Religion, Modernity and All That Jazz

Jerry Lewis starred in a live TV version of "The Jazz Singer" back in 1959.  The piece above, the last few minutes of the show, includes a very dramatic portion where Lewis explains to his father that his teachings have not been for nil despite the fact that he is not carrying on the traditional role of cantor, as his family has done for generations. It's the best acting I've ever seen him do, ending with him singing a portion of Kol Nidre. (A review by IMDB pans the performance, and I should disclose that I only have seen the few minutes in the clip above. The person who posted the clip on YouTube remarks that Lewis is still wearing clown's make up when he sings in temple, and notes that there was some question as to whether he did this on purpose.  I don't think so - it was live television and it is very likely that he had no time to remove the make up.)

The story of The Jazz Singer is a quintessential representation of the struggle between Jewish traditionalism and assimilation.  Through my modern eyes, the Jazz Singer's mother's treatment of his non-Jewish girl friend comes across as rude, but it also begs several questions: Will the desire to be political correct kill the Jewish culture? How do we maintain our Jewishness without holding ourselves separate?  How do we hold ourselves separate and still convey our respect for the people outside of our own tradition?  Is marrying only our own a form of bigotry? But how can it be bigotry if we say that anyone who feels it strongly enough within him or herself can become a member of the tribe?

Liberal and Orthodox strands of Judaism treat the Jewish relationship with the modern world differently.  Liberal Jews embrace it, but so much so that they intermarry at increasingly higher rates (last I heard, the rate was up to 50% of all marriages being interfaith among Jews in the US.  The children of interfaith marriages rarely maintain their Jewishness and there may be multiple reasons for this, but that's too big of a subject for me to go into here and now).  Yet, the strict fundamentalism of Orthodox Judaism can be a turn off for many - - does it push Jews away from Judaism? 

I feel buffeted between traditionalism and modernity - going back and forth between each, switching the view I prefer at a moment's notice.  I am reading a very interesting book right now, "One People, Two Worlds: A Reform Rabbi and an Orthodox Rabbi Explore the Issues that Divide Them." The book is a series of emails between the two rabbis, each answering back the other's arguments with arguments of his own.  Is there such thing as definitive truth when it comes to religion?  I hope to find an answer somewhere in the book's pages, but I suspect I will end up where I started - confused and searching for answers.  Maybe we simply aren't meant to know.

All I do know in the end is that my commitment to Judaism, no matter how poorly I observe Halacha, is deep and irreversible. I have been surprised to have found in recent years a belief in God that has provided meaning and comfort under certain circumstances in a way that nothing else - certain nothing human, could have.  I would like to find a way to be deserving of that comfort. That thought pushes me toward a deeper level of observance, while modern demands - an unbelieving family, for one thing - push me away. 

A very interesting and somewhat related discussion on patrilinial descent can be found at Random Thoughts.    

Comments

[DRaftervoi]

"How do we hold ourselves separate and still convey our respect for the people outside of our own tradition?"

That's the question, and how you answer it determines if you're a bigot. A desire to remain separate and alone isn't inherently bigoted...

[Jack]

I would like to find a way to be deserving of that comfort. That thought pushes me toward a deeper level of observance, while modern demands - an unbelieving family, for one thing - push me away.

This sounds quite familiar to me.