Sometimes there are those who think that in the mixed pre-military academies we are trying to create the New Judaism. One whose Kabbalat Shabbat includes a Moroccan melody, Arik Einstein, and Carlebach tunes all at once. A Judaism whose source sheet draws from the Gemara and the Malbim, Leah Goldberg and Omer Adam. But I told our students that I am not trying to create this New Judaism with them.
What does the combination of religious and secular people supposedly say to the world?
Look, we’ve created some kind of Israeli blend that has a bit of both, whose Shabbat is a bit of both, whose learning is a bit of both. And in my opinion, that’s a mistake. That’s the last thing I need – for some commitment-free mush to form here where all the colors get mixed together. When you take all the colors and mix them – try it sometime – you get gray.
So not a new Judaism – but a broad Judaism.
What’s the difference?
Broad Judaism doesn’t try to say that everyone needs to be the same thing: blended Israelis who take a little of everything, all of us one smiling, rosy middle. Not long ago I met someone very open and integrative – Judaism and Israeliness and universalism. Except that his openness dictated that everyone must be open and integrative just like him. In other words, coercion and a crude melting pot in pluralistic disguise.
Broad Judaism recognizes that there are countless ways to be a good Jew (I prefer to say a good Israeli, since Judaism itself is just one more shade within Israeliness, but let’s leave semantics aside for now). Broad Judaism sees importance in choosing a path, and alongside that it recognizes that there are many different paths within Judaism. It recognizes that the guy from the Moroccan synagogue, the yekke from the kibbutz, the high-tech CEO from Herzliya, the farmer from Nahalal, the hippie girl from the Carlebach minyan, and the cheder teacher from Mea Shearim are all perfectly good, wonderful Jews.
Broad Judaism doesn’t try to take all these shades and blend them into the “New Judaism.” It is perfectly at peace with an all-Moroccan minyan even if women take no part in it (provided that is what they chose), perfectly at peace with the high-tech building trying to make the world a better place even if three daily prayers aren’t held there, perfectly at peace with the shared minyan even if women read the haftarah there. Broad Israeliness doesn’t try to change liturgies, impose positions, or force shades and customs into a common denominator.
And there are only two rules for anyone who wants to be part of broad Judaism:
1. You need to feel that the Jewish story is your own story, that you live it and draw from it
2. To recognize that your path is only one path within Judaism, that we have always been the most diverse people in the world, and that it is therefore vital that the other shades remain – and woe to us from a melting pot.
For example – what do I want from the Haredim? Not that they change their way of life, but that they feel gratitude toward the other streams thanks to whom they flourish here.
What do I want from the Tel Avivians? Not that they change their way of life, but that they feel part of, and draw from, the great Jewish story unfolding before our eyes.
What do I want from the settlers? Not that they change their way of life, but that they understand that the national path is only one of many paths in the Jewish story.
And yes, there is also a stream of Judaism that tries to draw from all the streams, with a little of each. It is a wonderful stream; I may even be part of it myself. But it is one more stream. There is really no need for everyone to be like that.
We did not return here to create a new Judaism, but to let dozens of Jewish streams – authentic, old and new – rise and flourish together, with all of them partners in the great Jewish story.
