Ancient, Yet Up-And-Coming Thing

For the first time in its 3,000-year history, Judaism is going mainstream. Megastars are studying Kabballah and going to Synagogue, broadcasters moralizing from a Jewish perspective flood the airwaves, and books like “Gifts of the Jews” top the best-seller charts. Count on this trend to continue as more and more non-Jews embrace Jewish spirituality.

For 2,000 years Christianity created a “dualist society” where G-d and the world, the soul and our body, mind and heart, were in conflict. But this is the first generation to insist on having it all. Never has there been a more ambitious, materialistic society that yet reads more self-help books in search of deeper spirituality and greater personal growth. Young men and women today are incredibly career-oriented and self-indulgent. They work themselves to the bone so that they can shop, vacation and indulge in a materialistic orgy of cars and techno-gadgets.

But on their vacations, while they bronze their bodies in skimpy bikinis, they sit on the beaches and read books like “The Road Less Traveled” and “Care of the Soul.” As they surf the web and check in on skimpily clad blondes who have installed e-cameras in their college dorms, they also register with content-oriented sites that teach them how to maximize their spiritual potential.

Judaism is the perfect spiritual model for Generation X, the X representing the confluence of the spiritual and material modalities. In Jewish spirituality, the objective is to create heaven on Earth. You want to be rich? The Jewish message is not “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God (Matthew 19:24).” Rather, the message is, Aspire to become a billionaire. Just give a lot to charity. You love sex? No problem. Have the wildest sex - but with your spouse.

In this era of cell phones, beepers, e-mail, Internet and fax machines, people are rarely afforded a moment of solitude. Get ready to see an increasing number of non-Jews creating a Jewish-style Sabbath by setting aside one family day each week in which they don’t answer the telephone, turn on the TV or surf the net. If you think this is exaggerated, take the millennium event, which fell out on Friday night, the Jewish Sabbath. On the biggest party for a thousand years, most Americans stayed at home away from the hype.

In this age of incessant scandal, people are yearning to contribute to society, yet are being told that because they’re flawed they have nothing to give. Judaism says that world redemption - making the world a better place - comes before personal salvation. Bill Clinton’s having survived Monica Lewinsky was an example of the triumph of Jewish over Christian values. Most of the Christian clergy were calling for his head because in Christianity, faith and being a good person comes before making a better world. But the American people rejected this, saying, “He’s doing a good job, let him stay.” Oscar Schindler was a man known for womanizing, drinking and other scandalous behavior while Hitler was impeccable in his personal life - never smoked, drank or cheated on Eva Braun. But contrast their respective contributions to the world.

Loss of intimacy is a primary characteristic of the modern world. There are more broken relationships and more loneliness than ever before. Divorce in the United States has reached 63 percent of all marriages since 1980. People work harder than ever, neglecting spouses and children in the process. The Jewish emphasis on family, community and respect for parents is a wholesome remedy.

Embraced by pop icons like Madonna, the Kaballah teaches us to embrace little sparks of everyday experience and the seemingly insignificant moments. Modern existence is an ongoing search for fireworks displays wherein people get bored incredibly fast and will do anything to overcome the drudgery, even being prepared to sit for hours on end in front of a television for a bit of banal entertainment.

What has been lost is a down-to-earth appreciation for the simple joys of reading, playing with children, humming inspiring melodies and taking long strolls by the river.

But the mystical side of Judaism reminds us that there are spiritual sparks scattered from the majestic mountain peaks even to the slums of the inner city. Kabballah conditions man to discover the electricity of simple undertakings like prayer, kindness and friendship.

Jewish teachings on how to sustain passion and engender greater intimacy in relationships is perhaps Judaism’s best-kept secret. Today, hundreds of non-Jewish couples have begun to institute a period of sexual separation in their marriages, just like religious Jewish couples. Likewise, they warmed to the Biblical message of rediscovering sex as the highest form of knowledge which can sew two strangers together as one flesh.

A Jewish wave is coming with many non-Jews already surfing. It’s going to make a big splash in all the world’s cities. The only question is how many Jews will surf with them.