Four aspects of being Jewish

The concept of “Jew” is often, and wrongly, limited to: “A Jew is someone who practices the Jewish religion.” Yet there are people who identify as Jewish with diverse identities: Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox, Zionist and anti-Zionist, non-religious, agnostic, atheist, humanist, traditional, superstitious, Republican, Communist, and many more.

When a person presents themselves as Jewish, two questions arise: Which aspects of being Jewish define them? How are they perceived by others in terms of being Jewish?

Understanding the reality of being Jewish requires recognizing the main aspects of the notion of “Jew.” Is it a faith, a civilization, a heritage, a nation, or all of these at once? We face a polysemy that defies simple conceptualization.

Course Presentation

Several aspects come together to understand the entirety of Jewishness. For a cross-sectional analysis, we retain four recognizable aspects—four key structures of identity:

1. Theological Essentialism: The covenant of God with the Jewish people, including the Abrahamic and Sinai covenants. This consists of the contract God makes with the people of Israel: observance of the commandments of the Torah in exchange for divine protection, love, and uniqueness. The emphasis is on the conviction of the truth of revelation and observance of the commandments.
2. Cultural Existentialism: Three thousand years of Jewish history have produced a vast spiritual and cultural heritage: exegesis, interpretations, theology and practice, traditions, and popular beliefs. The emphasis is on the responsibility to maintain both individual and collective Jewish identity.
3. The Views of Others: After the fall of the Hebrew kingdoms and during the Exile, the Jewish collective was forged through the trials of anti-Judaism and antisemitism, both theological and political, which profoundly shaped Jewish identity. How others viewed Jews in history has shaped both the notion of “Jew” and Jewish self-perception.
4. The Zionist Revolution: This transformed Jewish identity. For the first time in 2,000 years, Jews experienced the sense of a united nation, pursuing political and territorial self-determination denied to them by other nations. However, by dismantling old Christian anti-Jewish and racial antisemitic positions, it shifted perceptions toward contemporary anti-Zionism and Islamic anti-Judaism.

The interaction of these aspects unfolds continuously across societies and periods. Each analytical structure sheds light on complexity, but alone, none is sufficient to fully understand it.

Objectives

• To reveal the historical and contemporary complexity of the terms “Jew,” “Zionist,” “Israelite,” and “Israeli,” which are widely debated today.
• To show that the term “Jew” cannot be separated from its history: the Exodus from Egypt, the giving of the Torah, the kingdoms of Israel, European exile and Christian anti-Judaism, Mediterranean exile and Muslim Dhimma, the Zionist revolution, and theological-political messianism.
• To illustrate that within the broad term “Jew,” one finds Jewish theologies, humanist existences, cultural and social reactions to non-Jewish perceptions, and 20th-century unification around the State of Israel.
• To explain the variations and dissidences within Judaism: from the biblical kingdoms up to 70 CE, through Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox Judaism, mystical movements, Reform Judaism, neo-Orthodoxy, political messianism, and post-Zionism.
• To demonstrate that Jewish identities and dispersion are closely linked to its millennia-long history and its relations with societies and authorities.
• To show that the Zionist revolution cannot be studied without understanding Jewish history, its sufferings in exile, its aspirations for deliverance, and its messianic prayers.

Learning Outcomes

Students will acquire the ability to:

• Distinguish between the different religious positions within Judaism.
• Understand the revolutionary impact of the Second Vatican Council (1962–65) on Jewish-Christian relations.
• Recognize the myths underlying Jewish fears in Israel and worldwide.
• Understand the cultic, cultural, and political foundations of the Israeli-Arab conflict and its broader extension into Jewish-Muslim relations.
• Approach the political and social complexity of Israeli-Arab wars, especially the current conflict between Israel and the Islamist Hamas movement in Gaza.

Course Outline

Introduction. Philosophical aspects of the concept of identity

Would an identity have an essentialist or existentialist primacy?

Which of the two primacies should we recognise in Jewish identity?

I. Theological essentialism

A. Rabbinic essentialism: Revelation

B. Dissident currents of rabbinic orthodoxy

C. Concrete and transcendent

D. The other side of religious essentialism

II. Cultural existentialism

A. Religious Existentialism

B. Humanist Existentialism

C. Popular religion, traditions, superstitions

III. Other people's views

A. Historical overview

B. Anti-Judaism, anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism and the return to anti-Judaism

C. The paradox of strengthening identity cohesion

IV. THE ZIONIST REVOLUTION The Zionist Revolution

A. Zionism

B. From Jewish identity to national identity

C. Zionist, Jew, Israelite, Israeli?

D. From a national identity to a cosmopolitan feeling

E. Zionism, religion and messianism

Conclusion. The perception of being Jewish

David Ben Gurion questionnaire

CHRONOLOGY

GLOSSARY

General bibliography

Step 1: The Problem of Jewish Identity

• Introduction and objectives: aspects of identity and their complexity

Step 2: Theological Essentialism

• Origins of rabbinic essentialism: Abrahamic covenant—transcendental and concrete aspects, penalty clause (Gen 17:1–14)
• Sinai covenant—transcendental and concrete aspects, penalty clause
• Hebrew reading of the Shema (Deut 6:4–9; Deut 11:13–21) and consequences for biblical exegesis and religious practice
• Fall of the kingdoms of Israel and Exile from 70 CE
• Dissidences in rabbinic theology (Orthodox)
• Messianic and mystical movements

Step 3: Jewish Existentialism in History

• Ashkenazi and Sephardic worlds
• Traditions and concessions
• Volksgeist: humanist Judaism—values, philosophy, culture
• God and salvation
• Calls for deliverance
• Filiality and heritage

Step 4: The Views of Others

• Christian theological anti-Judaism
• Muslim Dhimma
• Racial antisemitism
• The paradox of reinforced identity and nationalist revival in the 19th century
• Early Zionist ideas

Step 5: The Zionist Revolution

• Millennial hope of returning to Zion
• Zionist heroes: Herzl, Weizmann, Ben-Gurion
• From Jewish identity in exile to the national identity of Israel
• Anti-Zionism and Islamic anti-Judaism
• Political and territorial stakes of the Israeli-Arab conflict in history
• From national identity to cosmopolitan sentiment
• Who is a Jew, Israelite, Israeli, or Zionist?

Selected Bibliography

• Dictionnaire Encyclopédique du Judaïsme, Cerf / Robert Laffont, Paris, 1996
• Boyarin, Daniel, The Jewish Christ, Cerf, 2013
• Isaac, Jules, The Teaching of Contempt, Grasset, 1962
• Lévinas, Emmanuel, Being Jewish: Letter to Maurice Blanchot, Payot, Rivages Poche, 2015
• Sartre, Jean-Paul, Reflections on the Jewish Question, Gallimard, 1954
• Soudry, Avner, The Orchard of Interpretations – A Kabbalistic Reading of the Song of Songs, Amazon, 2001