The Meaning of a Jewish Studies Major

When I came to IU as a student early last year, I was quite literally petrified of everything here in Bloomington, mainly because Fee Lane (the street where my dorm is), or the Villas wasn't the same thing as 8 Agron St. (where I lived in Jerusalem) or Kibbutz Ein Tzurim. I didn't even know what I was going to do in school. I was going to become a prospective applicant to the Kelly School of Business, but it wasn't really something that I wanted at all. With that I was an exploratory student for the majority of my first year at Indiana. Throughout the year, when I became more involved in Hillel, I realized that a lot of my friends that I spent time with during the year, were taking many of the Jewish Studies classes that the University had to offer. I felt that not only was it a great social setting for me, but a great educational setting as well, as I would love become a part of the Jewish professional world after I graduate, whether that be working in Jewish communities and organizations, or pursuing the Rabbinate or Cantorial school, it is a field that has been apart of my life for a long time, and it has given so much to me, and I would love to work in it and give whatever I can back to the Jewish world for helping me shape who I am today.
When I was talking about Jewish Studies Programs with my fellow students in class, one importnat topic that has been brought up for discussion of a meaning of a Jewish Studies Major is the legitamacy of Jewish Studies as a cultural experience as much as one of religion. I strongly believe that this type of major must have a cultural class experience within itself, because-let's face it-Judaism wouldn't really be Judaism without it's homeland. When I think a lot about Judaism's studies in school, I cannot go without incorporating Israel into it because that's where a lot of Judaism's cultural origins come from in every sense of it's historical sense. Jews and Judaism wouldn't be what it is today without it.

Queer Judaism

The issue of queer Judaism has been a hot topic for a long time. Only a few years ago, the Jewish Theological Seminary allowed Rabbinic Ordination of homosexuals, which was a huge deal. I have many good friends and close family members of mine that are homosexual that do their absolute best to lead Jewish lives. Some are even major leaders in their community as a few have served on various youth group executive boards. So as time has gone on, homosexuals have become more and more involved and excepted within the Jewish community especially in the Reform and Conservative communities, with the Conservative making more breakthroughs with the entire issue despite the struggles that homosexuals go through.
One film comes to my mind when I think about homosexual Jews, and that is Trembling Before G-d. The movie features many Orthodox Jews struggling with their sexuality in Judaism, and finding it harder to lead a Jewish life, let alone live in their own respective Jewish communities because of their homosexuality. I find it really appalling that the Orthodox comunity blatantly rejects homosexuals in their own community and even families.
There is a site that does support homosexual frum Jews. Which helps bring a lot comfort to those struggling. JQYouth.org is a group for homosexual Orthodox Jews that has frequent meetings and discussions about their respective situations. The site sends probably the most important message to Orthodox homosexuals: you are not alone. One thing that the site capitalizes is the fact that although Orthodox Judaism restricts homosexual acts, specifically penetration, it doesn't restrict homosexual feelings. If anything, this provides somewhat of a better resolution to frum Jews who are homosexual, but such can only go so far for only feelings for homosexual Orthodox Jews.

Zionism and Birthright Experience: Israel=Jewish?

At first it's easy to see that the Birthright experience would be a formiddable topic for debate in Jewish Identity. The explanation for it is quite easy: if you haven't been on an organized trip to Israel, you are elligible to go for free in certain programs of Birthright. The goal that Birthright hopes to get from it's participants is a taste and usual once in a lifetime experience in Israel for ten days, and to bring people together within its own trip while in Israel, creating long lasting friendships.

Don't get me wrong, Birthright is a very structured and great program for people who haven't been to Israel before, but isn't the idea here for people going to Israel a complete exploration and not a vacation? I feel that Birthright tries it's best to get that idea out, but it falls short because of the such short amount of time spent there, so people on the program treat the trip as a vacation rather than an exploration of their Jewish heritage and identity.

The summer youth programs that Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett mentions are a lot longer and more structured than Birthright due to each one's length of six weeks. Those on the program get a more prolonged experience of Israel, through multiple experiences in many more sites in Israel. The programs don't just encourage to explore Israel, but to find oneself as well. Also, a lot of these programs help promote Alyiah as an option from Tourism, as these programs are often considered "the next step" to living in Israel. I have often made that viewpoint an important aspect in life in Israel to me, as I have been on more and more prolonged programs during my time in Israel. In terms of Judaism, I do believe the connection can still be made in Israel, as long as the explorations in Israel and Jewish self identity within Israel are continuously expored.

Jewish Film

Jewish Film, to me, is an always interesting and fun topic to bring about, because it never fails to bring out the artistic talents and visions of filmmakers that have a strong connection or bond to Judaism. When I Googled "Jewish Film Festivals," I found such located in many major cities including Boston, San Fransisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Atlanta, Charlotte, and many more, all usually happening throughout the months of February, March, and April. These events usually take place at the local JCC and the mission of each local festival is to illuminate global Jewish experiences throughout film.

One movie that I watched for this class was The Unchosen Ones, which was a mockumentary short film that was written and directed by (as well as starred) Iris Bahr. This movie was a humorous look at the certain stereotypes of people that are seen throughout Israel such as the lost tourist on a date trip to Israel, or the exploring, bumbling, British tourist attempting to create her own documentary in Isreal, as well as certain Isrealis such as the religious settlers in the land, or secular Israelis who bum around and smoke. I loved the narrative for this story as it was very informal to your usual narration. The crazy adventures that the first two characters that I mentioned consist of the camera man, Dudik, who is the actual narrator of the story. However, the narration goes through his camera of these two characters. There are times where it is shown that he isn't rolling his camera when the actual camera in the movie is in a fixed position of a shot of the where the scene is taking place, as opposed to the shakey camera work of Dudik.

My favorite part of the movie which shows it's true essence of Judaism is when Samantha Goldberg, the girl who is lost trying to find her Singles Tour group, goes to the Kotel, or Western Wall, to meet her group there. It is there where she changes, from her tourist exploring clothes, to a beautiful white dress for the appropriate occaision. When she reaches the Kotel, it appears as if all of her stresses from the past hours have just melted away, and she suddenly becomes more connected or bonded to her Jewish surroundings. After that, while looking out into the city from the Old City of Jerusalem, it's as if all her worries about anything have gone away. It's there that we see Dudik for the first time, and then kisses Samantha. I felt like the lesson of this story was to not always be caught up in what you're trying so hard to accomplish when sometimes it is right there in front of you. Samantha achieved that by gaining a stronger connection to Judaism and Israel through her praying at the Kotel, and in the end, she ended up being with Dudik. That was my defining Jewish moment in The Unchosen Ones.

Jews and The Internet

I visited all of the sites for looking up the web and it's uses for Judaism, and each of them had a different use for Judaism. Shamash: The Jewish Network was the most informative, because it had links and articles with sufficient texts on them. It isn't the most appealing website out there, but when it says that it is striving to be the highest quality central point of Jewish information and discussion on the Internet when it lists so many links along with a database that comes along with it, it's hard not to believe that it can be the central point of Jewish information and discussion. I liked how on the first page you pull up when going onto the site, you are greeted with somewhat of a book club or marketplace that features famous Israeli authors of their time. It wasn't a bad place to start, but it certainly was the best out of all the sites listed for that week.

I remember also taking a look at Orthodox Anarchist. The blog itself is very stylish as well as intriguing. But let's not forget that this is just one person's thoughts. The blogger himself has authority over his blog, but that doesn't mean he has total authority over the issues that he discusses. Sometimes subjects can be very touchy, even though everyone is entitled to their own opinion. These cases is just to be careful what you write.