Believers is a series running throughout April, examining different facets of faith and religion among young people. In this op-ed, Rabbi Emily Cohen explores some of the many ways people define Judaism.
Ok, so what is Judaism, anyway?
This might seem like a trick question, but it’s actually a very important one. See, unlike groups that are decidedly religions (think: Episcopalians), ethnicities (think: Hispanic) or generations (think: Gen Z), a category for “Judaism” is difficult to fully capture. Sometimes, when people speak about Jews without understanding the complexity of Jewish identity, they can unintentionally flatten or mischaracterize the experiences of 15.7 million people who engage their Judaism in vastly different ways. So let’s dive in.
What is Judaism? Some folks might say, “It’s a religion.” And those folks would be correct. Judaism is an ancient religion, with roots going back thousands of years. We Jews have our own calendar (it’s the year 5784, if you’re curious), more holidays than most of us can keep track of (check out https://isitajewishholidaytoday.com/), and a plethora of sacred texts from the Torah to the Talmud to Jake Cohen’s TikTok (well, maybe not that last one).
And, of course, the Jewish religion is itself multifaceted. There are Orthodox Jews and Reform Jews, Reconstructionist Jews and Conservative Jews, Renewal Jews and Humanist Jews and non/post-denominational Jews. Observing Judaism religiously can mean anything from going to synagogue just for the High Holy Days, to lighting Shabbat candles weekly and keeping kosher, to living in an ultra-Orthodox community largely isolated from secular society. Some Jews wear black hats and long coats and velvet yarmulkes. Others wear jeans and sweaters and don’t own a yarmulke. Some Jews get their rabbi to weigh in on daily decisions; others might talk to a rabbi only a handful of times in their lives, like before a wedding, B Mitzvah, or funeral. Some Jews speak and read Hebrew fluently and others can only access Hebrew prayers through memorization or transliteration (that’s where you take Hebrew and render it in the English alphabet). Some Jews believe in God and some believe in science and many believe in both. And, to put it very simply, some Jews believe that Jews have a religious or ancestral right to the land of Israel, and some do not.
So yes, Judaism is a religion, one packed with rituals and sacred texts. It’s a religion that’s just as concerned with questions and debating than with answers and certainties. It’s a religion that has evolved through time and continues to grow and shift.
But, in answering the question, “what is Judaism?” folks might also say, “it’s a culture.” Those folks, too, would be correct. There are plenty of Jews out there who don’t engage in Jewish religious life but still identify as Jewish because they grew up with Jewish parents, use Yiddishisms or Ladinoisms or Judeo-Syrianisms (did you know there are dozens of Jewish languages?), and like to take their friends to the 2nd Ave Deli in Manhattan. These are folks whose ancestors left their countries of origin when the ruling authorities made it difficult for them to stay put—an unfortunate recurrence in Jewish history. Some cultural Jews are also religious Jews, and some set aside religious practices in whole or in part after arriving in their new lands.
While religious Jews are “fully” Jewish, no matter how much or little they practice, cultural Jews might reasonably say “I’m half Jewish” or “I’m a quarter Jewish” because for them Judaism is a heritage in the same way that being Scottish or Indian is a heritage. So someone who’s culturally Jewish could be a quarter Jewish, a quarter Mexican, and half Chinese.
And here’s where it gets tricky: I have a deep appreciation for Chinese history, language, and culture. In college, I minored in Mandarin and studied abroad in Beijing, and after graduation I moved to China for a while. But, even if I had decided to live in China for the rest of my life, I would never have been able to become Chinese.
You can become Jewish. Someone who has no known Jewish ancestry can develop an interest in Judaism, explore community, study, go through a ritual, and become just as Jewish as someone raised in the faith. As a rabbi, one of my favorite parts of the job is guiding conversion candidates through the process.
This is why it’s frustrating when people assume that Jews look a certain way, or have certain names, or only come from certain parts of the world. Not only have Jewish communities existed for millennia all over the globe, with genetic profiles that mirror those of non-Jewish populations in the same places, but there are plenty of Jews who’ve come to Jewish identity by choice over centuries. All of these Jews and their children and grandchildren belong just as much as every David Goldman, Miriam Levy or, well, Emily Cohen.
I’ve got a “Jewish name” (Cohen is like the Jewish “Smith”) and I happen to “look Jewish” with curly brown hair, dark eyes, and white skin that tans well. The hair and eyes come from my Jewish dad, but my skin comes from my half-British, half-Portuguese mom. I’m fully Jewish, but it’s not because of my name or appearance.
And, it’s still complicated, because some Jews who are descended from European populations (in this case, Ashkenazi Jews) share genetic material that set them apart from non-Jews from the same regions, and there are health conditions that show up more often in Ashkenazi Jews than in the general population. But not all Jews are Ashkenazi, and not all people with Ashkenazi heritage identify as Jewish.
During the Trump years, when antisemitic activity rose significantly in the United States, right-wing antisemites targeted people they perceived to be Jewish by putting triple parentheses (((around their names))). Some of the people these right-wingers identified as Jewish were Jews; others were people with names that seemed Jewish. Some may not have identified as Jewish, but had been targeted by a web app that scanned for Jewish-sounding last names. The American antisemites seemingly didn’t care, just like the Nazis didn’t care in the 1930s and 1940s when they defined a Jew as anyone with Jewish grandparents. Jews are not a race, but sometimes antisemites try to make us out as one, and to force Jewish identity on people who don’t see themselves as such.
So what is Judaism? It’s a religion. It’s a culture. It’s a heritage. It’s a box you might have to check at the doctor’s office. It’s a complicated, ancient, incredibly diverse, permeable peoplehood. And yes, it’s true that where there are two Jews, there are probably three opinions.
