Shavuot Reflections
20/05/2007

The celebration of Shavuot is an excellent occasion to reflect upon Jewish culture, Jewish identity, religious Judaism, and secular Judaism. I would like to start with the following question: How many secular Jews outside of the State of Israel will not be going to work on Wednesday May 23 because of Shavuot? I would imagine that the answer is a number very close to zero. In Israel, the answer to this question is radically different because Shavuot is a national holiday. The only people working will basically be those involved in emergency services, and those involved in the food industry and in recreational activities. But now, instead of proceeding with my usual bright-eyed Zionism (where I speak about what it means to me as a religious Jew to be living in a country where my religious holidays are the country’s national holidays), I want to ask: What is the import of the fact of Shavuot being a national holiday? That is, if one is not already a Jew for whom religious tradition means something, does it matter that the sixth day of Sivan is a national holiday?

In answering this question, we can use the following definition: To be a secular Jew is to pursue Jewishness by ethnic identification apart from religious identification. One’s Jewishness is thus expressed through the food, music, languages, literature, and art of the Jewish people. It’s been sort of taken for granted that Israel is the only place on earth where one can be a secular Jew. I am starting to wonder if this has any meaning any more--or ever did.

I’m now questioning the received wisdom that says that a person’s Jewishness will mean something to him or her simply because of the fact that they live in Israel, simply because of the fact that, for example, the country closes down on Shavuot. It’s now clear to many people that evidence supporting this thesis is very sketchy.

Here is a test to see whether or not Shavuot is able to order and affect the experience of an Israeli Jew: If an Israeli finds themselves abroad, will it matter to them whether or not they celebrate Shavuot in some way? My hunch is that the extent to which an individual celebrates Shavuot will be directly tied to the religious elements and customs of the holiday that speak to them—studying Jewish texts, eating dairy foods, and rejoicing in “first fruits.” If an Israeli’s Shavuot typically had consisted of a long vacation weekend at a beach, it’s highly doubtful that that Israeli, now living in the United States, will take off from work on Wednesday May 23, especially when the long Memorial Day weekend is just two days away.  What this means is that Shavuot as a long vacation weekend only affects a person’s experience like any long weekend that they might take. If the fact that it is Shavuot is incidental, then Shavuot does not affect a person’s experience, then that person’s identity as a Jew remains unaffected by this holiday.

Israelis who are concerned with providing some meaning to Jewish identity are gravitating toward the activities of the rapidly-growing number of organizations that encourage the exploration of Jewish tradition and culture among the general (primarily non-religious) Israeli population. Here, for instance, is what was on the billboard that greeted people upon entering my town on May 7: “The Center for Jewish Identity, in cooperation with Givat Ze’ev’s JCC, invites you, kindergarteners and first and second graders, to a story and activity hour today at 4:30 p.m.” I don’t know what went on during that hour, but I and many Israelis feel that many such hours are needed all across the state, for all Jews of all ages.

Happy Shavuot.

Copyright 2007, Teddy Weinberger