Manifesto of an atheist Jew

Israel is land where spirituality in all of its forms defines you. Putting aside the various divisions among Christians and Muslims with whom I am less familiar, the range of expression of faith among Israeli Jews is amazingly varied. At one end are Jews that refuse to speak Hebrew (and speak Yiddish instead) because it is a holy language and officially reject the state of Israel because its establishment was not in the manner foreseen in the Bible.  On the other extreme are those that are choose to eat cheeseburgers on Yom Kippur to express their complete rejection of Judaism. In between are a wide range of observant and non-observant behaviour and tolerance.

I am an atheist Jew. To explain, although I can accept that others believe in God, I not only lack that faith but simply find it sufficient to believe in probability. In short, I don’t require a chief engineer in the sky to understand and accept this world. From this state of point, it follows, in my mind, that the holy writings, e.g. the Bible, Mishna, Talmud and Halacha, to name only a few, are the product of human thought, albeit rather intelligent one in some cases, and can be criticized and even rejected outright. I therefore feel no obligation or even logic to follow the countless rules of behaviour expected of a good Jew, as largely codified in the halacha.

On the other hand, I do not want to throw away the baby with the bath water. Judaism carries a rich body of proscriptions regarding ethics, derech eretz, which should serve as a model of behavior. To oversimplify, I do believe in the ten commandments. For example, in a proper, healthy society, the vast majority of people do not murder, steal or lie. The key to satisfaction is worrying about your situation and not trying to “keep up the Joneses”. Sleeping with another person’s partner is clearly a stupid and dangerous thing to do, not to mention rather destructive for everybody involved (except for the lawyers). Within the family, honoring your father and mother creates stability for all members. As for converting people of other religions, it is a source of countless troubles. For that matter, blaming god or thinking that god makes you special often makes leads to irresponsible behavior. I am even for keeping the sabbath in the sense of not working at least one day a week as the practice is vital for physical and mental health. So, I am a proud Jew in appreciating and trying to practice its basic tenets in its spirit even as I reject the long record of the interpretation of those tenets.

In this way, I am a non-believing Jew. I fully accept my identity as a Jew and feel equally free to reject many, if not most, of its traditions and rules. Granted, there is a tension in this position, bordering on a contradiction. However, most manifestos carry those qualities as reality is more complex than any statement of belief. Not only that, I am one of many Jews, Israeli and others, that so believe even if they do not express their identity in this manner. Of course, there are countless more on both sides of the issue that would strongly disagree with me and even find them offensive.  That is quite normal and even acceptable. As they say, two Jews, three opinions.

On close analysis, An Israeli Spectrum

Yair Lapid’s recent electoral success once again brought world attention to the religious/secular divide in Israel.  Some of the articles and news reports painted a rather polar picture of Israeli societies – black versus white; in this case, ultra orthodox against non-religious.

This image is clearly not accurate.  More specifically, Israeli Jewish society runs through the whole spectrum of attitudes and practices in regards to the Judaism.  On the farthest end are ultra-orthodox groups, a small minority actually, who reject the existence of the Jewish state on ideological/religious grounds, the Satmar.  If honesty counts, they also don’t accept money directly from the government.  Most ultra-orthodox (Haridim) accept the concept of a modern Israel and are very effective in getting the government to pay for its special needs, i.e. special schools (yeshivot), child allowances, etc.  While these groups accept the idea of the government, they believe that they are serving the country by praying and studying, i.e. the strength of Israel is in its faith, not its army or economy.  They isolate their members from secular and even less religious people to maintain their way of life.

Traditionally, the largest religious group in modern Israel was has been religious Zionists, who not only accepted the Jewish state but embraced and built it.  They work, serve in the army, and study Torah.  Many make some compromises with the Halacha, but consider themselves observant Jews.  A high percentage of officers and business leaders come from this group.  Another large sector is more secular Jews that follow some rules of the religion, either out of belief or tradition, but are not visibly religious until you visit their homes.  This large group of Israelis generally does not mix milk and meat and avoids tref (unkosher) food, at least in their homes. 

The most secular groups either ignore religious rules or flaunt them.  The difference is between eating a cheese burger because it is tasty or because it is not kosher.  The latter is much rarer, but growing in numbers. 

Therefore, Israel is not a clearly split along religious lines.  The majority of the population, including most religious Jews, supports mandatory army or civil service for everybody.  On the other hand, whether the trains should run on Shabbat is a much more controversial matter.  Jewish Israeli society is not a black and white picture, but a Technicolor drama.