Occupy Wall Street’s observance of the Jewish festivals last month got quite some publicity – there were ‘Occupy Yom Kippur’ services, a Sukkah (tabernacle) for ‘Occupy Sukkot’, and ‘Occupy Simchat Torah’ celebrations (Rejoicing of the Law).
But these festivals, as with ‘Occupy Shabbat’ this week, were not routinely observed because they happened to coincide with the protests, but rather were misappropriated for political ends.
On Yom Kippur, they asked, “But is fasting and beating our chests really the best we can do to redeem ourselves?” and answered that really we should undertake our fast “by joining the demonstrators in Zuccotti Park, and holding our Yom Kippur services there amongst the oppressed, hungry, poor and naked.”
They understood Sukkot as representing “shelter in a time of crisis, the halfway point between slavery and liberation,” with the sukkah serving “not only…as a metaphor for the shelter of the Israelites. It will be a space to challenge economic injustice, racism, oppression, displacement, and exploitation that so many in our country and world face.”
And similarly for Simchat Torah.
And similarly for Shabbat this week, which will function as a “weekend of nationwide solidarity, learning and reflection around food justice. The learning and exploring of Global Hunger Shabbat is designed as a springboard into meaningful action over the following weeks and months, as we mobilize the American Jewish community in the fight for food justice. The issue of food justice is deeply entwined with the issue of economic justice being pursued by the protesters at Occupy Wall Street and at occupations around the nation and the world.”
I have written elsewhere about the misappropriation of the Jewish tradition for political ends, particularly when tikkun olam is involved. Sometimes the politics are worthy, but should not come at the expense of the integrity of the Jewish tradition. More often though, the politics are nefarious, even contrary to the dictates of Jewish law, and, in their disingenuous distortion, offensive to the tradition. Sadly, “Occupy Judaism” seems to instantiate the latter.
It's my belief that Leftist Jews tend to be more Leftist than Jewish and thus anything Jewish can and will be appropriated for their real religion. While this seemed natural for assimilated, Reform, or even Conservative Jews, I was surprised that it holds true equally with Orthodox and Chasidic Jews. n nThis identity hierarchy can be measured fairly easily if not entirely scientifically: You will find them to be generally apologetic in defense of Judaism and argumentative in defense of Leftism. The same arguement works for national identity … I doubt there's a Leftist who's love of country exceeds love of Leftist culture and ideology.
I can’t say I agree with your assessment of misappropriation. Of course you are entitled to your opinion, but it is just that, your opinion. There has never been one definitive way holidays were celebrated as holidays in the Jewish tradition often come from the melding of different kinds of values and commemorations – agro-roots, spiritual connections and judaic-unification as a nationhood, to name just a few. r nr nUnder this precedent, it is not at all surprising for us to connect back to our various roots as a people and highlight different ways of dealing with holidays. Whether sukkah is a temporary shelter for the wanderers, a spiritual shelter of protection, a convener to open up our tents to different tribes as in the tradition of Abraham, to come and eat and discuss and learn…I could go on and on.r nr nANd hopefully may will. I very much hope that I continue to be part of a people, a tradition that both is inherited as well as continuously evolving – defining itself both as what has been and what is very much relevant now – as our ancestors did, upon whose shoulders we stand.r nr nThanks for reading.r nr nNaomi Lesr na participant in both Occupy Judaism and Occupy Wall Street
We are told in the aseret hadibrot (Ten Commandments) that six days shall you work and you shall rest on the seventh: we work during the week in order to observe rest on Shabbat. Shabbat is a liberation from work that is rooted in productive labor. Making a show of resting during the extended vacation from work and reality (which is the OWS movement) is at best a clueless appropriation, and at worse a mockery of the Jewish ethos which requires us to be productively engaged in the world.