By Blaine Schwartz
Way back in the 1970s, a popular band named Sly and the family Stone had a number one hit song called “Family Affair.” The chorus, “It’s a family affair, it’s a family affair,” frames this song as family members engaged in a shared experience — a mix of love, conflict, and acceptance.
Welcome to 21st century Judaism.
There are significant differences between Reform, Conservative, Reconstructionist, Orthodox and other movements in Judaism. Yet we all have so much in common. We all acknowledge the Torah as the foundational text of our religion, we share the Shema, the celebration of major holidays and core beliefs including the covenant between God and the Jewish people. We all acknowledge the importance of Jewish ethics and morals in our daily lives.
We can disagree as to how we practice our Judaism, but what we seem to share the most is a sense of community. Last fall I had the privilege of attending the Jewish Federations of North America General Assembly in Washington, DC. Members of all denominations of Judaism attend, discuss issues we face collectively, and participate in a cooperative effort to strengthen Federation’s involvement in our communities.
While sitting in a main session with about 2,000 of my closest new friends, the lady sitting next to me, who told me she was essentially brought up without religion, said something to the effect of, “this is amazing…this feels more like a big family getting together for a reunion.” That’s what we Jews are…a big family.
While we may argue about which synagogue to belong to, how we practice our religion or who is really a Jew, the book of Genesis traces the Jewish people back to one family: Abraham and Sarah, then Isaac, Jacob (Israel), and Jacob’s twelve sons, who become the twelve tribes of Israel.
We can probably argue about that too, but at the end of the day we are all children of Israel, are we are family.
Baine Schwartz is President of the Buffalo Jewish Federation and a Partner in the Real Estate practice group at Lippes Mathias LLP.
