Enter the word Judaism into your Google search bar and you'll most likely come up with a surprising entry at the top of the organic results - Judaism 101 at www.jewfaq.com. Yes folks, the Jewish community knew that I was coming, complete with an empty mind and a willingness to focus upon tiny details of their faith. Fantastic stuff - in my opinion, when communicating any basic information it's always best to begin with an assumption that although other people may not know anything about what you know, this does not make them stupid.
I start with a simple question - what do Jews believe? As seems to be the case with most religions, the answer to this question is not at all simplistic. According to jewfaq.com, there is no definitive and formal set of beliefs and generally, actions are considered to be more important than beliefs. The basic principles of the religion are contained in Rambam's thirteen principles, which include the following items: God exists; God is eternal; The Messiah will come; God will reward the good and punish the bad.
Pretty standard stuff, aside from the mention of the coming of the Messiah, which some might dispute.
It constantly amazes me how similar world religions are when we compare their basic principles. It's when you get into the nitty-gritty of interpretation, expression and law that the contrasts between them become obvious.
However, Judaism does have one feature that differentiates it from other major world religions and this is its relationship with Israel. Other religions have their holy places or seats of power but, to my knowledge, no other religion has the same connection with a geographical location that Judaism has with the land of Israel.
Israel is often referred to by members of the Jewish community as the 'promised land'. This is a delicate subject so, rather than making any comment of my own, I'll quote directly from Judaism 101: The land of Israel is central to Judaism. A substantial portion of Jewish law is tied to the land of Israel, and can only be performed there. Some rabbis have declared that it is a mitzvah (commandment) to take possession of Israel and to live in it (relying on Num. 33:53). The Talmud indicates that the land itself is so holy that merely walking in it can gain you a place in the World to Come. Prayers for a return to Israel and Jerusalem are included in daily prayers as well as many holiday observances and special events.
Living outside of Israel is viewed as an unnatural state for a Jew. The world outside of Israel is often referred to as "galut," which is usually translated as "diaspora" (dispersion), but a more literal translation would be "exile" or "captivity." When we live outside of Israel, we are living in exile from our land."
So, aside from a belief in the coming of the Messiah and a close tie to a specific area of the Middle East, what makes a Jew a Jew? Jews often describe themselves as the children of Israel, which refers to the fact that they are the descendants of Jacob, who was also known as Israel. Although being a descendant of Jacob is an important part of being Jewish, belonging or 'Jewishness' is passed by matrilineal descent. This means that if you're mother is a Jew you are necessarily born a Jew too, but that if your mother is not Jewish, even if your father is, you will not necessarily be Jewish.
Conversion is an option for enthusiasts who were not born to Jewish parents. However, converts are not sought and conversion is not encouraged.
But what does it really mean to be Jewish and what does a person gain from being part of this community? Obviously, it is something extremely important to those who adhere to this faith, even if they rarely practice.
I became particularly aware of just how important membership of this faith is to some Jewish people when a friend of mine was dating an American Jew. He was an intelligent, articulate, seemingly emotionally mature and not obviously religious individual. However, during the time that they were involved (and it was quite serious) he often expressed concern that she was Catholic. My friend was upset by the fact that her religion might be considered a deal-breaker and began to research the subject of mixed-religion relationships. One day, while reading an article about this subject, she discovered JDate. JDate is an online dating service with one significant prerequisite to sign-up: to find a date you've got to be Jewish.
This is how JDate describes it's mission: JDate's mission is to strengthen the Jewish community and ensure that Jewish traditions are sustained for generations to come. To accomplish this mission, we provide a global network where Jewish singles can meet to find friendship, romance and life-long partners within the Jewish faith.
Here at JDate we are proud of our Jewish traditions and values and are therefore not only deeply committed to our support for Israel and Jewish cultural programs throughout the world, but also supportive of charitable non-profit organizations of all faiths.
Since 1997, JDate has been growing the Jewish community one success story at a time, forming countless relationships and ultimately, creating Jewish families.
After reading about the website, my friend asked her man if he'd ever heard of the service. He expressed great enthusiasm when informing her that several of his male friends had met girlfriends through the website. Her suspicions thus set to high alert, my friend decided to check whether he'd signed up for the online dating service. Masquerading as a young and single Jewish woman, my friend went online and to her horror she discovered that not only had her boyfriend signed up to the service, but that he'd been communicating with other women through it!
Her man was a cheat and he justified it by saying that he felt he had to at least try to meet a Jewish girl. He's now married and guess what... she's Jewish. I might be biased, but I don't think that his wife is as good looking as my friend, she's certainly not as successful and my friend is one of the funniest, kindest and most intelligent people I know. So why couldn't they make it work? My friend is not a child of Israel.
Clearly, being Jewish is extremely important to many of those who are born into this faith. I must admit that I don't understand it, but there is much about religious belief that baffles me. In the past, many of those people who grew up Catholic in Ireland would have been horrified had one of their offspring hooked up with a Protestant, but thankfully, those views have now largely died out. Blame this on the empty churches, the Celtic tiger or general cynicism, but I must admit that I think that it's a good thing that we are rarely asked, by in-laws or anyone else, what religion we belong to.
One thing is certain, you'll never find me on any religious specific dating service - for a start, I'm very happy with my atheist boyfriend, but I wouldn't care if he were Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist or Catholic - the important thing is that he makes me smile. Within some cultures, that's not the primary characteristic that one looks for in a partner... but more about the rules of attraction in a later posting.
I'm sure that I'll return to discussing aspects of religious belief in future postings, but with these first few snippets written, I feel that it's high time that we get sacrilegious. In my next posting I'll be discussing the 'meaning of life' in popular culture - I feel a re-run of a certain Monty Python movie coming on... someone put the popcorn on.
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