Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Tradition, TRA-DI-TION! (and why it doesn't inspire me)

An argument I hear for orthopraxy is "even though Torah may not have been given by god and even though god may not exist there is value in following the traditions of the Jewish people". This argument doesn't do anything for me. I've been in discussions with people on the blog where they have used this argument on me and my response was fairly ho-hum. I think they may have gotten the impression that I was be factitious but I genuinely don't get it. Over Pesach I think I figured out why.

Pesach featured a lot of discussion about minhagim (traditions which lack a textual source but still have binding status in Jewish law). As you may or may not know, within Judaism minhagim are taken very seriously. In general, one is supposed to keep all of their parent's minhagim. Having been raised Lubavitch I was raised with many minhagim that are different from the brand of orthodox Judaism I now belong to. Since leaving the sect I've dropped nearly all of my Lubavitch minhagim. I didn't ask a Rabbi for permission, I just stopped doing them.

Being orthoprax is very much like following a minhag. There is no source for following a particular tradition but you follow it anyway. If you're orthoprax you may not believe in the source for being orthodox but you follow it anyway.

I think the main reason I'm fairly indifferent to ancient Jewish traditions is a result of my parents being BTs. They (and by extension, I) are not part of some never-ending chain of people following a set of traditions that snakes back to Moses. My folks just joined up. Maybe they had grandparents who might have followed some of these practices. But I can trace my family's tradition of sports allegiances farther back than my family's tradition of religious observances. (BTW, I feel very strongly about my sports allegiances but then again, I would compromise them in a second if there was reason to). You can argue that even if my family isn't part of a never-ending chain we are all Jewish and my tribe has been following these traditions. My response is that I can point to a mixed marriage or two up the chain and that I can claim a genetic/familial connection to a couple different ancient traditions. Why should I invest in Judaism in particular? Because this is what my parents selected a couple decades ago?

But this is just one issue. When I was frum in my mind I didn't practice Judaism because I needed to be a part of something greater than myself. I did it because I believed it was what god wanted of me. Whether the commandments were 33 years old or 3,300 years old was irrelevant. The fact that minhagim lack a source bothered me then. (If god didn't decree it then why does it matter? Let's do what makes sense!) Why do I separate from my wife for an extra seven days? Tradition? Why should I care about tradition for tradition sake? Traditions are great if they take on meaning. But I don't care for artificially applying meaning where there is none simply for the sake of trying to justify meaningless practices. This is also my basic critique of orthopraxy. Inventing meanings all day does not make acting-orthodox meaningful.

A lack of tradition is the only one my family's got.

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Interesting side note: In writing this blog I remembered that before I went mentally OTD I once made the argument for "tradition" to The Candy Man. In particular I remember telling him that even if he doesn't believe in god/Torah/orthodoxy there is something cool in wearing a kippah if only because it is a custom that dates back hundreds, or thousands, of years. I don't think I was very convincing. I remember thinking I wasn't totally in love with the argument but thought it might do something for him.

I recently asked The Candy Man if he remembered this conversation. He said he did and that he recalls that we got on the topic because I was feeling uneasy about not wearing a kippah at work. It's been a long ride.

9 comments:

Jessica said...

I'm getting lazy in my young days and finding it hard to read full posts and I just end up commenting on the first paragraph or so. So after reading the first paragraph, here's my question: why would someone who doesn't believe the Torah was given by G-d and possibly doesn't even believe G-d exists want anything to do with Jewish traditions? Judaism is a religion that believes in the Torah and in G-d, therefore the traditions would be based on those beliefs...

JB said...

this is for Jessica. Traditions are not torah based. Traditions are a bris, a bar or bat mitzva. Traditions are potato kugel, gefilte fish and chicken soup. Traditions means the hairs on my neck standing up when I am in Jerusalem even though I don't believe in shit!

Jessica said...

A bris is from the Torah, but I hear what you're saying.

Anonymous said...

As for Minhagim those that are binding have indirect authority. Like Chanuka or amendments to a Constitution. If your real issue is Lubavitch that is a separate issue from Judaism. I agree with you about tradition just for sake of tradition but devoid of the beliefs that are a part of them. Which is interesting because that argument is the very basis of the NonOrthodox movements arguing for tradition devoid of full of G-dly authority. If you have orthodoxy in you that argument doesn’t come naturally. In regard to not accepting Judaism because you are lacking an unbroken connection well I have the same response you anticipated, plus also while we can point to our people as having an unbroken connection there is no proof I am aware of that we all don’t have somewhere along the line ancestors who went off the derech. But the response that you gave of an intermarriage or two in your family could be emotionally enough of a response but provided it isn’t carried too far as otherwise many solidly Jewish people would have to wonder whether to take your path. Certainly if the intermarriages you refer to are not ancestral that should not affect you. It sounds like you have been very honest with yourself for a change. And all this from a holiday. Try deep reflection on New Years if you are filled alcohol.

Anonymous said...

As for Minhagim those that are binding have indirect authority. Like Chanuka or amendments to a Constitution. If your real issue is

Rab Gamliel. Not only dont you know how to use e mail but you also dont understand the psychology of people. I light Chanuka candle and I rejoice on Purim, because I live in a Jewish community. Do I believe that these things happend as described ? Probably not. But living in a certain community puts strictures on how you behave. I wear a kippah even though I dont believe in God. Not because I worry about what God might or might not do to me. I wear it because of what my community might do if I dont wear it......Avi

Anonymous said...

“Anonymous said...
As for Minhagim those that are binding have indirect authority. Like Chanuka or amendments to a Constitution. If your real issue is

Rab Gamliel. Not only dont you know how to use e mail but you also dont understand the psychology of people. I light Chanuka candle and I rejoice on Purim, because I live in a Jewish community. Do I believe that these things happend as described ? Probably not. But living in a certain community puts strictures on how you behave. I wear a kippah even though I dont believe in God. Not because I worry about what God might or might not do to me. I wear it because of what my community might do if I dont wear it......Avi”

I sent you an email. Ask Lubabnomore for my email address. I understand psychology of people but what you are describing is not what Lubab was talking about. He was talking about doing things because you feel they should be done not because of outside pressure so that’s what I was talking about.

Orthoprax said...

Jessica,

"why would someone who doesn't believe the Torah was given by G-d and possibly doesn't even believe G-d exists want anything to do with Jewish traditions? Judaism is a religion that believes in the Torah and in G-d, therefore the traditions would be based on those beliefs..."

Judaism is the belief system of the Jewish people and the Jewish people have traditional customs. To live meaningfully as a Jew - even in the absence of belief - largely involves doing Jewish things. Ergo orthopraxy.

Since LNM lacks that significant sense of Jewishness or belief in any sort of God, few Jewish constructs would be meaningful to him.

The Candy Man said...

This is a great post, and it gets to the heart of the matter. If Jewish tradition is only meaningful because it's true, then it's gonna lack relevance for a whole slew of new Jews.

They may even come to resent it.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing your great post. Beliefs or customs taught by one generation to the next, often orally.