Jewish Reconnection Project- Part 1

When it’s “too easy” to be Jewish



I have a rabbi which often says: You know, Israel is the only country without any Jews! In Morocco, you have Jews. In America, you have Jews. In Canada, you have Jews. In Poland, you have Jews. In South Africa, you have Jews. In India, you have Jews. In Israel, you don’t have any Jews. You have Americans, Canadians, Poles and South Africans.

In the video of the first episode of the Jewish Reconnection Project, almost all of the speakers spoke negatively of the fact that Jewish Identity in Israel is too simple. “It’s too easy”. Of course, the idea was that once it’s too easy, you do not fight to become Jewish which ends up making easier to drift away from traditional practices.

What these people spoke of negatively, I feel is the greatest miracle of recent history!






During 2000 years of exile, our Judaism had morphed from a national practice of Judaism full a meaning, to a Judaism whose main concern was of keeping ourselves closed off from the world in order to survive assimilation. Rav Kook explains that there are two types of Shemas (the prayer in which we accept the yoke of heaven). At night, the Shema is one we say to ourselves. When it is night, we don’t really see anyone around us. We are alone. We need to work on our own personal self. The outside world is dangerous. In the morning, however, the Shma is not only to us. We call out to the world. Our universal mission comes into play and we act as an example to the world on how to be a moral Godly nation. Of course, Night symbolizes the time of Galut, a time in which our Judaism is limited to the ability to survive as a nation until a better time, a time where our focus is solely on ourselves because we do not have any influence in the world. In the time of gueoula, the day starts to come and we can once again act as a Light unto the nations.

When people start feeling that Judaism is “too easy”, it means that the time of the lower level of Judaism from Galut is now over. We can see it clearly in the past 300 years with so many Jews rejecting that form of Judaism. Of course, I do not believe they were right when rejecting it. They should have looked deeper, found the deeper truth of Judaism which is not limited to “the survival of our faith”. However, I understand their choice. They were looking for more. Their souls were thirsty, and since many still did not meet the special Torah of Eretz Israel, their souls are still thirsty.

Some people in the video seemed to imply that the facility of Judaism in the land of Israel caused the Jews to assimilate. Let’s make one thing clear: There is less assimilation in the clubs of Tel Aviv then in the Yeshivot of Monsey. Once you are in Israel, even though you are not religious, you are very unlikely to assimilate. That is why the Judaism of the past 2000 years is not enough anymore. People are thirsty for authentic Judaism of the Land of Israel.

In Israel, there are no Jews because everyone is Jewish. It’s easy to be Jewish. We need to look deeper for our Judaism. The fact that we are looking for the deeper, more authentic Judaism, is probably the greatest miracle in recent history. We are bringing back Judaism to its true glory.

You heard what they said. You heard what I had to say. Now it is your turn to further comment.