What Are Cultural Jews?

When I was a new DEIB practitioner, I once shared that I am Jewish during a leadership training. Afterwords one of the leaders of the organization asked me if I went to synagogue regularly.

I would never answer this question now but then I told him the truth, which is that I don't attend often. He then asked how I could call myself Jewish if I didn't go to synagogue regularly.

Why would this person try to challenge MY Jewish identity? I kept my cool and responded in a way that strongly challenged the narrative he was trying to impose on me, but I will admit that his attempt to call into question my Jewishness got under my skin.

Unlike Christians, Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group. Referring to Jewish people only or primarily as a religious group misses the mark because it fails to represent our felt sense of Jewish cultural identity.

Perhaps you've heard some people describe Doug Emhoff, husband of Kamala Harris, as a "cultural Jew." I'm personally not a fan of this term because I believe that Jewish culture is shaped by religious tradition; the two cannot be as easily separated as some suggest. But it is for us--not others--to define how our traditions shape who we are and how we identify.

For me, being Jewish is a core part of my identity, like being gay. It is fundamental to my values, my ethnicity/culture, my spirituality, my way of seeing and thinking, and my way of moving through the world. Without being Jewish, I would not be "me."

This has nothing to do with whether or not I keep kosher, observe the sabbath, or go to synagogue.