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Issues Affecting the Jewish World
Haaretz - 09/01/2009
Pen Ultimate / Living jewdiciously By Michael Handelzalts
I spent the final days of last year on the campus
of Warwick University, among about 3,000
(predominantly) English Jews, who were trying
to get the most out of the rich and varied
program of lectures, presentations, workshops
and what-have-you, organized by the inventive
and energetic staff of Limmud. This was the
annual flagship event of this nonprofit
organization, which promotes innovative and
inclusive Jewish education.
I could quote now from the Limmud site and
their bulky conference guide (don't worry, I will
later), but what struck me, as a novice
"Limmudnik" (one of their terms), was that I was
participating in a huge social gathering of people
for whom their Jewishness is "an issue." Upon
realizing this, I tried to define, for myself, what
exactly is meant by "an issue" in this context.
The best explanation that came to mind was that
this group of people, of differing ages, family
status and social background, had the need to
explore, experience and exercise their
Jewishness.
There was nothing religious going on, although
there were some aspects of the gathering that
had religious overtones (the meals were kosher;
the vending machines on the campus carried
warnings about their contents being non-kosher),
and there were quite a few males of all ages
wearing skullcaps (there was even a session on
how to crochet your own skullcap). I even
spotted here and there prayer fringes on young
guys twisting and shaking to the music of the
Coolooloosh band, with young women who did not
appear to be worried about fulfilling any
commandments associated with protecting
modesty.
There were sessions about Jewish art and
biblical scholarship. There was discussion of
relations between Jews, Israelis, Muslims,
Palestinians, gays, women, new immigrants and
anti-Semites - in any possible and some
impossible combinations - with presenters filling
the hall (for instance, historian Deborah
Lipstadt retelling the story of her legal battle
with Holocaust denier David Irving). Some
lecturers made do with smaller audiences (I was
lucky to have about 40 listeners for three of my
presentations, but only five showed up for one
of them).
Israel's Gen. (ret.) Yaakov Amidror, who was
asked a lot about what was, is and will be going
on in Gaza, had one listener turn up for one of
his sessions - on "being an officer and a frum
guy" - which ended up being a one-on-one talk
about Gaza.
But while sampling the great wealth and variety
of sessions focusing on Jewish learning (there
was even a presentation about mathematics and
the Mishna), I was bothered because the fact
that I am Jewish was never an issue for me.
When Moses asks about God's name before
embarking on the historic mission of leading the
Jews to the Promised Land, God answers: "I am
that I am." Without wishing to sound like a
megalomaniac, that's the way I feel about my
Jewishness: That is what I am, and I usually
don't waste time pondering the essence of it, as
participants in the Limmud conference seemed
to do.
There is a very simple reason for the fact that I
am at peace with myself about being
Jewish: I live in the Jewish state, and