Throughout this course, we have seen multiple times how various cultural texts can be considered Jewish even when they are also practiced by non-Jews. The natural question that follows is: what is “Jewish” about such cultural texts? For instance, in Goldberg, we saw how both Jews and Muslims practice henna ceremonies prior to weddings. In the United States today, both Jewish and non-Jewish newborn males are circumcised. Plenty of non-Jews eat bagels and schmear and exclaim “oy vey!” when something startles them. So why is it that we associate these things with Jewishness? What is it about them that makes them Jewish?

Since we discussed Jewish music and Jewish foods several weeks ago, I have thought more about this question. As we mentioned in class, there is a similar debate among literary critics, regarding whether an author’s intentions are as important as they way in which the reader interprets a piece. In literature, I believe that a reader’s understanding of a piece trumps the author’s purpose. Although I do believe that an author’s meaning is significant, I believe that literature can affect people in various ways and one should not be discouraged from embracing his or her individual reaction to a piece.

My understanding of literature relates to my understanding of Jewish cultural texts. I would like to believe that something is Jewish if the audience understands it as Jewish. Participants in a henna ceremony may understand it as Jewish or Muslim, depending on their personal background. However, the actors in such a ceremony would most likely determine the nature of the ceremony by deciding whether to follow Jewish or Muslim traditions. In such a case, how could a participant deny that an event is Jewish, if the actors are performing it according to Jewish traditions? Or maybe it is up to each individual to decide whether the event was Jewish for him or her or not. For example, someone who is ignorant of Jewish traditions may go to a Jewish henna ceremony without understanding it as Jewish. For this individual, the event was not Jewish, although this does not preclude others from understanding it as Jewish.

Circumcision is similarly complicated. If a newborn male is circumcised in a hospital by a physician without the traditions of a Bris, but his parents want to understand the event as Jewish, do they have the right to do so? Certainly they can think of it however they want to, but I do not think that the rest of the Jewish community would view it is such. Therefore, can an individual really decide if something is or is not Jewish? Does it need to be sanctioned by the rest of the community or follow tradition?

What about if I go to the bagel store with a friend on a Sunday morning? We both order bagels with cream cheese, and when she sees how much cream cheese the worker but on her bagel, she says “oy vey!” Although I am not Jewish, I might recognize this event as very Jewish. Or I might completely fail to understand it as Jewish. My friend who may or may not be Jewish has a similar ability to understand it as Jewish or not. But if we are both non-Jews, can we do something like this and consider it Jewish? Is the presence of a Jew necessary to make something Jewish?

This blog entry consists of many more questions than answers, but I think that it is okay to be asking these questions. I think it would be more problematic to have definitive ideas about what makes something Jewish than to be open to questioning such events.

I was recently asked to attend a dinner with a visiting scholar, Dr. Morton Levitt. Following dinner, Dr. Levitt gave a lecture on Jews and Modernism. As a Judaic Studies major and a Psychology major I do not know very much about modernism. I feared that with such little knowledge I would be lost during the lecture.  Interestingly enough, my ignorance about modernism did not keep me from being able to relate to Dr. Levitt’s material. As he spoke, I found myself wondering if he could have made his lecture fit any more perfectly into our coursework in The Ethnography of Jewish Experience.  There are two quotes that I jotted down that I think are especially intriguing given our class discussions.

The first quote I mentioned in class. Levitt was describing a conversation he had with an artist at a gallery of modern art.  After viewing the pieces, Levitt said that he had some trouble making sense of all of it. In their conversation following this, the artist told him that she felt that her painting “was deeply informed by her sense of her ‘Jewishness’.” The second quote is one that Levitt gave himself. Unfortunately, I do not remember his exact wording, but it was something like, “All Jewish writing, since the holy books has contained common elements of inquiry, a sense of justice, a search for truth, but the difficulties known within that…”. His list continues, but I am unable to capture his detail and eloquence here.  These two quotes and our discussions in class about what makes something Jewish have led me to one question, is there a way to think Jewishly?  Perhaps, Jewish art, writing, humor, music, anything, is Jewish because there is a Jewish way of thinking. I say perhaps, because I am not entirely sure of the answer to this question myself. I would argue that yes, there is of course, a way to think Jewishly, but I am not sure if every Jewish artist, writer, etc. is thinking in a Jewish mindset, or even aware of this mindset.

I believe that Levitt’s quotes stick out in my mind, because they express something I have felt. The way I think and act daily has to do with being Jewish. I am not always fully aware of this, but sometimes I am given the opportunity to see how true this really is. Several weeks ago, I attended a meeting where the possibility of the Asbell Center (Dickinson’s center for Jewish life) temporarily sharing its space with another office/department was being discussed. Who it was does not matter for my purposes here. What does matter is that this office’s work is not dissimilar or unrelated to the work of the Asbell center. At this meeting, there was a significant about of discussion over the logistics of the situation, and there was quite a lot of “boundary making” happening. At the time, I was very frustrated with some of the comments of my fellow Jews.  To me, their way of thinking and “boundary making” was “not Jewish”. After spending some time in this class, however, I now realize that their way of thinking and dividing was actually quite Jewish.  Still, their comments feel “Jewishly” wrong to me.  When I was given the opportunity to speak, I expressed how the Asbell Center and those who fill it had become a sort of home, or even holy place for me.  The idea that we as Jews had a home we were somewhat unwilling to share felt very uncomfortable to me. Had we wandered in the desert, experienced persecution time and time again, only to shut our doors to those looking for the same safe space that we were enjoying?  It did not feel “Jewishly” right to me to do so.

As the artist showed, “Jewish thinking” can be done outside of Jewish contexts. I think that my experience with “Jewish thinking” mentioned in this post became particularly relevant because it was in a Jewish context, but I believe that thinking Jewishly is a component of every part of my life. This is not to say that those who are not Jewish cannot think in the same ways. It is more that, like the artist, I feel that the way I interact with others, make decisions, express creativity, read, write, (the list goes on) is deeply informed by my sense of “Jewishness”.