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Berman Jewish Policy Archive @ NYU Wagner
| eNews
December 2012 | |
From Steven M. Cohen 
With Christmas and Ḥanukkah approaching, it seems as good a time as any to highlight the secular stream in Judaism.
In this context, it's noteworthy that Jews in Israel, of all inclinations, typically categorize themselves as "dati" ("religious") or "ḥiloni" ("secular"); if they're feeling particularly complex and inclusive, they'll add, "masorati" ("traditional"). In contrast, the Jews of the US are wont to categorize themselves as Orthodox, Conservative, or Reform; if they're feeling particularly pluralist, they'll add Reconstructionist, Renewal, Secular Humanism, and post-denominational. All other Jews, those without a denominational identity, are designated by the rather unflattering term, "unaffiliated." (American Jews, notably, are the only religious or ethnic group that calls its putatively wayward members, "unaffiliated.")
Thus, although large numbers of American Jews actually see themselves as secular, cultural, ethnic as well as or sometimes instead of religious, the secular-cultural-ethnic dimension to their identities has been under-recognized, under-appreciated, and maybe under-legitimated. In focusing on the secular aspects of being Jewish, this BJPA Reader's Guide takes a small step in rectifying matters.
The Guide also features a section on the December Dilemma, in part because the religious and secular nature of both Christmas and Chanukah have been contested over the years, and because American Jews have played a central role in that contestation. Remember, it was Irving Berlin who wrote, "White Christmas;" and "I Have a Little Dreydl" hardly comes across as the height of Jewish religious spirituality.
Click here to download* the entire Guide, including 80+ publications.
Seasons Greetings to all! (Also, a freylekhn khanike and ḥag urim sameaḥ.)
Steven
Prof. Steven M. Cohen
Director, Berman Jewish Policy Archive @ NYU Wagner
*Having trouble downloading the Guide from this email? Go to http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=15708 and click "Download publication."
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J-Vault: On the "Native Shrewdness" of Jewish Hoboes 
By Seth Chalmer
"[A] steady stream of Jewish hoboes, jocularly known in their own circles as "trombenicks," knocks at the doors of charity day in and day out, begging for food, clothing and shelter...As in every other walk of life, the Jew has fully contributed his peculiarly characteristic subtlety, native shrewdness, and quaint dry humor to the already baffling person of the hobo, like pungent oil poured over an inextinguishable flame."
Thus wrote Ralph Astrofsky in March 1928, in the Jewish Social Service Quarterly (now the Journal of Jewish Communal Service).From the J-Vault: "Trombenicks" or Jewish Hoboes (1928)
...Unafraid of sweeping generalization, Astrofsky compares Jewish and Gentile hoboes:
The Jewish hobo who, in spite of himself, drifts into vagabondage, becomes more enthralled to the road after each futile effort to free himself, but unlike his Christian companion, still expects at some future date liberation and a home through marriage. Your Gentile hobo loses hope, fills his stomach with rotten liquor at every opportunity, and shoots needles into his arms to relieve his aching heart. The Jewish tramp will take refuge in metaphysics or "riddles," as he calls it, break up a game of dice to which he is not adapted, and start a poker game instead...
Unlike the Gentile hobo, the "trombenick" does not allow himself as readily to become the victim of an older and unscrupulous tramp of homo-sexual tendencies, commonly known among them as a "wolf." Sex perversion is generally frowned upon by Jewish hoboes, although they freely indulge their normal desires in the cheapest brothels where they never once fail to admonish an inhabitant of their own faith for her disgraceful profession....
Click here to read the rest of the post...
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