VIEW the video.     This video is almost 8 years old. The concerns surveyed in this video are still current. More recently, Dr. Ari Kelman, has observed, “In an analysis of 58 in-depth interviews with post-boomer American Jews, we found a preference for people who described themselves as not religious, and we found a near-total absence of the language of ethnicity. Instead, interviewees volunteered tradition as a replacement for both and as part of a rationale for the elements of Jewish life that compelled them to participate.” (Kelman et al. 2017)

Post a question to encourage exploration the idea of “identity”, particularly the gray spaces between cultural and religious identities. 

1. Respond to three of your peers discussion questions.

American Jews Worry About Declining Religiosity Among Young – YouTube

here are my peers discussion questions so you can respond

by Mario Torres Gasca“>Mario Torres Gasca

Is there a difference between being culturally Jewish and religiously Jewish?

As demonstrated in the video, many young respondents identified as culturally Jewish, but not religiously Jewish. This has caused concern with in Jewish communities that Judaism is going to die off.

Many communities have religion and culture as separate entities that may have nothing to do with each other. For example, you can be culturally Mexican and be religiously Catholic, as in my case. The fact that I am Catholic does not change any aspects of my Identity as Mexican.

However, with Judaism, it appears that a religion has been turn into a culture and ethnicity. So this makes me confused about what we mean when we say that someone is Jewish. What exactly does it mean to be Jewish? What are the cultural and religious aspects? In other words, what is the Jewish culture?

by Brenya Nelson

Is it possible that the reasoning behind people preferring to be labeled as “not religious” due to younger generations finding less importance towards religion?

In the short video titled, “American Jews Worry About Declining Religiosity Among Young” there is stress among people who follow the Jewish religion due to declining numbers of followers. To get a better statistic of how small of a percentage there is, the video mentions that only 2% of the population is made of Jews. Due to this statistic and dwindling numbers, many people who align themselves with the Jewish religion have become alarmed.

Why is this happening? There could be a multitude of reasons, one of them being more than half of Jews in America are marrying out of the faith, according to the video. However, it could be possible that the younger generations could simply find the tradition part of Judaism much more important than the religious aspect.

by Antonio Garcia

How do religion and culture come into play when forming an identity?

The video explains the concerns that are arising with the Jewish community, where the younger generation identify with Judaism culturally but not religiously. This brings up the question on how religion and culture helps one identify themselves.

That marrying those who aren’t in the Jewish fate also causes the rates to drop of those who are Jewish.

This is a complex discussion since our whole class revolves around what is religion and what is culture.

With this in mind, how can the younger generation use the distinction between culture and religion to help identify themselves.

As the professor stated before, this has always been an issue. I myself have also struggled to identify myself when it comes to religion.

Hopefully you guys responses can not only answer the question but help me with mines.