Zev Chafets, "Being a Jew in a Christian World"

Summary

Zev Chafets reflects on what it means to be Jewish in the United States after spending 33 years in Israel. Although he grew up in a largely non-Jewish suburb of Detroit, he says returning to America as an adult felt different: he was now experiencing the country through the perspective of someone who had lived in a Jewish state.

Much of his talk centers on family life with his wife, Lisa, who is not Jewish, and their children. Chafets says he had not previously been preoccupied with religious identity, but felt a strong desire to raise the children as Jews. He describes the practical and sometimes comic realities of doing so: enrolling them in a Reform temple, arranging Hebrew lessons with an Orthodox rabbinical student, and gradually taking on a “rabbi” role at home. He also recounts being turned away from a synagogue because of his interfaith marriage, an experience he viewed as exclusionary.

Chafets says the most difficult adjustment was being in the United States while his son served in the Israeli army during the Second Intifada. He felt that some American Jewish friends could not understand the emotional experience of having a child in a wartime army, and at times felt more affinity with non-Jewish Americans who had military experience.

He argues that the September 11 attacks sharpened his sense that hostility toward Israel and the United States could also be directed at Jews as Jews. In his view, anti-Jewish ideas were evident in extremist rhetoric and attacks such as the murder of journalist Daniel Pearl. He describes feeling estranged at a local interfaith memorial after 9/11, when the gathering seemed unsure how to respond to the attack.

At the same time, Chafets says the United States’ response after 9/11 brought him relief and led him to view the idea of a Judeo-Christian alliance less as a slogan. He rejects the argument that America should reduce its support for Israel to win favor in the Arab Middle East, expressing confidence that American society would not accept that trade-off.

Presenters and Contributors

• Myra — Introduced Chafets; surname unclear in the subtitles.
• Zev Chafets — Speaker.
• Lisa — Chafets’s wife and a scheduled panel contributor; her remarks are not included in this excerpt.