Jewish Pride

Writing this blog has allowed me to vent some of my resentments about organized Judaism and to largely get past them. I have since had a much more positive outlook on my Jewishness and Judaism in general. While not a member of a temple, I have engaged in some of the many Jewish activities available in the Boston area and they have been enjoyable.

A recent article published in the NY Times made me feel proud to be Jewish. It stated that "Jews make up 0.2 percent of the world population, but 54 percent of the world chess champions, 27 percent of the Nobel physics laureates and 31 percent of the medicine laureates." In addition, "Jews make up 2 percent of the U.S. population, but 21 percent of the Ivy League student bodies, 26 percent of the Kennedy Center honorees, 37 percent of the Academy Award-winning directors, 38 percent of those on a recent Business Week list of leading philanthropists, 51 percent of the Pulitzer Prize winners for nonfiction."

As to Israel, “Tel Aviv has become one of the world’s foremost entrepreneurial hot spots. Israel has more high-tech start-ups per capita than any other nation on earth, by far. It leads the world in civilian research-and-development spending per capita. It ranks second behind the U.S. in the number of companies listed on the Nasdaq. Israel, with seven million people, attracts as much venture capital as France and Germany combined."

These accomplishments are a source of pride, Yet it would be a delusion to think that Jews are better at everything. Certainly, a majority of the world’s accomplishments are by non-Jews. However, it’s nice to know we make such an outsized contribution relative to our numbers. I'm also proud that Israel has proven that Jews are quite capable of defending themselves. That contrasts sharply with the image of Jews in the Diaspora, who have seemed so helpless when attacked.

Matisyahu has been another source of Jewish pride. It was great to hear him sing “One Day” in the TV ad for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. He sings well and the lyrics promote world peace and general optimism. Matisyahu's music video has the full song. His music shows that Jews can "be cool" and reach out to people all over the globe. This notion was also reinforced by the amazing performance of the Israeli Defense Forces in setting up an effective and efficient field hospital within 48 hours of the earthquake in Haiti, far faster than any other country.

Relatively Few Jews Identify Themselves as Religious

A Jan 8, 2010 article in The Jewish Advocate, a Massachusetts weekly newspaper, described a Pew Research Center poll of 35,000 Americans concerning their religiosity. The 6 New England states plus Alaska had the lowest percentages of people (36-44%) who felt that religion was very important in their lives. In contrast, the southern states of Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Tennessee had the highest percentages of religious people (72-82%). Jews were lower is religiosity than Americans overall. The following percentages compare Jews to Americans overall:

Certainty of God's existence: 41% vs 71%
Religion is very important in life: 31% vs 56%
Attend weekly religious services: 10% vs 39%
Their religion is the one true faith: 5% vs 24%
Pray daily: 26% vs 58%
College graduates: 59% vs 27%
Family income above $100,000: 46% vs 18%

What this seems to boil down to is relatively low religiosity among Jews. Judaism appears to have a strong strain of rationalism as opposed to spirituality, that probably has some historical basis, with roots in the religion itself. This rationalism has led to some highly influential theorists like Sigmund Freud and Karl Marx, and also led to great achievements in science, medicine, and literature. It has also led to a questioning of religious tenets. That, and the low birthrate of Jews in the U.S. raise the question of whether Judaism will eventually become the tiniest of minorities within the U.S., populated only by the ultra-Orthodox.