In light of recent world events (i.e. Christians and Muslems and Jews oh my!) I got to wondering what it means, from a general cultural standpoint, to be Jewish.
I’m not religious in that I don’t attend church. But, living in America, I generally align myself with Christian beliefs, ethics and culture. And, again living in America, I find Islam culture intrinsically, not evil, but foreign. But I find Jewish culture to be essentially the same as Christian. In fact, in America we usually speak of ‘Judeo-Christian’ values as though they are identical.
So, for the most part, are they? And do Muslems generally think so? I mean, if someone was raised without any religious influences what, if anything, might make them identify more with Judism than Christianity?
I consider myself and most of my friends to be ‘casually Christian’. Is there such a thing as being ‘casually Jewish’?
“What does it mean to be Jewish?”
“Is there such a thing as being ‘casually’ Jewish?”
“Is there such a thing as a Jewish lifestyle?”
So, um–you’re asking us to define “Jewish”?
[watches thread set new land speed record for being moved to GD]
[sub]I don’t think there’s any human way to discuss the “what is a Jew?” issue without ending up in GD, but I guess you’re welcome to try, it’s a free country…[/sub]
I don’t know much about the Jewish religion, and even less about Muslems, so I want to make clear that I speak only for myself before this gets whisked away to GD.
While I’m sure there are some cultural differences, Jews and Christians worship the same God - the God of the Old Testament. The 10 Commandments are the guidelines for both religions as an example of how to live a good life. So I would think this is why you would often see phrases such as “‘Judeo-Christian’ values.” The two religions are closely tied.
I can’t begin to answer how other religions view this.
Most American, Canadian, British, Australian, or South African Jews are very assimilated into Western culture, and are “Reform” or “Conservative” Jews. Even many Orthodox Jews in the United States and Canada are not extremely conservative. Only a small minority, mainly in New York City, follow a way of life very distinct from “mainstream” American culture - such as Hassidic Jews.
However in Israel and elsewhere many of the Jews are very Orthodox. In many ways their culture is as different from mostly Christian Anglo-American culture as some Islamic cultures are.
Also most American Jews are Ashkenazim, or “Westernized” Jews whose ancestors came from Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, Hungary and other Central European areas. But in places like Israel, the Middle East (there are thousands of Jews living in places like Iran and Turkey); most Jews are Sephardic or “Oriental” Jews. They are decidely non-Western in their cultural background.
For instance, most Yemeni or Moroccan Jews would probably be taken for “Arabs” in the US, based on appearance, culture, and traditional lifestyle. They may even speak Arabic as their first language! Of course, Israel is largely westernized in comparison to the Arabic world, but it’s still very much a “Mediterranean”, and fairly exotic (to Americans), country.
Well, I suspect it is because the large majority of Jews in America and Canada (wherever you are) are of European origin and their families have been in America for at least three generations. Hence, without actually asking them what diety they worship, they’re indistinguishable on the street from Christians (with the exception of their yarmulka). Most American Muslims, on the other hand, have been more recent immigrants, and therefore still have an air of foreign-hood, and of course, their complexion is usually darker than that of the average American Christian.
However, the cultural gap between Christians and Jews is quite wide indeed…now more than at any other time of the year.
This is just something I have noticed. I guess I know a lot of catholics, so that’s where I’m coming from. I am not a religious Jew, but my dad went to orthodox yeshiva through the 12 grade so I did not grow up in a religiously ignorant household, either.
It seems there is a different attitude towards sin, guilt and god. Most Jews I know believe that G-d forgives sins, especially when effort is made to remediate the sin, and mistakes are a part of life. Most do not believe in Hell or an unpleasant afterlife (many are unsure of the existence of an afterlife at all). On Yom Kippur, when you atone for sins, you are not instructed to “go forth and sin no more.” Rather, you make a promise to live a better life in the upcoming year.
Many of the Christians I know (many of whom happen to be catholic) find sins to be a large personal failing. They don’t necessarily believe that G-d accepts people as imperfect creations. Most do believe in a Hell or unpleasant afterlife. Almost all believe in a Heaven or pleasant afterlife.
Many Chrisitans worry about faith, whether they have it, its depth, etc. Faith is a fairly unimportant part of Juadism. In fact, if you had to pick out one major thing that makes Christianity different, it is the idea of Faith. Judaism is a more legalistic religion, such that if you are obeying the commandments you are definately a good Jew. As long as your actions are correct, your faith is sort of your own business. Whereas, in Christianity, if you lived a very moral, scrupled life, yet had no belief or faith in Jesus, most would call you a bad Christian (not a bad person, just a bad Christian).
I am very curious if you could give some examples of the differences which you have found between American culture and Islamic culture. Because if you have found those, but have not found differences between the Christian and Jewish cultures, then my guess would be that you simply have a more in-depth knowlege of Islam than of Judaism.
Yes, many people do speak that way. My personal feeling is that they have a weak knowledge of Christianity, or a weak knowledge of Judaism, or both.
Yes. It involves things like pastrami on rye with mustard. More seriously, “causal” comprises a very long sliding scale of observance, going all the way from doing almost everything that Judaism requires, to doing almost nothing that Judaism requires. It depends on your perspective. In previous generations, someone who attended synagogue only once a year was clearly in the “casual” category. But nowadays, such a person might be at the high end of the bell curve.
These are all good answers, and I’d like to add that, as cmkeller alluded, most Christians and Jews in America have assimilated into American culture. As Chaim pointed out, unless a Jewish man is wearing a yarmulke, there isn’t much to distinguish him from a non-Jew. For instance, what is there to visually distinguish New York’s present mayor, Rudy Giuliani, from it’s mayor-elect, Mike Bloomburg?
Still, the inherent differences in the cultures are vast, and they are both large and small.
