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| David Brooks and Bob Dylan (JTA) |
Whether they formally converted does not matter. Their embrace of religious doctrine can have dire consequences for innocent secular Jews that admire them. Which is the case for Bob Dylan and David Brooks (albeit for entirely different reasons.)
One may recall Bob Dylan’s flirtation with Christianity. He became so enamored of it, that he recorded 3 albums about it. This shocked a lot of his fans at the time, never expecting their icon of progressive values to embrace non progressive religious doctrines of any kind.
Whether he has returned to his Jewish roots is unclear. Depending on who you ask (that seems to know him) he is either still a deeply religious Christian or he has rejected it completely and returned to Judaism. His status in this regard remains a mystery.
David Brooks is a popular politically conservative New York Times columnist who also appears weekly on the PBS Newshour. He was raised in a conservative Jewish home has personally observed many of its religious practices. He was even awarded an honorary degree by Yeshiva University a while back for living and promoting Jewish values. But a few years ago he publicly expressed his embrace of the moral and ethical teachings of the Christian bible (The New Testament).
Ever the Jewish intellectual seeking moral and ethical truth he decided to look for it in sources outside of his own Judaism and found the best expression of ethics and morality in the New Testament.
He adds that he has rebuffed those who have criticized him for finding it in Christianity instead of his own Judaism - explaining that he can’t unread what he read. And that is what makes the most sense to him.
As a respected journalist and intellectual who is widely recognized for his promotion of ethics and morality his embrace of Christianity surely has an impact on his readers.
It is difficult enough reaching out to young college educated Jews with little to no religious education seeking moral guidance in our world today. But when you have someone like Brooks promoting Christianity, that can be yet another obstacle when trying to get Jews to study their own Jewish heritage for the answers they seek.
With so many Jews are abandoning their Judaism these days... so many marrying out caring little if at all about passing on their Jewish heritage - the last thing we need is someone like Brooks promoting Christianity for answers
But that is the reality we face. A reality that American Jewish establishment of the 19th and early 20th century failed to address. Jewish leadership at the time had pretty much abandoned the idea of religious observance. Reform Judaism practically forbade it and Conservative Judaism looked the other way when their parishioners weren’t observing it. Even though they technically considered observance of Halacha mandatory, they had made decisions that – though well intentioned – were both against Halacha and counterproductive. They thought they were conserving Judaism by ‘looking the other way’ thus keeping members happy while retaining their attendance in synagogues. But by now, well into the 21st century we see just how terrible that decision was. Some of their current leaders are now admitting that mistake.
Both Dylan and Brooks were victims of this mentality. While the majority of Jews at the time were happy to abandon the burden of observance in the melting pot culture of that era, their offspring were never given the chance to make that decision Some are now seeking the spirituality that was missing in their families.
While there are outreach groups and organizations reaching out to these Jews there are not nearly enough. All too often Jews seeking spirituality who can’t’ find it in their home, find it elsewhere outside of their own Judaism.
Dylan and Brooks are victims of this culture who might have had a different epiphany had they been directed to the many sources in Judaism that could have answered their search for spirituality and meaning.
