By Beth Finger
I was at the gym recently and distracted myself from the boredom of the stairmaster by reading the helpful tips presented on the monitor hanging from the ceiling. One of these fitness tips caught my eye:
Functional Training – exercise which involves training the body for the activities performed in daily life.
For example, strengthen the leg muscles that are used for sitting down and standing up from a chair; strengthen the back muscles that we use for lifting grocery bags. Makes sense.
Since I had another twenty minutes on the stairmaster, I began to think about how this fitness strategy is actually the way that I think about my Judaism. I realized that I practice what I would call, Functional Judaism.
Functional Judaism – a practice that uses the values and traditions of Judaism to inform and elevate my every day life.
I am not kosher and Saturday is usually filled with running errands and driving my kids to where they need to be. Yet, when I see a backlit cloud formation in the sky or a scenic mountain view, my mind wanders to B’reishit, when the heavens and the earth were formed in the creation story that opens the Torah. I am reminded that we are commanded with the responsibility to take care of the earth. When I hear of one person helping another in need, my Jewish spirit soars. I think of the value from the Talmud: “Kol Yisrael Arevim zeh la’zeh,” that we are all responsible for one another. And Leviticus: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” As these values echo through my head, the beautiful scene or the story of human kindness make sense to me in a deeper way as they are rooted in my ancient story. I am humbled by the big picture that I am neither the first nor the last to appreciate these things, and my experience has been elevated by seeing it through a Jewish lens.
My neighbor recently hung a confederate flag from his porch. I had a visceral reaction to it and knew immediately that I would have to go over there to talk to him. I dreaded it but knew that as a Jew, I had no choice. A lifetime of seders teaching me to be kind to the stranger, a lifetime of knowing about the Holocaust and what happens when you don’t stand up to hatred, and the pride I have that the Jewish community – my people – played a prominent role in the Civil Rights Movement, compelled me to walk over to my neighbor’s house and speak up.
This is Functional Judaism – a Judaism that is useful every day, not just on Rosh Hashanah, Hanukkah and other Jewish holidays. Our very own Judaism (no need to look further) is the marrow that can fill our lives with human necessities: friends, built-in family time, delicious foods, answers to our deepest questions, wisdom on how to parent and how to grieve, opportunities to celebrate and get together with friends and family, feeling rooted, a moral compass, permission to slow down and appreciate life around you, and so much more.
Jewish Without Walls (JWOW), an independent start-up in Suffolk County Long Island, shifted our efforts this year from Jewish holiday programs to those focused on values that we can use every day. Through a grant from PJ Library, our new JWOW Around Town initiative takes families to places that they enjoy spending time, and we experience it through a Jewish lens. For example, we met at an equestrian center where the children groomed, fed and cared for the horses. We taught them about tza’ar ba’alei chayim (preventing suffering in animals) and that respecting animals is actually a Jewish commandment. Once they were inspired, we encouraged them to take care of their pets at home and to be kind to all animals. JWOW has another event scheduled for a fire house, where we will get a tour, speak to the fire fighters and learn about pikuach nefesh, that saving a life is the most important Jewish value.
All too often, I hear people describe themselves as “bad Jews.” This is typically a shorthand to say that they are not halachically or religiously observant. By integrating Judaism into our every day lives through Functional Judaism, we will have many more secular and not traditionally observant Jews thinking of themselves as Jewish in the positive – by all of the things that they do that are Jewish. The question, “Why Be Jewish” will become easy to answer and Judaism will truly nurture people and help them to flourish.
Beth Finger is the Founder and Executive Director of Jewish Without Walls (JWOW).
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Wait, but what happened with the confrontation with the neighbor?
This is an interesting take Beth. But doesn’t “Functional Judaism” also need to incorporate at least some dosage of the ritual or else it risks universality completely overwhelming the particular? I am not suggesting that one must be completely shomar shabbat, kashrut, etc., but I would push back on whether these fundamental elements of what has made our religion “function” throughout time shouldn’t play more of a role than your piece seems to suggest. Happy to discuss this with you more…..I’m working on a book about transmitting tradition in a diverse world….
Beth, thank you for such a thoughtful commentary on the essence of being a modern Jew. I’m sure it, like JWOW, will resonate with many others who feel exactly what you expressed so well.
Everyone is asking what happened with my neighbor so here it goes:
It was a tough conversation that started with him asking me to leave his porch. The first thing that I said was that he has every right to hang whatever flag that he wants on his house. I persisted and we had a several minute talk. He felt that I was insinuating that he was racist and he was adamant that he is not. To him, the flag represented southern pride/culture and was given to him by his police partner who was from the south. I said that I believed him but that this flag has different meanings and is most often perceived as racist. The conversation went on and was very tense but we shook hands at the end. The next day the American flag was out.
Professor Kwall — You bring up such a good point and I struggle with the particular/universal nature of “values.” I’ll say three things, but would welcome a further conversation.
First, Functional Judaism is best as a complement to Jewish traditions and celebrating Jewish holidays.
Second, the universal is made Jewish simply by choosing to look at it that way. All religions and even civil religion make similar claims on values.
For example, take kindness to our fellow wo/man. That’s a universal value that we can all get behind and that all religions promote. The only way to make it particular is to bear in mind “loving your neighbor” was written in the Book of Leviticus in the Torah thousands of years ago and, therefore, it is part of our Jewish heritage to be kind. Christians can say the same thing and point to the Book of Mark in the New Testament — I guess that would be Functional Christianity!
Third, Functional Judaism requires Jewish literacy. If you don’t know that the Jewish canon holds all of this wisdom, you can’t refer to it in your daily life. By the way, this also ties into experiential education where the educator can find Jewish teaching moments only if s/he knows enough to recognize them.
Please contact me to continue the conversation at Beth@JewishWithoutWalls.org
Beth, thank you for writing this interesting piece.
I would recommend an expansion of what can be considered “Functional Judaism” to incorporate many of the traditional rituals that people sometimes chafe up against when they consider themselves bad jews.
The idea of unplugging for Shabbat (either entirely or partially) should be seen as very functional in a world where we have angst over our own and our children’s relationship with technology. It also creates space and time for families and communities to bond.
Saying blessings before and after meals, and establishing a regular prayer ritual, instill the value of appreciation and humility.
And frankly anything that we consider completely off-limits that we cannot rationalize (eating bread on passover, or keeping kosher) are a great counter-balance to the culture of consumerism and consumption that we live in.
So you’re definitely right with your examples, but I wouldn’t rule out traditional observance when seeking functional Judaism. (Which I don’t think you were trying to argue, but could have been construed from your piece.)