How would Judaism change if it was the religion of the majority?

Dear Louise, you asked me: “How would Judaism change if it was the religion of the majority, instead of the minority?”

It is a good thought experiment -What would be different?

We might imagine being invited to Hanukkah concerts at the elementary school -

Where one Christmas song is sung, just to make sure everyone is represented

Letters are sent home to Jewish parents to explain strange springtime rituals -

like running around collecting Eggs instead of eating the standard matzah and haroset

Sukkot is the standard week off in the fall

Passover in the spring

Everything gets quiet around sundown Friday - Sundays, just a regular day

There is a place where this is true - of course, Israel.

The rhythms of time there, are Jewish -

The language - Jewish -

The national holidays- are Jewish

The civic ceremonies are infused with Jewish ritual

It is an experiment in being a majority

But you’re asking a much larger question, Louise.

What if this was true all over the world?

The United States, no longer a Christian nation -But a country filled with Jews

Instead of 7.5 million of us - there would be more than 200 million- just in the US

What would change?

Would antisemitism go away?

Would it perhaps never have existed at all?

With no antisemitism - there is no Holocaust, no Pogrom, no crusader massacres or inquisition.

Perhaps even no exile from the land of Israel

No destruction of the Temple

This sounds like a dream - Jewish children growing up without fear of persecution

Growing up without trauma that lives in our bones and collective memory

And not just that - there certainly are Jewish teachings and ideas that I think the world would significantly benefit from, If they were moved from the margins to the center.

The Laws of Justice-Which mandate impartiality, require the dignity of defendants, requires that the rich and poor are treated equally in the courtroom

It is a system of legal interpretation that protects life- all but making illegal the death penalty

And certainly - I would love to see a world where each person’s innate dignity - derived from the spark of the Divine within each of them is part of day-to-day discourse

And I guess, since we’re dreaming…

If Jews were the majority -

Tzedakah -- a required act of giving and caretaking would replace other notions of charity

We would not give simply because our hearts are so moved

Instead We would protect societies most vulnerable because we are mandated to - because it is the just, the right thing to do

And we would pay people what they are owed, when they are owed it

And we would have systems in place to forgive debts

Immigrants would be welcomed all over the world -

Because we were once strangers -

I could go on - There is so much of the moral voice of Torah that I think the world needs to hear

That I believe could or would be part of how societies and governments would operate if Jews were the majority

But I have to also ask myself - What would be lost?

What would it mean to engage in our rituals and prayers?

How would it feel to say at Passover “in every generation there have been enemies who have tried to destroy us, but we have prevailed”

It feels different, imagining us being the stronghold - our enemies - not groups or nations more powerful than us.

And then the statement becomes an expression of might - about our ability to quash rebellion, and not about how we have survived, developed resiliency of spirit

On paper, Judaism might not change - at least its essence. But Jewish identity might. Our relationship to our texts might.

Our central narrative of Exodus becomes one of a people who descended from slaves and became Kings, and not a people who descended from slaves and therefore decided to throw their lot in with the disadvantaged and struggling.

What would it mean to be a light unto the nations when perhaps that light is spread by influence and might, and not by inspiration and moral clarity?

And I fear, Lulu, that we’d take our Judaism less seriously - if we didn’t have to work for it, or assert our right to practice it.

Lulu- there is an ease in imagining an alternative reality, where Jews are the majority -

The least of which is imagining a world where there is less hatred for us, where there is a much greater sense of safety - in numbers, in acceptance

But I think our lot is to be the proudest, loudest minority we can be.

As Rabbi Leo Baeck wrote, “The Jews have always been a minority. But a minority is compelled to think; that is the blessing of its fate. It must always persist in a mental struggle for that consciousness of truth which success and power comfortingly assure to rules and their supporting multitudes. The conviction of the many is based on the weight of possession; the conviction of the few is expressed through the energy of constant searching and finding. This inner activity becomes central to Judaism; the serenity of a world accepted and complete was beyond its reach.”

Our job is to speak truth to power, not because it helps us maintain our own power

But simply because it is true.

To be on the side of justice - on the side of the oppressed -

To be proud of being Jewish - to have it be a defining feature in our lives

To fight for our right to live freely, and all the other minorities, too

But also - to be pushed to constantly articulate who we are and what we believe in -

To be carriers of an ancient story-

To be history’s ultimate survivors -

And to allow that to endow you with purpose.

To be compelled to think - and question

Which is what being a minority encourages -

And a purpose I hope you’ll embrace

Your friend,

Rabbi Crawley