Jewish secularism

Under the name of secular Judaism is understood as a Jewish attitude, accept the Jewish special Jewish values, but do not practice Judaism as a religion. The secular Judaism assigned persons call themselves accordingly themselves as not religious, but identify themselves ethnically, ethically, culturally or politically as Jews. Secular Jews see themselves as an integral part of the Jewish people and its history and culture. A central idea is the belief that man has an influence on world affairs and a just world after the presentation of the prophets can not be achieved without human action. Life, therefore, revolves around human activity, and ideals, where actions speak louder than words.

Development

Origins

After Saul Goodman secular Judaism stems from the attempt to " unite the dominant ideas of modern Western culture with the heritage of Judaism."

During the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, Jews turned away from the religious aspects of traditional Judaism, but without fully to assimilate into other societies or to practice any other religion. Baruch de Spinoza is considered to be one of the first known representative of a secular Judaism; later, the Haskalah was of great importance for its development. There was the view that Jewish identity is not grounds alone on religion. The Maskilim aimed for a separation of religion and state, and a stronger identification with the (Christian) majority societies.

Currents

The secular belief that the fulfillment of Jewish ideals can only be achieved with the help of human action and not only by divine intervention, reflected in the resist Zionism: The Jewish homeland must be actively fought, in contrast to the strictly orthodox view, this could solely by the return of the Messiah to be achieved. The question raised by the secularization question of what is the unifying element of the Jewish people in the Diaspora except to or instead of religion, answered Zionism with the idea of a Jewish nation.

Another flow of secular Judaism was that of nationalism in the diaspora ( cf. Jewish Autonomism ), as was represented by the General Jewish Labour Bund. The life of the Jewish working class should be organized around the Jewish culture.

In the U.S., Jewish communities, however, tended (for various reasons ) mostly for cultural assimilation. This changed through massive Jewish immigration in the early 20th century, by which the Yiddish experienced as an identification element an upswing, and numerous political, cultural and social Jewish organizations were formed.

Important representatives

  • Haskalah: David Friedlander
  • Zionism: Theodor Herzl, Ahad Ha'am
  • Bundists: Chaim Schitlowsky, Simon Dubnow
  • Literature: Franz Kafka, Chaim Nachman Bialik
  • Science: Sigmund Freud, Albert Einstein
Baruch Spinoza Yiddish language Hayim Nahman Bialik Humanistic Judaism Jacob Neusner
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