her observance of the Torah. At one end of this spectrum is simply not to
observe the teachings, in which you would be a non-religious or “secular” Jew.
At the other end, attempting to keep the entirety of the teachings are the
ultra-orthodox. There are a great many variations between these two “bookends”
of Jewish observance, so to speak, and all understand themselves to be Jewish. To
define what it means to be “Jewish”, as you can tell, is very difficult.
An additional difficulty of which he spoke was the self-imposed
isolation between and among Jews, Muslims, and Christians in the Holy Land. He
himself cannot remember ever speaking with anyone who was not Jewish until he
was twenty years old. Likewise, the many variants of Jews tend to keep to
themselves and not converse with each other, as Muslims and Christians do too,
to a greater or lesser extent. Such segregation creates unfamiliarity with one
another, and unfamiliarity hinders dialogue towards lasting peace.
Politics in Israel is no easier understood, and he gave us a
quick overview of a few of the challenging issues facing the people of Israel
today, including possible new statutes on citizenship, the West Bank, and a
equal sharing of responsibilities among citizens in matters such as mandatory military
service.
He ended his discussion with us by saying, “if you are all
now more confused than when I arrived, I’ve done my job.” We all agreed he had
done a fine job, and that none of us will be writing any books about the Holy
Land anytime soon.