Religion vs. Culture: Is One More Jewish?

By Andrew Shepler
University of Missouri-Columbia

Every year when the High Holidays roll around, I am reminded of golf scores, new marriages and the latest in Jewish gossip.

Certainly these are not coming from the rabbi’s sermon, but rather from the congregation around me. Every year it happens as people talk during the service. It is a High Holiday, so people feel the need to go to synagogue, but they do not feel the need to pay attention to the service. Some might consider this to be cultural Judaism, as opposed to religious Judaism.

I don’t want to get on a soapbox to tell people that this is sinful, but people who practice it are not getting the full Jewish experience. Instead of listening for the shofar, they are listening for the latest gossip.

Cultural Judaism, in essence, involves being Jewish in name, but only somewhat in action. The appearance of being religious is there, but the actions are not completely there.

Religious Judaism is much more about actions than appearance. A religious Jew gets more out of 10 trips to a synagogue than a cultural Jew does out of 20. The value is in the service and learning from it, not in being there for the appearance.

A debate about cultural vs. religious Judaism reminds me of what my older brother always used to say, "God cares more about what comes out of your mouth than what goes in it."

That then raises the question: Does breaking a major tenet of the religion, such as kashrut, make someone a cultural Jew by default? I honestly do not see a clear answer to that. A person can easily be a good human being, nice to others and have all good things coming out of his or her mouth, but can break key tenets of the religion. A person might not wear a kippah everyday, but be gracious and accepting of others.

Likewise, a person might keep kashrut and go to synagogue weekly for Shabbat, but might not be the nicest person to deal with. A person might wear a kippah daily but be hateful toward others. Being hateful toward others is not something the Torah supports.

Certainly having religiosity and performing mitzvot (obligations) is ideal, but that is not always how people act. Is one of the people mentioned above really better than the other?

I do not think there is a right answer to this question. It really all comes down to intent. A person with the intent of being a caring human being who does not keep kosher might be considered a cultural Jew, but a person without the intent to be nice, but who goes to synagogue weekly might be considered a religious Jew. Neither is perfect. Everybody will have faults, but in my mind the key to religious Judaism is the intent to go to services and learn. A person who goes to synagogue to learn and participate in a service, even if they had a glass of milk with their steak the night before, is going to synagogue for the Judaism. A person who goes to synagogue because they feel obligated to and just does it for show is, to my mind, a cultural Jew.

In the end, however, we are all united as Jews, regardless of our practices.

[Posted 4/27/06]