Why I Am Jewish

The essay is the second in a series of inter-faith dialogues, see the first from Jon Bishop on March 8, “Why I Am Catholic.”

Despite the multiple accusations I have received from my own brothers and sisters any time I’ve dared to make a critical observation about our people, I very proudly declare myself to be a Jew. This is not because I feel an obligation to my ancestors, my community, or my tradition although I respect them and their roles in the formation of my identity.

Rather, I choose to be a Jew just as Abraham did, because I choose to be free.

I missed out on the social conformity gene. Never have I managed to fit into any particular social group. At times I was hated for it, but contrary to popular opinion of what being a Jew means, it was thanks to being Jewish that I learned to love being a stand-out in the crowd. At 15 I told my teachers I was legally changing my name to Shoshana, and because of that brash declaration I became one of the coolest kids in school. Why Shoshana? Because that’s what Susans in Israel are called and Israel is the culmination and fulfillment of being a Jew. We don’t just get our own houses of worship, we get an entire nation to call our own. Land is freedom.

And when you are so different and so unique, that spatial freedom is essential to your survival. Whether prophets, cowboys, American patriots, or Zionists, the experiences that speak to me echo the Word of God:

Trust the Lord with all your heart, do not rely on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will level your path.

It felt good to stand apart from the crowd precisely because human thinking never made very much sense to me. God makes sense. And what I still do not understand remains the most intriguing mystery in all the universe to comprehend. “I want to know God’s thoughts,” Einstein said, “the rest are just details.” Ben Carson told me to “think big.” You can’t get any bigger than God. “I have broken the bars of your yoke so that you can walk upright,” God reveals to the wandering Jews. God is freedom.

God’s freedom is eternal.

Torah is a guidebook, a covenant that when undertaken agrees that we “choose life so that we may live.” Ezekiel’s dry bones rose from their graves and breathed new life in 1948. While the rest of the world amuses itself with the walking dead, we trust in the words of Isaiah:

Your dead will live, my corpses will rise: awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust; for your dew like the morning dew, and the earth will bring the ghosts to life.

I do not need to wage war or rage in desperation, wear black spikes or combat gear, raise my fist in defiance, align myself with a cause, or fence myself into the opinions of others in order to be free. I simply need to live as God intended in covenant with Him. God spoke creation into being and the word of the Lord breathed life into the dead. Tanakh is freedom.

“How did you find it in you to survive?” I asked my cantor who lived through the Warsaw Ghetto and the Auschwitz death march.

He replied, “I saw the skull and crossbones on the Nazi soldier’s belt along with the words ‘soldier of God’. They were lying. ‘This is not God,’ I thought. And that gave me the will to survive.”

I am a Jew, and I choose to be a Jew, because despite what the world may lead you to believe, being a Jew means dwelling in eternal freedom.

*****

Please join the discussion on Twitter. The essay above is the twentieth in volume 2 of the cultural discussions between the writers of PJ Lifestyle and Liberty Island exploring the history of counter-cultures, the future of conservatism and the role of new, emerging counter-cultures in restoring American exceptionalism. Want to contribute? Check out the articles below, reach out, and lets brainstorm: @DaveSwindle

Volume II

1. Frank J. Fleming on February 26, 2015: What Is the Future of Government? Why It Won’t Look Like Star Trek 
2. Aaron C. Smith on February 26, 2015: What Is the Future of Superheroes? Why They Need To Start Killing Super-Villains
3. Mark Ellis on February 26, 2016: What Is the Future of Gen-X Manhood? Adam Carolla Vs Chuck Palahniuk?
4. David S. Bernstein on February 26, 2015: What is the Future of Fiction? You’ll Be Shocked Who’s Fighting the New Conservative Counter-Culture
5. Aaron C. Smith on March 2, 2015: The House Loses: Why Season 3 of House of Cards Utterly Disappoints
6. Michael Walsh on March 2: What the Left Doesn’t Get About Robert A. Heinlein
7. Frank J. Fleming on March 3: 8 Frank Rules For How Not to Tweet
8. Susan L.M. Goldberg on March 4: 7 Reasons Why Backstrom Is Perfect Counter-Culture Conservative TV
9. Frank J. Fleming on March 5: What Is the Future of Religion?
10. Aaron C. Smith on March 5: The Future of Religion: Why Judeo-Christian Values Are More Important Than Science
11. Spencer Klavan on March 5: Not Religion’s Future: ISIS and the Art of Destruction
12. Chris Queen on March 7: 5 Reasons Why Big Hero 6 Belongs Among The Pantheon Of Disney Classics
13. Jon Bishop on March 8: Why I Am Catholic
14. Frank J. Fleming on March 11: 6 Frank Tips For Being Funny On the Internet
15. Becky Graebner on March 11: 5 Things I Learned In My First 6 Months As a Small Business Owner
16. Frank J. Fleming on March 12: This Is Today’s Question: What Does It Mean To Be ‘Civilized’?
17. Mark Ellis on March 12: The Future of Civilized Society: One World
18. Aaron C. Smith on March 12: Why Civilization Is a Gift to Bullies
19. David S. Bernstein on March 12: Nihilism & Feminism for Girls: Has Judd Apatow Let Lena Dunham Self-Destruct Intentionally?

See the first volume of articles from 2014 and January and February 2015 below:

2014 – Starting the Discussion…

• Sarah Hoyt, March 22 2014: Interview: Adam Bellow Unveils New Media Publishing Platform Liberty Island
• David S. Bernstein, June 20 2014: What Is Liberty Island?
• Adam Bellow at National Review, June 30 2014 kicking off the discussion: Let Your Right Brain Run Free
• Dave Swindle on September 7, 2014: Why Culture Warriors Should Understand the 10 Astounding Eras of Disney Animation’s Evolution
• Dave Swindle on September 9, 2014: The 50 Greatest Counter-Culture Films of All Time, Part I
• Dave Swindle on September 19, 2014: The 50 Greatest Counter-Culture Films of All Time, Part II
• David S. Bernstein on November 19, 2014: 5 Leaders of the New Conservative Counter-Culture
• Liberty Island on November 22nd, 2014: A Unique Team of 33 Creative Writers
• Dave Swindle on November 25, 2014: 7 Reasons Why Thanksgiving Will Be My Last Day on Facebook
• Kathy Shaidle on November 25, 2014: Is America Overdue for a Satanic Revival? (Part One)
• Dave Swindle on December 2, 2014: My Growing List of 65 Read-ALL-Their-Books Authors
  
• Kathy Shaidle on December 3, 2014: Is America Overdue for a Satanic Revival? (Part Two)
• Mark Elllis on December 9, 2014: Ozzy Osbourne and the Conservative Tent: Is He In?
• Aaron C. Smith on December 22, 2014: The Villains You Choose

January 2015 – Volume I

• Paula Bolyard on January 1, 2015: 7 New Year’s Resolutions for Conservatives
• Susan L.M. Goldberg on January 1, 2015: The Plan to Take Back Feminism in 2015
• Kathy Shaidle on January 4, 2015: Did the 1960s Really Happen? (Part One)
• Andrew Klavan on January 5, 2015: In 2015 The New Counter-Culture Needs to Be Offensive!
• Clay Waters on January 5, 2015: The Decline and Fall of Russell Brand
• Mark Ellis on January 5, 2015: How Conservatives Can Counter the Likable Liberal
• Audie Cockings on January 5, 2015: Entertainers Have Shorter Lifespans
• Aaron C. Smith on January 6, 2015: How Mario Cuomo Honestly Defined Zero-Sum Liberalism
• Stephen McDonald on January 10, 2015: Why the New Counter-Culture Should Make Strength Central to Its Identity
• Stephen McDonald on January 16, 2015: The Metaphorical War
• Kathy Shaidle on January 19, 2015: Did the 1960s Really Happen? (Part Two)
• Frank J. Fleming on January 20, 2015: What if Red Dawn Happened, But It Was Islamic Terrorists Instead of Communists?
• Mark Ellis on January 21, 2015: Adam Carolla: The Quintessential Counterculture Conservative?
• Aaron C. Smith on January 29, 2015: Objection! Why TV’s The Good Wife Isn’t Good Law

February 2015

• David Solway on February 2, 2015: For a Song To Be Good, Must It Tell The Truth?
• Mark Ellis on February 6, 2015: President Me: Adam Carolla Vs. the Scourge of Narcissism
• David Solway on February 6, 2015: ‘Imagine’ a World Without the Brotherhood
• Kathy Shaidle on February 9, 2015: Was Rod McKuen the Secret Godfather of Punk Rock?
• Aaron C. Smith on February 10, 2015: Kick NBC While It’s Down: Use The Williams Scandal to Set the Terms of the 2016 Debates
• Spencer Klavan on February 12, 2015: How to Apologize for Your Thought Crimes
• Kathy Shaidle on February 16, 2015: David Byrne: Creepy Liberal Hypocrite
• David P. Goldman on February 18, 2015: Understanding This Bloody Truth About the Bible Will Save Your Life
• Lisa De Pasquale on February 20, 2015: Why American Sniper Is a Much Better Love Story Than Fifty Shades of Grey
  
• Spencer Klavan on February 24, 2015: How Bad Ideology Destroys Good TV: Why Glee Crashed and Burned