-Andrew Fretwell-
So this is a heavy entry into the blogosphere but what can I say, this is what is on my mind. A lot of my thinking about what you're about to read is directly related to the work I've been doing with the outgoing National Mazkirut (teen leadership board) of Young Judaea. There has been a discussion that has finally started evolving a bit over the last year of the meaning of Pluralism. Is it just trying to get as many people into one tent as possible? Is it bringing together a diverse group so as to blend and converge all the colors and idiosyncrasies into a hybrid "super-Judaism?"
Traditionally, my organization/movement has swayed towards the "Big Tent" theory; that the goal of Pluralism for the Jewish people is just getting everyone in the same room. But, is there room for a fascist in a Pluralist community? The big tent theorists might say yes, but I don't buy into that theory and I reject it. To me, Pluralism is as much about convening a community of intentional Pluralists as it is cultivating Pluralist community of diverse, but not necessarily intentionally Pluralist Jews. I would say Pluralist practices only extend themselves to those who buy into Pluralism on some level already.
However, Pluralism is not a value or an end unto itself, it's an ism, a strategy to accomplish a greater goal just like capitalism (to achieve maximum wealth), fascism (to achieve maximum control/'order'), or vegetarianism (to achieve maximum health or animal rights.) So what is the (or one of the) goals of Pluralism for Jews? To me, the answer is Klal Yisrael, Jewish Peoplehood. Pluralism is the strategy with which we attempt to help sustain the Jews as a People and continue to evolve and help evolve mankind, as we have for thousands of years.
I can't talk about Klal Yisrael though without another necessary "ism": Zionism. I think I would argue that Pluralism (in terms of Jews) is only possible within the realm of Zionism. In the Diaspora, it would be easy enough to get along with Jews who are nothing like me because I'm not forced to interact with them in any direct way. That's the cost of being a small scattered minority. If I don't have any kind of needed interactions with Jews of different denominations, backgrounds, beliefs and outlooks, Pluralism cannot exist. What we need is a place where a diverse community of Jews are forced to interact with and learn from one another in a search to better understand the basic elements of the Jewish People.
So maybe by now I’m illustrating the forest, not just the trees. Assuming you buy into what I've written thus far, then you could jump to the next level, declaring Zionism as a necessary ingredient to the pursuit of Pluralism and Pluralism as necessary to the achievement of Klal Yisrael. So there it is, Pluralism and Zionism as two core components of the same quest.
So when I look at Israel, here's the question I am asking, "How is (or is not) Israel nurturing Jewish Peoplehood?" and "Are we developing a country of Jewish Pluralists?" This is why I cringe when I hear statements from Moshe Gafni, Chairman of the Knesset Finance Committee calling Reform Jews "treacherous backstabbers" to Judaism or when a masked Jewish gunman murders and terrorizes other Jews because of their sexual orientation (i.e. Tel Aviv gay community center attack on August 1st). As stated by a policy paper recently ratified to the Young Judaea Chukah (Constitution), “While these two acts are not directly connected, they share a common thread of hatred, bigotry and divisiveness."
I am often asked about Aliyah, "Would you make Aliyah?" I don't know the answer to that. But if I were asked "What cause would you make Aliyah for?" The fight for Jewish Pluralism in the Jewish State reaches me on a emotional, intellectual and gut level. This is the portrait I want to help paint. Looking forward, I am curious and excited to observe how Project inCite shapes this and how it in turn shapes Project inCite.
Thanks Andrew for your insightful post. I like how you ask plenty of questions -- and yet don't claim to have all the answers. (Another part of Pluralism?)
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to reading more posts from Project InCite.
For more on issues of pluralism & 'religion and state' in Israel, visit Religion and State in Israel and @religion_state on Twitter.
Hope to see you in Israel soon.
Joel
Andrew,
ReplyDeleteThis is a fascinating post. It is clear that the fellows from Project InCiTE have a lot to teach each other about and a lot to learn from one another.
I am wondering how this description of pluralism manifests itself in various Jewish communities.
I am also wondering how various Jewish organizations deal with pluralism on a practical level.
On Project InCiTE we are going to spend 10 days together in Israel in December. One question that your post raises for me - is Shabbat for Project InCiTE in Israel? For it to be a pluralistic Shabbat who should be there? Where should it be?
I would love to hear from anyone out in the blogosphere who has held a pluralistic Shabbat with a hetrogenous group of people.
Any ideas are welcome
David
Andrew -
ReplyDeleteThis was so insightful. I hear where you are going with it and subscribe to the pluralism that infuses our tent with dialogue and mutual respect. My question, and one that I often ask myself is, will we ever get to Israel to have this conversation?
You and I live in the diaspora where we work for institutions built on communal models of particularism, defined by our "membership" and insider cultures, whatever they may be. I would even venture to say that you and I have much more in common as gen Y Jews than our institutions would report we do. The American Diaspora has ingrained in us a respect for "other", a multiculturalism and a willingness live alongside strangers with no attack on or threat by their lifestyles – we are universalists in the truest sense. Yes, its made us comfortable not interacting with one another and not confronting our differences but I would venture to say that the same setting has also laid the foundation for a stirring of young universally minded people challenging our institutions to rethink the concept of "insider" and membership all together.
Different denominations and Jewish groups have answered the question of who belongs and how although youth today dont ask and frankly they dont care. As children of the public school system and the internet their "belonging" is not contingent on someone else's say so. And since teens dont ask or care for our approval, institutions are finding that ultimately, they just dont show up.
As we saw at the conference, this symptom is something that spans all of our organizations. A universalist youth wants an open approach, not just in theory but in practice. I cant help but think that the pluralism that is going to get us to Israel will invariably have to break the rigidity of Jewish institutional conventions and motivate us to work the problem, together. Partnership should not need to include logos and extensive planning meetings with executives laboring over particulars around a table. We’re going to have to give up the control to get our youth back and to get us to Israel for that big conversation because right now, I dont know if I would make aliyah either.