18 Reasons to Love and Celebrate Judaism!
May is Jewish Heritage Month. We are proud of our history of perseverance and survival and the contributions Jews have made to the world throughout history.
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18. In Jewish tradition, the letters of the Hebrew alphabet also represent numbers. The number 18 (chet=8, yod=10) spells out the word Chai, which means LIFE! Chai is considered lucky, and denominations of 18 are often used when giving gifts or other times a number is needed. To Life, or L'Chaim is a common blessing, especially when having a drink, as Tevye sang in Fiddler on the Roof.
17. Speaking of CHAI, Winnipeg is famous for its Sarah Sommer Chai Folk Ensemble, North America's oldest and largest Israeli dance ensemble, founded in Winnipeg in 1964. Today, it still consists of dancers, singers, and other musicians with their unique blend of dance, music and song! Many Seven Oaks staff and students have been a part of this ensemble over the years!
16. On May 14, 1948, Israel was declared a state. Before that date, the area was under the control of the British, known as the British Mandate for Palestine and Transjordan. During the time of the British Mandate, various groups had been lobbying for a Jewish nation, since the Dreyfus trial in France in 1894, and with renewed strength in the aftermath of WWII. On the 5th of Iyar (the Jewish calendar date that coincides with May 14, 1948,) the British left the land they occupied, and Israel was declared a free, independent country. Yet on that same day, Israel was attacked by its neighbours. Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon all rejected the United Nations’ two state solution, and launched a strike against Israel, hoping to erase it from the map. Approximately two years later, the war ended, and to the world’s surprise, Israel survived as a country. Meanwhile, the majority of the land that had been intended for a Palestinian country came under the control of Egypt (Gaza) and Jordan (the West Bank). This year, Israel celebrated 77 years as the only Jewish state in the entire world.
https://www.britannica.com/event/Arab-Israeli-wars
https://www.britannica.com/topic/two-state-solution
15. Israel’s independence is significant as Jews are indigenous to the land called Israel. Whether the connection to the land is traced biblically, historically, or archaeologically, Jewish lineage can be connected to the land going back thousands of years. Biblically, Jews can be traced to the Tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi. While there have been various names for the land, Jews, along with the Bedouin tribes, are indigenous to the land, and despite multiple expulsions, have always lived on the land. Jews also recognize that Arabs are indigenous to the land. Israel’s War of Independence is also known to the Arab world as the Nakba, or Catastrophe, as it came at the expense of some 700 000 displaced Arabs, who became known as Palestinians.
Simultaneouly, 800,000 Jews were exiled from the surrounding Muslim nations to live in their homeland, Israel.
Many scholars believe that Roman Emperor Hadrian changed the provincial administrative name of Judaea to Palestine to erase the Jewish presence in the land. Today, many people commonly confuse the name with modern Palestine and assume the Muslim presence pre-dated the Jewish presence, causing misunderstanding, hatred, and antisemitism. Today, most Israelis and Jews around the world hope for a free and independent Palestine neighbouring the State of Israel, and that there will finally be peace in the region.
https://www.history.com/topics/middle-east/history-of-israel
https://www.history.com/topics/middle-east/palestine
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/origin-of-quot-palestine-quot
14. Judaism is not just a religion - it's also a culture and an ethnicity, built up over thousands of years of a shared history, language, and connection to one another and the land from which we came. Although many Jews feel a deep connection to their faith and the structures of the Jewish religion, this is not what makes a person Jewish. While most Jewish traditions are tied to the religion, they are also tied to our history and culture. Some Jewish holidays have little or even no mention of the divine at all, while others are focused primarily on the personal connection between each Jewish person and Adonai (G-d). Conversion to Judaism takes on a double meaning with the double role as Judaism is both religion and culture. Judaism does not proselytize and only accepts conversion after rigorous study and ceremony under the supervision of a Rabbi. Once a person has converted, however, they are to be fully embraced as a member of the Jewish tribe, both religiously and culturally.
https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2021/05/11/jewish-identity-and-belief/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/judaism/beliefs/conversion.shtml
Graffiti found on a home in Vaughn, ON in April 2019
13. Jews have faced antisemitism, or hatred and unfair treatment of Jews, just because they are Jewish, throughout history. From the sacking of Jerusalem in 70 A.D through the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, the Russian Pogroms, to the modern acts of hatred and the persistent desire to eradicate Israel from the map today, there has not been a time in history through which Jews have not been targeted. Today, despite representing less than 1% of the Canadian population, Jews remain the religious group most likely to be targeted for hate crimes.
12. As a result of the ongoing history of discrimination, and experiencing hatred firsthand, most Jews do not identify as “White.” Though some systemic discrimination has been eliminated in recent years, and some Jewish people benefit from some of the privileges of having Caucasian skin, the blanket term “White” does not apply. Jews rarely identify with ethnic descriptors on surveys, and find themselves checking the box left for “others.” Antisemetic practice also included barring Jews from owning land throughout history in Europe, as well as in Manitoba through the 1970s. Jews find their Jewish identity in their religion, ethnicity, and culture. Our people are diverse and Jews may also identify with the BIPOC community as well as in the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, or any other group where humans live. Today, Jews wear most of the different hats in our society, and like every other group, don’t want to be labelled, especially by groups of people from which we were restricted from joining, and in some cases still aren’t considered completely equal.
https://www.theholocaustexplained.org/anti-semitism/medieval-antisemitism/
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/when-manitoba-s-beaches-were-forbidden-to-jews-1.5448883
A handy-dandy Cheat Sheet
to the Jewish Holidays!
11. Despite the constant threat of eradication, leaving Jews with a tradition of many holidays for which we give thanks for our survival, and eat a lot of food, Jews continue to live, and thrive, in the world. Jews identify as Jewish religiously (from orthodox to secular, from conservative to reform), culturally, and/or ethnically. There are as many varieties of Jews as there are humans in the world. When Jews were expelled from Jerusalem, they spread throughout the diaspora. Ashkenazi Jews are the descendants of those who fled to France, Germany, Eastern Europe, and then later North America. Sephardic Jews migrated to Spain, Portugal and were the first Jews to cross the ocean to the Americas. Mizrachi Jews fled to North Africa, and parts of the Middle East. In Israel today, a little more than half of all Jews are Mizrachim, descended from Jews who have been living on the land since ancient times or who were forced out of Arab countries after Israel was founded. Most Jews in North America today are of Ashkenazi descent. While Jews only represent 0.2% of the world population there are Jewish communities in most regions in the world. Israel also represents the diverse population of Jews and remains a safe haven for Jews all over the world.
10. Despite the small number of Jews in the world, the contribution Jews have made to the global community is substantial. Jewish scientists, doctors, writers, and politicians have won 211 of the 900 Nobel Prizes awarded from 1901 to 2022 in each of the six categories. Jews are innovators, making advances in medicine and technology to save lives and improve the world.
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jewish-nobel-prize-laureates
9. If there is one aspect of Jews with which most people are familiar, it is the Jewish contribution to the world of entertainment. From Bob Dylan, to Judy Blume, to Steven Speilberg, most people have been entertained by someone Jewish. If one celebrates Christmas, then one has almost certainly sang a Christman Carol written by a Jewish composer. The Jewish connection to storytelling begins in the Torah, the 5 Books of the Old Testament, upon which Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are all founded. Like many cultures, the Jewish tradition of storytelling began as an oral tradition and remains so, even as many stories and scholarly rabbinical opinions and laws were written down and continue to be studied. Today, most Jewish holidays consist of the tradition of telling the story, usually of survival, as a means of bearing witness and ensuring our continued existence in our future.
https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/109851/jewish/Jewish-Stories.htm
https://www.newsweek.com/best-christmas-songs-were-actually-written-jews-758528
8. Speaking of Hollywood, it is a stereotype that Jews own Hollywood, and like most stereotypes the trope is the result of a misunderstood history. It is true, given the small population, there are a large number of Jews working in the entertainment industry, and a group of Jewish immigrants did in fact found a number of the Hollywood studios that bore the industry we now know. Ironically, it was the same existing stereotypes, of Jewish control and greed, that led to its foundation. In early America, Jews were barred from owning land in most parts of the country. They were also shut out of most industries, and therefore found professional roles in places deemed too low for Christians, like money trading, law, and the theatre. In the face of discrimination, and banned from public places like hospitals and movie theatres, Jews went west and founded their own. As the movie industry grew, Jews began to thrive, at least for a while.
7. Jewish success, in Hollywood, and the rest of North America came at great expense. As reflected in the experience of the founding Hollywood studio moguls, assimilation was the main objective. In order to escape antisemitism, Jews wanted nothing more than to blend in with the American, predominantly Christian, population. They wrote Christian songs and told Christian stories. At the same time, they began to produce films that broke down barriers, and created a new vision of what America’s melting pot might look like in the future. Still they faced discrimination. Jewish actors changed their names to get jobs. Today, there are still a large number of Jews working in Hollywood, and some representation can be seen in movies and TV. However, antisemitism is also normalized, as common stereotypes reflect. Hollywood also continues to drive divisive narratives, rather than unite and make connections among groups of people. None of the stories of the Civil Right Movement and the Marches on Washington mention the friendship between Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rabbi Joshua Heschel, or the allyship the Jewish community showed for their black brothers and sisters, despites its prominent role in history. While on one hand Jews are represented in Hollywood, on the other Jewish history and contributions have been whitewashed and erased from the story.
https://rollingstoneindia.com/there-are-lots-of-jews-in-hollywood-let-a-rabbi-explain-why/
https://www.plough.com/en/topics/community/leadership/two-friends-two-prophets
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/selmas-missing-rabbi_b_6491368
6. Yet Jews survive, persist, and even thrive, largely because despite a history of being despised and wished gone, we live on because we laugh about our circumstances. Humour and laughter can be traced back to the bible, where the forefather Isaac was named for the word laughter. In the 19th century, in order to cope with the Pogroms, random attacks on life and livelihood in the Shtetls, or villages, of Eastern Europe, storytellers relied on the comedy of fools in a town and mishaps and miscommunications, as well as poking fun at their own condition, in order to survive. Jews “kvetch,” or complain in a humorous manner, making fun of the usually extreme and awful conditions placed upon us. Some commentators have stated Jewish humour is a survival tactic. By altering perspective, Jews accept the unsympathetic world for what it is. “Want to alleviate your big-time worries? Put on a tighter shoe,” advises the Yiddish proverb.
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/jewish-humor-a-history/
5. Yiddish is the language of the Ashkenazi Jews. Once very common and now rarely spoken, it is now enjoying a small cultural revival in song and theatre. Yiddish is written with the Hebrew alphabet, using basic grammatical structure and vocabulary taken from German, and also integrating other languages, including Hebrew, Aramaic, and some Slavic and Romance languages. There were several reasons for the decline of Yiddish. It suffered from marginalization during the foundation of Israel, when Hebrew was being reclaimed. Just prior, Yiddish was decimated along with the Jewish population of Europe in the Holocaust. Those who survived were reluctant to speak Yiddish, in favour of assimilation and English in post-war America, leaving the language nearly extinct. Though there has been some resurgence in Yiddish in recent years, it remains a rarely spoken language. At the same time, some Yiddish words have permeated secular culture and the English language. From a schmear on your bagel to the chutzpah it takes to call out a putz, Yiddish lives in our everyday language, and is still around in many traditional Jewish songs too.
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/yiddish/
https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/english-words-from-yiddish
4. Music, songs, and singing are a big part of most Jewish holidays and festivals. Jews celebrate the Sabbath each week, from Friday at sundown until Saturday after dark. Orthodox Jews refrain from “work,” including using electricity and driving, during the Sabbath and other religious holidays. Other Sabbath traditions include lighting candles, a Sabbath dinner with blessings for wine and Challah (bread), attending services at synagogue, and singing songs. The Sabbath, or Shabbat, is a day or rest, and a time to spend with family and friends. Other important Jewish holidays are Rosh HaShannah (the New Year), Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), Sukkot (a harvest festival), Passover (the story of Exodus), and Shavuot (receiving the Ten Commandments). Prayer and ceremony are a part of every holiday, as is food, usually a lot, especially to break the fast at the end of Yom Kippur. Purim and Hanukkah are both minor holidays that celebrate Jewish survival over larger forces who wished to eradicate them in that time. Purim is biblical and recorded in the Megilat Esther, or the Book of Esther. Though a biblical story there is actually no mention of God; it was man's conscience that saved us that time. Hanukkah is an historical holiday, not biblical. Considered minor, it largely gained importance, and popularity, due to its close proximity to Christmas and the Jewish population’s desire to assimilate, while still retaining its Jewish identity. Jews also follow their own lunar calendar, so the exact dates of the holidays vary year to year.
3. Like all religions, Judaism is a religion largely constructed by men. While there certainly remains an extreme, conservative faction that wishes to use its religious position for power, specifically over women and those who step outside the “norm,” through history Judaism has been largely progressive and inclusive in its understanding of humanity and its needs. Death Rituals focus on the grief, healing process, and well-being of the mourner. The health and wellness of women are front and center when it comes to birth control, abortion, and even in marriage contracts of the past. Judaism has always recognized the existence of 6 genders in people, and while it took the same amount of time as the rest of the modern world, most Jewish communities worldwide, including Israel, have active and vibrant LGBTQIA+ communities, where individuals enjoy the same rights as everyone else. Recent demonstrations against the current government and their threat to these rights through Judicial reform reflect Israeli commitment to Jewish values of inclusion and equal rights for everyone.
https://rac.org/blog/what-torah-teaches-us-about-gender-fluidity-and-transgender-justice
https://www.israel21c.org/timeline-of-lgbtq-rights-in-israel/
2. At the heart of Judaism lives the concept of “Tikun Olam,” or repairing the world. The idea first appeared in the rabbinical writings almost 2000 years ago, and reflects the importance of taking care of one’s fellow human, especially if that person is disadvantaged, or has less than another. Today, Tikun Olam is often connected to ideas of Social Justice. In order to take action, and do our part, Judaism also provides a path, by enacting a “Mitzvah,” which literally means “Commandment,” but has come to be associated with a good deed. There are 613 Mitzvot laid out in the Torah, or bible, some with explanations, and others more random, to provide a context for living, which Jews either accept, or reject, and often pick and choose to suit their needs, like with Kashrut, or Jewish food laws. Whatever the context, a mitzvah is generally action driven, in an effort to improve the world, and live the life of a good person, or a “mensch.”
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/tikkun-olam-repairing-the-world/
1 While ancient as a religion, historic as a nation, and near extinction multiple times in history, the Jewish people, culture, and tradition, remain alive, and mostly well, in Israel and throughout the Diaspora today. One tenet of Jewish values is learning, and another is to take action to bring about change. As educators, we hope to promote learning in the division, as well as represent our proud heritage and traditions. We hope you have learned from our list of 18 Reasons to Love and Celebrate about Judaism for Jewish Heritage Month.
SOJEW 2022-23
Cari Satran
Tannis Silver
Lainie Rosner
Rachel Cooper
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