Assimilating into the wider Jewish culture

November 12, 2006 - 3:55 PM by Sarah

Brian Blum reflects on one way that, for all the polarization in its society, Israel offers more moderation (or moderate-ness), at least for Jews, than America does:

Staking an active claim to Judaism in the Diaspora naturally puts you at odds with the surrounding society. Even the most watered-down Jewish practice still includes observance of some holidays and traditions that, to the outside world, seem quaint at best, separatist and even elitist at worst.

The more one takes on additional practices, such as keeping kosher or observing the Sabbath, the more out of synch you become with the Friday night movie and club-hopping, cheeseburger-downing culture that represents much of secular North America. The same would be true, I’d imagine, of any religious or social group that doesn’t worship at the altar of conspicuous consumption.

It’s tough to live in a bubble, out of step with those around you. I used to describe our life in Berkeley as akin to living in outer space. We’d set out from our Jewish home in a spacesuit, intended to be impenetrable by outside influences, until we would arrive at the synagogue, JCC or other Jewish institution where we could remove the protective layer and be our Jewish selves again.

Is all that protection really required? Truthfully, yes: it’s a whole lot easier to join the prevailing culture than to fight it – that’s what assimilation is all about and it’s probably the most logical and natural option for the majority of Jews in the Diaspora today. I say this truly without judgment or criticism; it just is.

The alternative is to build fences and boundaries, to sequester yourself and your family from outside “non-kosher” influences. That involves restricting access to the icons secular society takes for granted – mass media (movies, television, and popular music) are all off-limits – as well as separating yourself through different traditions in eating, dressing and other core behaviors. The intent is to remove as many points of friction and places of overlap with unwanted values as possible. In this approach, even the calendars are hopelessly at odds.

Israel, by contrast, is a place where the center can hold…and actually flourish. Certainly there is a secular culture that beckons seductively to the observantly minded. And much of what would be described as religious here has moved progressively rightward.

But even still, the two extremes are more neatly integrated. The holidays are the same. The food in the supermarkets is nearly all kosher, as are many restaurants (even if they are missing an official kashrut certificate). Assimilation is not out of the Jewish world, but into a different flavor of the same national experience.

Rather than spending so much time fighting against negative influences on the one hand, or embracing non-Jewish values over-enthusiastically on the other, in Israel you’re freer to proactively search for the community that offers the most, to reach out to find where you best fit in.

This allows for a more dynamic middle ground, one that combines the best of what modern life has to offer with the joy and beauty of tradition; where you don’t have to dive in too deep in any one direction, but can tread nearer the center. Sure, sometimes you find yourself pulled more to one side of the pool or the other, but it’s easier to maintain your balance.

And while I’m not saying that can’t be done in the Diaspora, for the most part in Israel you don’t have to work as hard at “being” Jewish; you can spend more time just “doing” Jewish.