We all know that we are Jewish. But are you simply being Jewish? Or are you doing Jewish?
That’s the concept that Zack Bodner has been sharing with the world for years. For Bodner, it’s about engaging with the religion, culture and traditions rather than studying text. It’s about active engagement rather than passively identifying with the religion.
It’s not enough to be Jewish. In today’s world, especially to stay relevant and move with the times, we each need to find our individual ‘how’ – how do we embrace Judaism, how do we celebrate Judaism and what do we do to ensure Judaism runs through the veins of our lives?
“Rabbi Mordechai Kaplan always spoke about the concept of the three Bs in religion – behaving, belonging and believing,” Bodner told The AJN over Zoom ahead of his visit to Sydney with Shalom Collective to discuss the concepts he has shared in his book, Why Do Jewish? A Manifesto for 21st Century Jewish Peoplehood. “For me, what resonated most was the behaving. What are we doing as a person?”
Bodner, CEO of the Oshman Family Jewish Community Centre in Palo Alto, shared the story of non-Jewish families who come to the preschool. When he asked why they attend a Jewish school, most often he is told that the families love the Jewish values and customs.
“They tell me they love that we do Shabbat in the classrooms on Friday, and they now have a family Friday night ritual where they sit together, their phones go away, and they engage with each other,” Bodner said. “There’s nothing better than helping someone have meaning and relevance, whether they’re Jewish, not Jewish, practicing or not practicing, it has always been about the ‘doing’.”
Bodner also touched on the idea of intermarriage and how doing Jewish can ensure people who join our religion – whether formally or not – embrace the elements they want to embrace.
“If somebody wants to be part of our family, we welcome them with open arms,” Bodner said. “I tell the story about a Japanese woman who wasn’t Jewish, her husband was, but he didn’t care about doing Jewish. She’s the one who laid the Passover seder table, who dropped the kids to Hebrew school. She’s the one who was ‘doing’ Jewish.”
In a TEDx Talk that Bodner gave a few years ago, he opened by asking the audience ‘what exactly is Judaism?’.
“Is it a religion, a nationality, a moral code, a culture? The answer is, it’s all of the above, and it’s none of the above. That’s why many of us today prefer to think of Judaism as a peoplehood,” Bodner said. It’s something he spoke about with The AJN.
Explaining that the vast majority of American Jews – and he’s certain it reflects many communities around the world – think of their Judaism as a culture or part of their ancestry, Bodner said it’s critical that we change our way of thinking.
“You can pray three times a day, or you can be an atheist. And you’re still Jewish,” he said. Bodner said he believes we’re on the cusp of the next evolution of Jewish identity.
He explained that there was a time when your identity was completely attached to your religion and where you lived. But what happened when the Jews were freed from Egypt? Their religion travelled with them.
“They wandered the desert for 40 years, and in that period of wandering, the Jewish people’s holiness, sacredness went with them,” Bodner said in his TEDx Talk.
“As the generations go down, it’s very difficult for religion to stay relevant for a lot of young people. Doing Jewish helps keep a united front and stay relevant. It’s about customs and culture rather than about a text…”
Judaism 2.0 occurred after this, when the Jewish people finally arrived in Eretz Yisrael, because, as Bodner explained, the Jewish people had a home where they could build the Temple. And when that Temple was destroyed, and the one after that, the Jewish people were expelled, forcing them to define their Judaism, for the first time, away from their home. They were forced to become diaspora Jews. This became Judaism 3.0. Instead of the Temple, we have synagogues. Instead of the priests, we have rabbis. Instead of the sacrifices, we have prayer.
According to Bodner, we’re on the cusp of the next evolution – Judaism 4.0. So why are we moving into the next phase of Jewish life?
For Bodner, there are a few reasons. The first is that institutional affiliation has dropped. People no longer see themselves as having to be attached to a synagogue or a school in order to feel Jewish.
“But that doesn’t mean that Jews aren’t doing Judaism,” Bodner clarified in his TEDx Talk. He expanded on it during his chat with The AJN, when discussing how people can do Jewish, rather than just be Jewish.
“You have to figure out what works for you and start there,” he said. “It could be the food, keeping kosher. Start there. But find how you want to make your connection and do it.”
In his TEDx Talk, Bodner explained that young Jewish community members are finding their connection to Judaism in, for example, their yoga group, hiking together through nature, connecting with others through youth movements, or reading texts or interpretations online. Just because they aren’t studying Torah, doesn’t mean they’re any less Jewish.
Another reason that Bodner gives for the change in how people view Judaism is because of the diaspora. While at the moment, the diaspora is facing unprecedented antisemitism, he said the strong affiliation with Israel and a strong diaspora give people other ways to connect with their Judaism.
Bodner pointed to everything Israel has given the diaspora especially in the fields of science, health and technology. This instills a sense of pride in diaspora Jews, which in turn, helps draw in the younger generation.
“Rabbi Mordechai Kaplan always spoke about the concept of the three Bs in religion – behaving, belonging and believing. For me, what resonated most was the behaving. What are we doing as a person?”
“As the generations go down, it’s very difficult for religion to stay relevant for a lot of young people,” Bodner told The AJN. “Doing Jewish helps keep a united front and stay relevant. It’s about customs and culture rather than about a text, which can sometimes turn a lot of people off. We sometimes have this sense of having to be victims – as an example, making the Holocaust the basis of being Jewish, like ‘Don’t ever forget”,” Bodner said. “That’s not what’s going to make a bunch of kids proud of being Jewish.”
Finally, Bodner pointed to the developments in science and technology and how that’s going to impact the way we traditionally be Jewish. When chatting to The AJN, Bodner pondered how self-driving cars, for example, may change the way people can observe Shabbat.
At the end of the day, Bodner noted that being Jewish is optional, it’s a choice people make. So choosing to do Jewish is significant.
There are multiple pathways of meaningful engagement with Judaism. Judaism has always been about how you live your life, not just what you believe.
You can believe the mitzvot, but you also have to do them.
Ultimately, Bodner’s perspective can help with the contemporary challenges the Jewish world faces, in particular assimilation and antisemitism.
Being Jewish is optional, it’s a choice people make. So choosing to do Jewish is significant.
By emphasising active engagement, he offers a path for Jews to maintain meaningful connections to their heritage while adapting to changing social and cultural landscapes.
For younger generations particularly, Bodner suggests that “doing Jewish” offers something meaningful in a world hungry for purpose, community, and ethical frameworks. He positions Jewish traditions and wisdom as resources for navigating contemporary challenges, from social justice issues to questions of meaning and identity.
When talking to The AJN, discussions about Hersh Goldberg-Polin arose, and his now well-known mantra of, “he who has a why can bear with any how”.
Judaism is the why. As Bodner explained, think about why you want to do Jewish, and you’ll find the how that connects you to the Peoplehood.
In essence, Bodner’s philosophy represents a call to action — an invitation to transform Jewish identity from a label into a lived experience. Through ‘doing Jewish’, he suggests, Jews can discover the richness of their heritage and contribute to its continuing evolution in the 21st century.
Zack Bodner will be headlining two exclusive events in Sydney. Visit shalomcollective.com.au for more.
comments