COLUMN: A Jewish Perspective

From Shawn Klein's "Jedi Mind Tricks," Fall '95 From Shawn Klein's "Jedi Mind Tricks," Fall '95A professor started lecturing his class by asking if any of his ninety or so students were Creationists. This was a BBB class. Biological basis of behavior. These were students who were nearly all in the major, strongly suggesting they all had sincere respect for the scientific process and its intrinsic perfect logic (assuming no human bias). Amazingly, a student in the back of the room raised his hand. I sat and wondered to myself, what in the hell was he doing here. How could someone who knows of the fossil record, knows about radioactive-isotope-based dating techniques, and understands the fact of evolution still think that God created the Earth in six days a few thousand years ago, in the exact same physical condition it is in today. I am not a religious person. (Surprise.) I don't know that I believe in God. (If your reading this, just kidding, Big Guy.) The insurmountable discrepancies between what religion would have us believe and what we know to be true (given that our senses reliably report information from our environment and that logic is an effective tool to deal with reality) are too vast. I cannot have so much blind faith. Yet, if you asked me my religion I would still answer. I am a Jew. But does that mean anything considering I have such a hard time swallowing what my religion has to say, except in the most completely metaphorical sense (and with much salt -- Lot's)? Before coming to Penn, I would have answered, that in saying I'm Jewish I was acknowledging a true pride in being a part of the group. Considering myself Jewish ceased to be a religious matter; rather it is a matter of people. There is a romantic aspect to this idea which makes it attractive. Despite so much persecution, past and present, Jews are demographically the most well-off and educated group in the country. Israel has been outnumbered and surrounded by enemies on every side, since its birth. But it does not and must not fall. We've done well for ourselves against the odds. Identifying with such a small, strong-willed, creative and tightly-knit community is nearly too easy to do. But more importantly the idea of a "people" substantiated a real, physical basis for saying I was a Jew. Having a deep Jewish lineage, nothing, I reasoned, could be a stronger source of identification and allegiance than a genetic part of my very person. In college I was surprised to learn my reasoning was quite incorrect. Most people would guess that Jews generally stay with their own. It is common knowledge that many Jewish parents get a little tweaked when their children date outside the tribe. If, as I supposed, Jews did stick with their own, genetic admixture across religious boundaries would be reduced and a "people" would come to exist, at least biologically speaking. But the fact is that anywhere in the world where Jewish communities exist, the Jews tend to be genetically more related to their gentile neighbors than to other Jews around the world. Jews do not stay within the faith. In America, for example, statistics show that fifty percent of Jews marry non-Jews. I was bothered. If I cannot buy into the belief system and I have no unique genetic commonalty with those I thought, what then does it mean for me to say I am Jewish? While I am not completely certain, upbringing has something to do with it. Although I have a hard time accepting individual Jewish laws and stories at face value, common themes which ran through them (and in most of those around me) shaped my childhood and who I am today: You can always count on family. You can do whatever you set your mind to. You have our unconditional love. And, from my optimistic mom, things work out for the best. If I wanted to I could not separate these things from what I am. Being force-fed them at every family dinner, at every friend's house will do that to a person. And even though my family is only somewhat religious, the Jewish religion, via generations long gone, is probably the ultimate source of these values. In calling myself Jewish maybe I am simply recognizing this. Religion means something different to everyone. Perhaps you have struggled with similar ideas and arrived with your own conclusions. What does it mean for a non-religious person to call himself Jewish? It's hard to say. But I would guess it has something to do with family, friends and an urgent sense of responsibility to take care of my own because no one else will.