Civic Religion and the Secular Jew

JVL Introduction

Bernie Sanders was asked recently about his Jewish identity.

“Sanders’s response”, writes Joshua Leifer, “exemplifies a Jewishness that draws a commitment to an egalitarian and universalistic vision of a better world from particular Jewish experiences of suffering and oppression.

“It’s a form of Jewishness distinct from the inward-facing, nationalistic, even chauvinist vision that has become dominant in the American Jewish institutional world, expressed by groups like the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee, and AIPAC.”

It is also, as Leifer describes, a Jewishness typical of a very substantial percentage of American Jews today.

This article was originally published by Jewish Currents on Fri 14 Feb 2020. Read the original here.