Secular Judaism Malkin, Yaakov. Secular

Secular Judaism

Malkin, Yaakov. Secular Judaism: Faith, Values, and Spirituality. London, Valentine Mitchell,

Judaism has an unusual status in the annals of world religions. It is one of the major faith traditions of the Western World, and has spawned two other major traditions that do it homage in their literature, that of Christianity and Islam. It also has problematic relations with these religions that lay claim to Jewish teachings within their own respective canons. Unlike Christianity and Islam, Judaism is not a religion solely of scripture. It is tied to a particular land and ethnic heritage, an explicitly defined culture and history as well as faith. Many Jewish people call themselves secular Jews, and it is possible, in many individual's estimation, to not subscribe to a theological belief in the Almighty yet still proudly identify as Jewish, something which is not possible in Christianity or Islam. This provokes self-searching questions amongst the Jewish community and the larger community as a whole: what is a Jew? What is Judaism? Is Jewishness an ethnicity, a religion, a nationality, or all three -- or none of these things? The existence of the nation-state of Israel, a source of pride for Jews all around the world, not just Israelis, further complicates such questions. Israel is a Jewish state, yet not all self-identified Jews are citizens of Israel and some Israelis are not Jews.

Wrestling with the contradictions inherent to Jewish identity is at the heart of Secular Judaism: Faith, Values, and Spirituality by Yaakov Malkin (London, Valentine Mitchell, 2004). Malkin asks these searching questions, admits their seemingly unanswerable quality, but also arrives at answers that are personally satisfying for himself and he hopes, for the community as a whole. Malkin identifies as a self-defined secular Jew who cannot accept the idea of an omnipotent deity or the sacredness of the literal words of God's commandments. Instead, he embraces another, equally positive form of Judaism, stressing that the Jewish tradition has a longstanding and great tradition of secular values, as well as boasts a history of people with a strong ethical orientation and progressive social and political ideals. There is also the richness of the Jewish community as a people, held together after centuries of persecution that Malkin believes exits beyond the texts. Jews have shown a commitment to one another and produced great art and literature in the past, and continue to produce vibrant literature today. Malkin counts the Bible amongst these great Jewish literary traditions, and the God of the Bible as one of Judaism's great literary characters.

Malkin rejects 'nationalistic' claims for the superiority of one culture or ethnicity over another but he considers it only natural for human beings to identify with and belong to a particular nationality. To advance his thesis he constructs his own mythological tradition and a specific interpretation of ancient Near East history and Biblical literature that some scholars might quibble with. For example, to those who would contend that religion had been the uniting factor of the Israelite people, Malkin offers the provoking thesis that there would not be negative and condemnatory stories of the Golden Calf and Baal-worship in the Torah, had not some alternative theories of spirituality existed. Malkin suggests that Israel was very tolerant of different faith interpretations, even paganism. While this doctrine of pluralism is intriguing, there is also a certain danger in creating a new historical myth for ancient Israel -- what if this is disproven, by some new archeological find or historian? Is this not just as suspect as suggesting a singular trend of monotheism in Israel's history? Judaism's past is historical fact, a fact still being excavated and pieced together by historians. Rather than relying upon these facts, which may be disputed, better to suggest new trends of pluralism today and for the future. This is the more persuasive aspect of Malkin's argument than stapling our own democratic values of pluralism upon what little is known of ancient Israel.

It is the flexibility of secularism that Malkin believes will be Judaism's saving grace in the future. As an Israeli, Malkin states that one of the great advantages of having a state to unite the Jewish people is that it provides a focal-point of identity, and thus allows for more flexibility of belief. This is the reason he is so adamant about Judaism's pluralism: even though many Jews may have looked down upon their co-national's worship of other gods, they were still all Jews, argues Malkin, because of commonly shared national interest. This provocative thesis runs counter to the conventionally envisioned conception of Israel as a unique and distinct society, holding fast in a collective fashion to its rites and practices. Malkin points out that there would not have been so much anxiety about these pagan issues in the Bible, and so much condemnation of those who deviated, had there not been considerable variation in the practices of everyday Israelis, in history -- and this debate continues in Israel today, between the Orthodox and secular Jews. There are Jews who keep none of the commandments, and Orthodox Jews who keep the Sabbath rigorously living side-by-side in Israel -- and the Orthodox look down, in Malkin's opinion, upon their secular co-religionists and fellow Israelis as transgressors.

The modern state of Israel offers a similar point of consensus as well as contention for Malkin, just as Israelis in the past argued over correct forms of spirituality but shared a common, national unity. Within the context of Israel, Jews can come together from all over the world, with different faith traditions and levels of scrupulosity about keeping the commandments, and still find that they have more in common, than they are different. Conflicts ensue, but the sacredness of the tradition and Israel is seldom a bone of contention, in Malkin's vision. He hopes one day religious adherence will not be the only point of connection between Jews, that Israel will create a bond. Common secular civic culture, traditions, holidays, foods, and looking at the Torah as a site of creative interpretation, rather than as a fixed entity are all possible in Israel.

To some extent Malkin's analysis is coherent with a long tradition in the Zionist movement, predating that of Israel, which stressed the need for secular and civic enclosures and protections for the Jewish people. But it is problematic when he uses 'secularism' to include a wide percentage of the Jewish community, including Reform Jews -- sometimes it seems like anyone who is not orthodox is subsumed into his category of the secular. Secularity for some Jews may simply mean 'pro-Israel,' who are not particularly religious but not outright atheists. Secular as a description is just as fluid, in its own way, as in America, where it can vary from being anti-religion to simply embracing the concept of a wall between church and state. Additionally, non-Israeli Jews within other nations, especially America may have different definitions of secularity. An American Jew's definition may be equally affected as American constructions of secular culture as modern Jewish conceptions of secularism. There is the famous joke that three Jewish people in a room will yield four opinions, but the same might be said for three advocates of secularism and modern liberal democracy.

Further problems exist with Malkin's perspective. Yes, to define Judaism just in terms of national identity is more inclusive and realistic in view of many Jews' experiences than defining it according to a code of beliefs. In fact, given the focus of Judaism on acts and culture, defining it or all religions in terms of beliefs alone might be seen as somewhat Christian-centric. But for other Jews, religious practices and beliefs are at the core of their personal identity in terms of Judaism, so they may feel alienated by Malkin's definition, even while he attempts to be pluralistic. In striving to be inclusive, Malkin may run the danger of excluding significant minorities of the Jewish community, those who cannot celebrate the text of the Bible as a literary feat, but see it as holy writ and are offended by literary interpretations and reverence for the Torah.