Twenty Questions for Jewish Atheists
Offline Hello, my name is Leor. I am new to these forums, and I am still finding my way around, so if this is the wrong forum I apologize. I have a few questions to ask the atheists who post here who are of Jewish descent. I am not trying to be mekarev anyone, merely asking polite (if pointed) questions about your backgrounds. To make it fair, I will answer as many of the questions as I can as well. (Some of them apply to anyone of Jewish background, others are tailored for atheists.) There will also be a bonus question at the end for non-Jewish atheists.
1) What is your name? (First only, Hebrew if you know it.)
2) How old are you? (I find that Jews of different generations are more or less likely to be practicing Jews or atheists.)
3) Growing up did your parents belong to a synagogue/temple?
4) Did your parents do anything special for the Sabbath, such as lighting candles Friday afternoon, or making kiddush Friday night and/or Saturday morning?
5) Did your family keep a kosher home?
6) How do your families react when you tell them you don't believe in god?
7) Are you married? Do you have children?
Have you ever visited Israel?
9) Did you have a bar/bat mitzvah?
10) Growing up did your parents send you to either a Jewish day school or an afternoon Hebrew school?
11) Are you a Kohein (descendant of the familiy of Aaron) or a Levi (Levite)?
12) Was the Holocaust a reason for your atheism?
13) Have you ever been the victim of anti-Semitic harassment? If so what happened? How did it make you feel?
14) How would you react if a close relative became a Ba'al Teshuvah (became newly religiously observant)?
15) If one of your parents asked you to recite Kaddish after they died, would you?
16) If you were invited to a close relative's or friend's wedding, and it was held in a synagogue/temple would you attend? What if you were asked to participate in the wedding ceremony?
17) Can you read or write Hebrew? If yes, how proficient are you?
18) Can you speak Hebrew? If yes, how fluent are you?
19) Have you ever read or studied Jewish religious texts, such as the Shulkhan Arukh, Gemara, or Midrash? What was your impression?
20) If an observant Jew invited you to his/her home for a Sabbath dinner, would you accept the invitation?
Bonus Question, for non-Jewish Atheists: Have you ever heard of the 7 commandments? Can you list all seven?
Twenty Questions for Jewish Atheists:
http://www.rationalresponders.com/forum/sapient/atheist_vs_theist/6838
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1. Joshua
2. Do I have to?
3. We did. Reform. It was mostly for the ceremonies and the festivals. We weren't and still aren't religious. I can trace atheism back to my great grandparents
4. On special occasions
5. No
6. I once complained about why we had to go to Sunday school if the family didn't believe in God. My parents just shrugged and said it was important to learn about our heritage. I guess they were right.
7. No/no
8. Yes.
9. Yes.
10. Yes.
11. Kohen
12. No. My family was atheist long before the Holocaust. Although I understand it had a sharp impact on many of the beliefs of my fellow Jews
13. Yes. I broke his jaw.
14. I would be suprised but I would not criticize
15. Sure
16. I can't stand Orthodox weddings. The traditions are crude and sexist. But apart from that, yes.
17. Yes. Fairly proficient
18. No
19. Not much apart from my Torah Portion. Man. That was ages ago.
20. Sure.
"Physical reality” isn’t some arbitrary demarcation. It is defined in terms of what we can systematically investigate, directly or not, by means of our senses. It is preposterous to assert that the process of systematic scientific reasoning arbitrarily excludes “non-physical explanations” because the very notion of “non-physical explanation” is contradictory.
-Me
Books about atheism
My name is Leor (Leor Shlomo ben Zeev HaKohein)
I am 32.
My parents belonged to a Conservative Temple until I was around six, at which time they began to atttend an Orthodox synagogue devoted to kiruv. Currently I attend a local Young Israel synagogue.
My mother always lit candles, even when my parents were not Sabbath observant. When I was around seven or eight my family became Sabbath observant. We have a relatively festive meal on Friday nights, and a meal Saturday morning. We attend services and lectures. And sleep. Boy do I need the three hour afternoon nap in the Summer.
I have memories of eating at McDonald's as a young child, though I don't think my parents ever served pork or shellfish. When I was around six we stopped eating McDonald's, and gradually moved in the direction of keeping kosher. Personally I only eat kosher food, and only with certain types of supervision. (For example I consider Tablet-K to be incredibly lax in their supervision and will not eat foods with their symbol, or eat in restaurants they supervise. The Tel Aviv Rabbanut is also not okay in my book.)
Not really applicable, though my maternal grandmother was opposed to my parents becoming observant, at least initially.
I am not married. I was seeing someone, but we broke up a few weeks ago.
Multiple times. My father grew up in Tel Gibborim, a suburb of Tel Aviv, and much of his family lives in Ramat Gan and Bnai Brak (other suburbs of Tel Aviv). I also hold Israeli citizenship due to a quirk in the Israeli citizenship laws that grant automatic citizenship if you are the child of a yored (someone who emigrates from Israel).
Yes.
I attended Jewish day schools from kindergarten to high school. I also spent a year studying in a seminary in Jerusalem in 1993-94.
I am a Kohein.
Not applicable.
Yes. I have been called a kike by people in passing cars, I have had coins thrown at me by people who wished to see if I would pick them up, I was accused of murdering Lebanese children by an anti-Israel protester last summer, and I was turned down for a job interview by a potential employer who saw I wore a yarmulke. I considered suing the individual, but realized the only equitable relief I could be given by the courts would be a chance to interview for the job, and I decided I didn't want to work in that sort of environment. I probably could have stated a cause of action for intentional infliction of emotional distress, but New York courts are incredibly wary of granting relief for that. I also had run-ins with the Black Israelites, who came to my college campus every Tuesday for fifteen weeks in 1998.
I'd be happy, but the chances of my non-observant relatives (at least the ones living stateside) doing so is astronomical. As a child, I noticed tension between my mother and her relatives, and even now there still exists some tension. There is less tension between my father's non-observant relatives and the observant relatives living in Israel.
If chas v'sholom something happened, then yes.
Depends on where the cermony was held. I would attend a Conservative service, but probably not a Reform service. I would never attend a Reconstructionist "temple" even on pain of death.
I am very proficient in Hebrew, enough that I don't need the vowels to read. (All Israeli newspapers, most books, and many Jewish religious texts contain no vowels. And a Torah has no vowels as well.)
I speak conversational Hebrew fairly well, but not at the level of a native Israeli. They speak way too fast
Yes. I have difficulty with Gemara, both because it is in Aramaic, and because of the nature of the way the Talmud is formulated. I have much less difficulty understanding those written in Hebrew, such as Mishna Berurah.
Yes.
That would be telling!
Twenty Questions for Jewish Atheists:
http://www.rationalresponders.com/forum/sapient/atheist_vs_theist/6838