It all started with a conversation I was having with two friends at a social gathering. One was vividly describing the differences between his local Chabad and Conservative Rabbis. He started off by telling me why he loves his local Chabad. Authenticity, warmth, deep learning, mysticism, lower cost…the list goes on and on. Let’s add another one – accessibility, as this turned out to be the key word used by my friend to differentiate between the two Rabbis. One (the Chabad) is super accessible and is always willing to meet and the other one (the Conservative) is super busy and to get to him you need to schedule an appointment, go through his secretary, etc. Bottom line it is a process. And not a simple one, certainly not when compared to the ease of communicating with the Chabad Rabbi.
One of my early literature teachers taught me a very important lesson while discussing the world literary classics: a person is a product of his society. It surely is not a new idea, but I see it as a very important one especially when I look at religious and community leaders – as well as Jews as a whole – in the more progressive branches of Judaism in America today. As I look at the Jews in America, I see more and more that the cultural and societal conditioning is transferred into their Jewish lives and communities. And I am not referring to the way they dress and talk, I am referring to the principles that govern their lives (social interactions, family lives, etc).
America is a melting pot. Many immigrants have arrived here, bringing their own culture and within one or two generations (at least that’s what the sociologists tell us), most of that culture is gone. So they take their culture and substitute it with the local American culture. But what is American culture and what is it based on? This can be a long discussion in its own right, however I will say that the foundation of American culture has a lot to do with the Anglo Saxon protestant founders of our country. The way most Americans today do business, the amount of time they spend at work and their families, how they spend their free time, how they entertain, their views on religion, politics, sexuality, sports…This is what some sociologists are telling us.
So when I look at the contemporary American non-orthodox Jewry I see a lot of that in them. And when I walk into an American non-orthodox synagogue I see all of that (American) influence. It is especially powerful when we consider this within the weekly portions of Torah book we not too long ago were in the process of reading. The book of Shemot/Exodus describes exactly the same process of our ancestors arriving in Mitsrayim/Egypt and after the passing of the first generation beginning a gradual process of decline through societal conditioning in the beginning and outright coercion into slavery towards the end. The Torah itself gives a very brief summary of it all, but it is the Midrash that gives us the full pictures of what exactly happened and how our ancestors, who were giants in spirit, mind and body ended up where they ended up.
It is precisely that process of societal conditioning and its influence that translate into a behavior and actions that are being adopted by contemporary Jews that does not manage to inspire people and at times turns them off.
It is not an authentic Jewish way of living. (Yes, I do believe that there is something that we can call “Jewish Living” or a “Jewish Way Of Life”. More on that in one of my next posts). What is most amazing is that deep inside people feel it and rebel against it by walking out of synagogues and leaving Jewish life and communities. Most people say they leave because they lost interest in Judaism. But it is not in Judaism that people are losing interest in, they lose interest in this altered Judaism devoid of it very essence. Making synagogues “less Jewish” is not going to change anything. No reducing of the amount of prayers and rituals is going to do the trick.
What is needed is a real transformation. A return, a T’shuva – not to some ancient, antiquated ways of living and dressing. It is not about what language we speak or what clothes we wear. It is about a true transformation of our own nature. Of how we view the world, of how we relate to each other and treat others. We need to be less “American” – culturally speaking – and more Jewish.”
In light of the above, it is quite easy to understand why people feel so drawn to Chabad. What Chabad practices is simply the same old authentic Jewish way of living. They go back to basics. “Judge everyone favorably”, “Welcome everyone with joy”, “Love your friend like yourself”…straight out of the classic sources (Pirkei Avot). They have not invented anything new. They simply implemented the same ideas we have had in our possession for thousands of year. Just open Pirkei Avot (Ethics of our Fathers) and Halakha (Shulkhan Arukh) and you will see it all in there. And when the progressive American Jews see it, they love it. It almost makes no sense, yet it starts making much more sense if we look at from angle.
America is the greatest country in the world. It is here that a person can truly live life as he/she wishes it to be. Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness ring as true today as they did when our Founders spoke these words. Some Jews don’t buy into this and they – while living here – create complete separation from the society. Some go the other way and rejecting anything Jewish, embrace the American way (whatever that means to them) in their search for happy and fulfilled lives. I believe it is all about balance.
To clarify, I think that many of the things Chabad does are amazing. And I think that we can all learn from them. Moreover, the Jews have been through this and similar processes before. Whether in ancient Egypt, Babylon, Spain or Poland. Which is precisely why the story of descent and exodus from Egypt is not a mere fairy tale. It happens in every generation and it is happening now. It is a story about identity, understanding who we are as individuals, as a community, as a global society and our active role in it. Each and single one of us is reliving this story now and we too can experience the truth and happiness and joy just like our forefathers did long time ago.
Aharon's Wisdom 