IDENTITY IS ONE THING. UNITY IS ANOTHER.
There is a lot of talk about how people identify themselves. People identify in the context of gender, on the political spectrum, racially, by nationality, culturally, and religiously,
An interesting thing about Jews is that when we speak of our Jewish identity, we can be speaking of identity in religious terms, cultural terms, and even in terms of our nationality. In terms of nationality, while we may be referring to whether we are of Ashkenazi or Sephardic decent we recognize that Jews also have an historical connection to Eretz (the Land of) Israel before the Diaspora. Even the question of where we fall on the political spectrum has some correlation to whether we identify with Orthodox or more Liberal Reform Judaism.
The complex interpretation of what being Jewish means is perhaps why some say "if you ask 5 Jews you'll get 17 opinions."
But there is one major thing all Jews can and should agree on. It is that our strength comes from UNITY, and our "revolutionary" message of ONE G-d. One timeless, spaceless and supremely empathetic G-d.
At this time of year when we retell the Story of the Exodus as we count the Omer, the number of days from the Passover until we received the Ten Commandments, marked by the holiday of Shavuot, it was ENOUGH to be UNITED at the base of Mount Sinai. DAYENU.
Non-religious secular Jews and religious Jews alike, identify as Jews. And often times, those who identify as Jews find that "many of their best friends are Jews." But with this observation comes two important questions.
Is it enough to identify as Jewish and to have Jewish friends, to maintain the Jewish people? And if we fail to maintain the Jewish people what is there to identify with? Look, I like a good bagel smear as much as anyone . . . but can we survive on bagels alone?
In my opinion, to maintain the Jewish people we must also maintain the UNITY of the greater Jewish community - in our county, in our country, and around the world, in connection with Eretz Israel!
Identity is one thing. Unity is another. Unity sustains the Jewish people.
That is why I am active in and support the Jewish Federation of Dutchess County.
