Religion

For Jews, religion is an integral part of the ethnic experience. Passover, for example, has come to be understood by most members of the community as less a religious holiday and more a celebration of the liberation of the Jewish people from the horror of slavery. Priestly Judaism, which included sacrificial ritual at Solomon’s temple in Jerusalem, was dominant during the pre-Exilic period. The priest, or cohen, was essentially a holy man. Following the Exile and the destruction of the temple in 70 C.E., the dominant form that emerged was rabbinical Judaism. The rabbi’s role is that of a teacher and scholar, as distinct from a priest. He may be called upon to issue authoritative interpretations of the Torah and to solve disputes of a legal or quasi-legal nature. The Torah, and the corpus of Jewish law that evolved from it, covers both the relationship between human beings and God (that is, the first five commandments) and that of human beings to each other (the second five commandments).

After the destruction of the temple, rabbinical academies proliferated and a body of commentaries known as oral law developed. Eventually these commentaries were recorded and codified, first in the Mishnah, written in Hebrew in approximately 200 C.E. A commentary on the Mishnah in Aramaic, known as the Gemara, was compiled and codified some three hundred years later. The Mishnah and Gemara together constitute the Talmud, a huge, multivolume work that might best be compared to a collection of decisions by the Supreme Court of Canada with accompanying explanatory notes. Eventually a consensus emerged, distilled from the Talmud and other commentaries, as to the proper form of ritual and observance. Described as Halacha, it was codified in the Middle Ages in a text called the Shulkhan Aruch, or “set table.”

Until the last century, most religious Jews would be classified as Orthodox; even if they occasionally deviated from strict observance, they did not question the normative standard. Religious Judaism has never had a single hierarchical structure, as does the Roman Catholic Church. Distinguished rabbinical scholars in various countries might claim spiritual authority by dint of their intellectual reputation, charisma, or organizational ability. Today, religious Judaism in Canada consists of four denominations: Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist. Orthodox Judaism accepts the Torah as the divine word of God and is most resistant to doctrinal change or innovative rituals. The Reform movement emerged in Germany in the nineteenth century and espouses a liberal, rational, and universalist philosophy. Conservative Judaism, developed in the United States at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century by scholars associated with the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, seeks to synthesize elements of Reform and Orthodox practice to create a more traditional form of religious expression. It takes Halacha as a guide but countenances some deviation. Reconstructionism, the newest and smallest denomination, is an offshoot of Conservatism that blends the traditional and the progressive.

In the United States, Reform Judaism was the first branch to be institutionalized, but it grew slowly in Canada. The early anti-Zionism of classic Reform did not sit well with the eastern European community in this country. Canadian Reform congregations are affiliated with the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, and Conservative congregations with the United Synagogue of America. Those of the Orthodox persuasion include a much greater diversity and a looser organizational framework. They range from small, informal synagogues to congregations in large, modern facilities. Many Orthodox synagogues, though by no means all, are affiliated with the Union of Orthodox Congregations in the United States. Reform, Conservative, and Reconstructionist congregations in Canada are all dependent on their American co-religionists for infrastructural support and, more important, for the major rabbinical seminaries. Rabbis in these congregations must receive their training in the United States. There are some ultra-Orthodox rabbinical seminaries in Canada, but the major modern institutions, such as Yeshiva University, likewise are all based in the United States. The majority of pulpit rabbis in Canada have historically been American. Only recently has there been an increase in Canadians holding such positions, although they too have been ordained in the United States.

Many Canadian Jews do not identify themselves as Jewish by religion but consider themselves so by ethnic origin. For example, in 1991 almost 11 percent of Canadian Jews claimed to be Jewish by ethnicity but to have ”no religion.” Even these self-declared non-religious Jews may engage in some practices and observances. For example, in Toronto, 20 percent of Jews who never attend services still fast on Yom Kippur and one-third attend or host a Passover seder. Converts to Judaism, by contrast, are Jewish by religion but not ethnic origin. In recent decades, as a result of marriage outside the community, there has been a greater increase in the number of ethnic Jews than in those who are Jews by religion.

Among those who identify themselves Jews by religion, about 19 percent are Orthodox (as compared with 9 percent in the United States), 37 percent Conservative (38 percent in that country), 11 percent Reform (43 percent among American Jews), and 32 percent “other,” a group that would include designations such as “traditional” (9 percent in the United States). About 1 percent in each country might describe themselves as Reconstructionist. Jews are not avid synagogue goers. A survey of heads of households in Montreal in 1979 found 50 percent either never attended services or did so only on the high holidays. In 1990 two-thirds of Jewish adults were members of a synagogue. Of these, 25 percent belonged to Orthodox, 43 percent to Conservative, 14 percent to Reform, 1 percent to Reconstructionist, and 19 percent to “other Jewish” institutions. Many Jews are members of congregations that do not correspond directly to their own religious identification. They might choose to belong out of loyalty to their parents or because the synagogue happens to be in their neighbourhood. Some affluent Jews belong to more than one.

Religious observance relates to ethnicity and community in a number of ways. First, while some Jewish holidays emphasize theological issues such as the need for repentance, many others commemorate specific historical events, including the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt, their wandering through the desert, and their receipt of the Torah. Later holidays, such as Hanukkah and Purim, celebrate historic confrontations with oppressors in ancient Israel or the Diaspora. Secondly, in all branches of Judaism, though less so in Reform and Reconstructionism, Hebrew predominates as the language of prayer. A third factor is that prayer is a social activity, requiring a quorum of ten. Finally, two new holidays have emerged in the twentieth century. These are Yom Hashoah, which commemorates the Holocaust, and Israel’s Independence Day. Although these holidays have no theological significance, modern Jewish philosophers wrestle with their meaning. They are routinely observed in one form or another in synagogues of all branches of Judaism. In short, the Jewish religion embraces both universalistic and particularistic elements for the survival of the community. An old proverb captures this relationship between peoplehood and religion: “It is not so much that the Jews keep the Sabbath; it is the Sabbath that keeps the Jews.”

Canadian Jews tend to observe those religious rituals that are infrequent, can be invested with universalistic or modern themes, have a counterpart in the Christian calendar, and are child centred. This inclination may explain why more Jews light Hanukkah candles than fast on Yom Kippur, the most important religious holiday. Hanukkah comes once a year and lasts eight days. It parallels Christmas in its timing and in the practice of gift giving. It celebrates the struggle for freedom by Jews against imperialist invaders, a universal message. And it is profoundly child centred, focused as it is on gift giving, the lighting of candles, and the spinning of the dreidel (toy spinning top).

The most faithfully observed rituals are Passover seders (92 percent), the lighting of Hanukkah candles (87 percent), and fasting on Yom Kippur (77 percent); these rates of observance among Canadian Jews are higher than in the United States. The keeping of the Sabbath is marked by a range of rituals and practices; 56 percent of Canadian Jews light Sabbath candles, compared to 26 percent in the United States. However, strict Sabbath practice, such as not handling money, is observed by about 15 percent in both countries. One of the key elements of Jewish dietary laws is the keeping of two sets of dishes, one for dairy foods and the other for meat; 46 percent claim to do so in Canada, compared to 18 percent in the United States. Some Jews will keep a kosher home while eating non-kosher food elsewhere. Others may eat vegetarian meals or fish outside the home, but not meat. These populist deviations confirm the old Jewish proverb “Every Jew makes his own Sabbath.”

Levels of religious observance in Canada are highest in Montreal, followed closely by Toronto and then by communities in the west. Interestingly, there is no evidence of a decline in religious observance among younger Jews, perhaps because of the higher fertility rates among the religious. Those who are more observant also tend to have a social network that is more predominantly Jewish and to live in areas of residential concentration. Needless to say, levels of observance are also highest among Orthodox Jews, followed by the Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist. For example, an Orthodox Jew must in theory recite prayers three times a day, morning, afternoon, and evening, and most ultra-Orthodox men do so. By contrast, Reform or Reconstructionist Jews generally do not pray daily.

Religion has in recent years replaced ethnicity, class, and ideology as the basis of conflict within the Jewish community. With the rise in intermarriage, tensions have increased over the question “Who is a Jew?” The Reform movement has recently broken with Orthodoxy by accepting patrilineal descent as equal to matrilineal in defining a Jew. As a result, Orthodox rabbis will not consider marriages and conversions carried out under Reform, and often Conservative, auspices as legitimate. (No Reform or Conservative rabbi would invalidate the Jewish status of an Orthodox convert.) Because of non-Orthodox conversions and the large numbers of mixed marriages and “Jews by choice,” there are now tens of thousands in Canada whose status is not recognized by the Orthodox. The Orthodox position derives support from the situation in Israel. There, issues of marriage and family status for Jews are administered by the official rabbinate, which is resolutely Orthodox. Reform and Conservative rabbis, while often devoted to Israel, are thus second-class clerics. Given that 80 percent of the population of Canada – and Israel – is non-Orthodox, the possibilities for friction are great.

Another area of controversy has been the status of women and, to a lesser extent, gays and lesbians. The Reform and Reconstructionist denominations have achieved complete equality. Seating in the synagogue is mixed, women are counted in the quorum, and they are becoming rabbis, cantors, and synagogue presidents. Prayers have also been amended to avoid sexist language and omit phrases or whole texts that might offend women. An example is the deletion of a morning benediction in which male supplicants bless God for not creating them as women. Some Orthodox Jewish women are also engaged in attempts to change their position within Judaism, though the parameters are far different. There is no serious Orthodox constituency for the ordination of women or for mixed seating. A few women have experimented with all-female services in which they can fulfil the various functions, including the chanting of the Torah. Because of its intermediate position, the Conservative movement may face the greatest conflict. There, the debate is not yet settled on the issue of equal participation by women. Some Conservative congregations have mixed seating; others do not.

One of the most sensitive issues has to do with the granting of a get, or religious divorce. According to Halacha, only a man can issue a divorce decree. Thus a woman trapped in a loveless or abusive marriage may be unable to find any recourse within Orthodox law. Some Orthodox women have sought redress from the Canadian courts.

The religious Jewish community has avoided controversial issues such as homosexuality or AIDS. Individual gay and lesbian Jews no doubt belong to all types of congregations, and Montreal and Toronto have seen fledgling attempts at the creation of gay congregations. But it is only in Reform or Reconstructionist Judaism that such issues are raised at all.