The Southern Jewish Weekly

The Joy of Being a Jew

By Rabbi Beryl D. Cohon

Some of us Jews are tired of complaining and weary of groaning because of our Jewish ties and are eager to proclaim our Judaism in joy and in gladness. We are weary of hearing Judaism bracketed with persecution. When we hear men say that Jews and Judaism are held together by the venom of the anti-Semites, we feel at the bottom of our hearts that it is a libel and a lie. Ten thousand martyrs, and more, mock at such crudity of spirit.

Some would disown their own if they could. There are men and women in the world who disown their own parents, prostitute every ideal, just to get at whatever greasy flesh pot there be within their reach. That is a streak in human nature that is not limited to Jews as witness the scramble for the Fascist bandwagons in Germany, Italy, Spain, and everywhere else in the world. It takes depth and conviction and courage to be a Jew positively and joyously. Not every Jew—poor mortal that he is—has this capacity. The average person goes with the pack. That is why the Jew who joins a fashionable church is invariably mighty poor stuff. He is an opportunist, abusing that church. He puts to mean ends something that is sacred to other people.

The story is told of a pious Jewish gentleman, of the old school, who received very tender care at the hands of a nurse. He was anxious to know if she were Jewish. Surely, he felt, such a fine, understanding, sympathetic person, must be Jewish. He mustered sufficient courage to ask her. She told him that she was not. He felt sorry for her, and tried to comfort her. "It is perfectly all right, child," he said, "not every person can be Jewish."

The religious Jew speaks a special prayer thanking God for the privilege of being a Jew. Innumerable Jews, tortured in the hell of concentration camp, spoke this prayer with intense sincerity.

Why are we Jews happy in our Judaism?

One reason is that being Jewish means belonging to a spiritual community—a community of conscience: a community of teachers, sages, prophets, martyrs; a community held together by magic ties, not by forts and guns and special privilege. However we define our Judaism, and however we may agree or disagree among ourselves as to our destiny in the world. Israel is a spiritual entity. We have fought all the demons that prowl the earth in the dark. We have fought all the evil spirits that can not endure the light and we always emerged a dedicated people—Yisroel—Champion of God. We may be maimed and crippled and limping as was Jacob after his wrestling with that strange creature in Bible story. But we always emerge as a spiritual community. We have met, on our long journey throughout the ages, the world over, every strutting tyrant, every evil idolator—from the vicious Canaanitish gods and goddesses and baalim to the Crusaders and the Inquisitors and the Nazi beasts. We met them all: we have stood by the graves of all. That is because the spirit, being God, is eternal. The Jew lives by the Eternal. He has to. A Power higher than himself has so decreed.

Search every museum of the world and you will not find a single Jewish gun, nor a single Jewish sword: you will find books, manuscripts, lamps.

Second, being a Jew means being part of a minority. An honored rabbi, who lived through all the horrors of hell in Nazi Germany, has written, "It requires religious courage, courage to think and to wait, to belong to a minority, which Judaism always has been and always will be, especially among majorities which so often allow might to triumph over right. It requires ethical courage to be a Jew, when worldly comforts, honours, and prizes often lure the Jew over to the other side." So writes Rabbi Leo Baeck, the head of the once creative Jewish community of Berlin.

Being part of a large, powerful majority is risky business. The mob is thoughtless, arrogant, shallow; the herd mind moves with the stream crushing every fair flower in its path. Being part of a minority means being more sensitive, more thoughtful, more considerate of others. Having been in Egypt we know the heart of the stranger—at least, we should, and we have a standard to maintain.

It is no accident that so many Jews are in the liberal movements, that they flock to schools, concerts, lectures. Jewish philanthropy has an infinitely higher per capita rate than non-Jewish. Our whole history, and our stature as a marked group, conditions us for that. It is no accident that there are no Jewish war criminals.

Third, being a minority group Jews are inevitably fighting for the rights of all oppressed groups. They must, of necessity, if they are real Jews. Again Rabbi Baeck: "The history of the nations contains the vindication of Judaism. Wherever truth was victorious, and justice was permitted to abide, Judaism found welfare, understanding, and acknowledgement. Wherever the feeling for humanity and for righteousness began to stir, a Jewish community was able to breathe in peace. The degradation of the Jew was never an isolated phenomenon, but only one incident, though the saddest in a general enslavement. In the same way, their emancipation has everywhere been only a part, of a liberation of an entire people . . . Consciously or unconsciously, every one who stood for the progress of morality has stood up for them."

Live fish swim against the stream. One can not swim against the stream spiritually unless he is alive spiritually.

The menace of totalitarianism has not been lifted from our sad earth. Spiritual minorities are imperative if we are to avert the evil from descending upon us. The Jew who is a Jew, consciously and joyfully, is a warrior for the Lord, in a very literal sense.

Hence some of us rejoice in our heritage, and we thank God that we are Jews, for—if we are religious—it is far better that we be persecuted than we turn persecutor.

Fourth, Jews are warm-hearted, affectionate, sentimental people. Are we troublesome? Individualistic? Nuisances? Yes, sometimes. But, we take care of our own. There are no drunkards among us. There are no paupers in our midst burdening the general community. Our home life is decent. We have not cultivated bull fights, nor sanguinary cock fights.

We are not made of better stuff. Human nature is woefully much alike everywhere. But, being Jews, we were conditioned along spiritual lines; that is our heritage, and in that we rejoice.

(Jewish Layman)