What is Jewish Atheism?

[theyear12013]

Answer:

A person who has difficulty letting go.

In some ways, yes.

In others it might be more accurate to say a person who has difficulty being let go.

I am an atheist who was borne Jewish. I will be Jewish till the day I die whether or not I will be atheist that long.

I do not regard this as a choice issue. There is a cloud in our history that you might argue is 3,000 years long but certainly more recently got rather horrific.

The thing is that I am Jewish not merely in my own eyes but in the eyes of those around me. The concentration camps were full of Jewish atheists.

Having stated the negative there is also the community aspect (not one I am involved in too much- really only when I go back to see my parents in Manchester). For a Jew living in a Jewish culture it is somewhat all encompassing.

I know a goodly number of Jewish Atheists. Some still keep Kosher - its not an easy habit to give up. Some still put Messuzah's on their door posts. Many go to Synagogue semi regularly.

I am as far removed from the Jewish community as most. I am, however, under no illusion that I can ever cease to be Jewish. I have hope my daughter will not be - she has been christened in a Greek Orthodox Church, although she has already declared herself to be atheist too.

Historically she too would be in the concentration camp. Her children, should she have any and assuming not with a Jewish guy would probably escape.

Overall then, its complicated. Its history, external influence, cultural immersion, family and a whole host of factors that go into determining who we, as individuals think we are.

Max, exactly. As an observer slightly more knowledgeable about Jewish American culture than European, it does seem simply that many brilliant secular Jewish American human beings feel they don't have a choice to not be Jewish because of the events of the 1930s and 40s and the fear they feel that it is easily repeatable. Is this actually the case -- is this lack of choice real even in America? I don't know anymore.

To me, the persistence of the category is explained as a phenomena of the unique position Judaism had for 2 millenia in relation to Christianity and Islam. The human beings we call Jewish people, the current adherents of Judaism or the members of Jewish culture, play the role of the grandfather to go to for validation for the children's current prophethood but whom the younger religions alternately punish and celebrate. Its perversely symbiotic. Whether it is dhimmihood in Islam and Jewish advisors in the Ottoman empire or the Pope's Jews who lived a hermetic life outside of Rome, its as if the wider Abrahamic culture kept around Jewish human beings and this category of humans for validation -- while Jewish culture persisted embedding itself in the wider Abrahamic tradition as the source of the stories. Would Judaism be around if Rome had not become Christian? If Muhammed had not borrowed their prophetic lineage? Simple put, probably not -- other than some small communities perhaps in the Middle East.

But now -- is this label still real? Does society really care anymore? Certainly American society less and less even notices it. German and Russian Americans creation of Hollywood seems to finally allowed the creation of a post Abrahamic culture in many ways -- and so the question is do Jewish Atheists (in America at least), still need that label? Can they choose to be Atheists? Or even better just human beings? Is it time to retire this label -- if we could?

I guess what I'm saying is -- isn't the persistence of Jewish Atheism -- a sign that our culture is not ready to really embrace Atheism? The true end of the Abrahamic tradition would imply the end of this label in addition to Christian and Muslim. The ability for brilliant Jewish human beings to be just citizens and most importantly just human beings --- would mean the culture is moving on. Can Jewish human beings push it along and choose that path? I don't know.