Ruffling Feathers Author confronts "the self-imposed death of institutional Judaism." DOUGLAS RUSHKOFF Feaurewell. corn I 'm a Jew. Or, at least I was last time I checked. But many official institutions of Judaism would say that I'm not, and, most likely, neither are you. No, it's not because my mom's not Jewish (the usual, racist, excuse), but because I don't happen to belong to a synagogue. As a result, they label me "lapsed" or, in the optimistic language of the market researchers charged with saving Judaism, "a latent Jew." Actually, these days they're calling me an atheist, an Israel hater and an anti- Semite. Not because I'm saying anything bad about God, Israel or Judaism, but merely because I'm asking that we be allowed to discuss these ideas, together. We all know that there are some sticking points to being Jewish in the Diaspora today — particularly with what's going on in Israel. Luckily, Judaism has a wealth of built-in mecha- nisms for confronting the lure of funda- mentalism, nationalism and tribalism. But in my effort to show Jews some of what is so very progressive and rele- vant about their dwindling religion, I have instead provoked their most para- noid, regressive wrath. What I'm learning is that today's Jewish institutions have more to fear from Judaism than they have to gain. That's why they're going out of their way to keep Judaism from actually happening. I've written about media and culture for the past 10 years. Interactivity has always been my passion — especially the way the Internet turned a passive media space into a freewheeling con- versation. Instead of depending on the newscast- er or sponsor for our stories, we were free to tell our own. I wrote eight well- received books about what was happen- ing to our culture, and how to navigate its new "do-it-yourself" terrains. Then, just a few years ago, it 4.,g4 A 8/ 1 2003 52 Douglas Rushkoff is the author of eight best-selling books on new media and popular culture, including "Cyberia,'"Media Virus," "Playing the Future," "Coercion: Why We Listen to What 'They' Say," and the novels "Ecstasy Club" and "Exit Strategy." intermarriage, the threat of assimilation occurred to me that Judaism had and the need to protect Israel. attempted to do the same thing to Worst of all, as I'm learning, these religion. subjects are not up for discussion. The mythical Israelites of the Torah Jewish philanthropies spend millions left their idols behind in order to forge a of dollars and hours counting Jews new way of life — one in which they and conducting marketing research on weren't dependent upon the gods to do how to get young people to stop mar- everything for them. Judaism abstracted God so that people could become think- rying goys and start supporting Israel. If they were to spend even half this ing, active adults. effort actually doing Judaism, they What made Judaism so radical — so might find that they'd attract a whole sacrilegious in its day — was the lot more people to their cause. proclamation that people can actually make the world a better place. God may have given us great hints on how to be holy people, but the rest is up to us. The reason Jews have such a hard time explaining Judaism, "the reli- gion," is that we aren't about beliefs. All we really have is a process — an ongoing conversation. You get initiated, a bar or bat mitzvah, by proving you can read the Torah and speak somewhat intelligently about it. No state- ments of faith required — just lit- eracy and an opinion about what you've read earn you a place at the table. Then you get to argue with the old guys. That's right: Judaism boils down to a 3,500-year-old debate about what happened on Mount Sinai and what we're supposed to do Douglas Rushkoff author of "Nothing Sacred: about it. Judaism is not set in stone; The Truth About Judaism" (Crown; 260 pp.; it is to be reinterpreted by each gen- $24.95): In an effort to show Jews some of eration. what is so very progressive and relevant about All that's required is a continual their religion, writer Douglas Rushkoff smashing of your false idols (icon- instead provoked their wrath. oclasm), a refusal to pretend you know who or what God is In an era in which spirituality is (abstract monotheism) and being nice about breaking the illusion of self, who to people (social justice). wants to be part of a religion or a peo- In a sense, Judaism isn't a religion at ple that is turned so inward? Judaism's all, but a way human beings can get greatest concern, these days, is itself. over religion and into caring about Most of my friends abandoned one another. Judaism as soon as they were allowed Sounds good, anyway. to for precisely these reasons. Having But like so many latent Jews today found some useful truths in there, (we account for more than 50 percent however, I was loath to throw out the of the total in America), I had a hard baby with the bathwater. time finding places where this sort of I figured I owed it to myself, and to Judaism is still practiced. They exist, but more likely in an apartment living room Judaism, to revive the conversation. "Can we talk?" I've been asking in my or school basement than a sanctuary. lectures, articles and even a book. The vast majority of messages coming Apparently not. out of mainstream Judaism concern post- Don't get me wrong: A great majori- Holocaust issues such as the dangers of ty of the people to whom I've been speaking in synagogues and bookstores around the nation agree with what I have to say. Even the rabbis. "If that's Judaism," I've been told many times, "then count me in!" A half dozen Torah discussion groups have formed among people who met at my bookstore appearances. But the people running Judaism's more established institutions — the philanthropies, federations and period- icals that speak for the Jewish people today — are so threatened by the notion of an open conversation about Judaism that they can't help but go on the attack. 'Along comes Douglas Rushkoff," announced one of my intellectual role models, Anne Roiphe, after I wrote a New York Times op-ed about organized Judaism's self-defeating obsession with race and numbers. Treating Jews as an endangered species in dire need of a breeding pro- gram, I argued, was hardly a good strategy for attracting more young, successful and universal-minded peo- ple into the fold, if that's even the object of the game. She called me "silly" and cited the existence of Tay Sachs disease as evi- dence of a Jewish "race" that requires protection. Why couldn't she have spoken to one geneticist before mak- ing such an unfounded remark, in print, no less? (Throw a few thousand people in a ghetto for a few dozen centuries and they'll develop some dis- eases. Most scientists have abandoned the concept of race altogether.) She went on to cite the Jewish concern with "the degree of Jewishness of one's parents" as proof that Judaism is a race. I've been amazed as I've watched otherwise rational, well-spoken people revert to childlike circularity when confronted by the inconsistencies in their own religious outlooks. I know, I know: That's why they call it religion. Judaism was supposed to be a smarter solution, a thinking person's answer to religiosity. A conversation. That's why, more than their inane remarks or beliefs, what disturbs me about the reaction of Judaism's gate- keepers is their refusal to make a place for me — and the majority of "latent" Jewry — at the Jewish table. I do feel for these people, and can understand the wish to believe that we are direct descendents of the mythical characters described in the Torah. But, 42 years circumcised, I refuse to be treated as an outsider for seeing the great benefits of contending otherwise — as Judaism, itself, suggests we do.