Amos Oz said: “As problems become more difficult and more complicated, more people look for a simple answer, an answer that fits in a single sentence, an answer that points, without hesitation, to a culprit who can be accused of causing all our suffering, an answer that promises that if we would only eradicate the villain, all our problems would disappear. All people want to know is, Who’s the bad guy? (I add: Or who’s the good guy?) All they want is a simple idea that will solve all their problems.”

And Oz continued: “At the foundation of fanaticism is an idea, a bitter, desperate, and distorted idea. And it’s worth remembering that you can almost never defeat an idea by force, no matter how twisted. To defeat it, there must be an answer, there must be an opposing idea, a more appealing belief, a more compelling promise. If that idea is absent, fanatics of every stripe step in and fill the void.”

Oz continued: “Fanatics tend to live in a black-and-white world, with a simplistic view of right and wrong. Conformity, behaving without stepping out of line, obeying without thought or question, the shared desire to belong to a closely knit human group—such is the fanatic spirit. The urge to follow the crowd and the passion to belong to the majority. They idealize leaders of all kinds—religious, political, celebrity, and sports figures. The fanatic doesn’t want there to be differences between people. They want everyone to be the same.”

Oz said: “For religious fanatics, the only medicine that cures all human illnesses is religious laws in their strictest form.” For the ultra-religious Jew, there is only one way to be Jewish: to be extremely observant.

And it seems that more and more people are convinced that this is the only way. But no matter how hard they try, they won’t be able to make a simple idea solve a complex problem. The simple idea of ​​building a wall doesn’t solve the complex problem of migrants. In the same way, becoming ultra-religious won’t solve the complex problem of what it means to be Jewish. Because defining what it means to be Jewish isn’t easy, for the simple reason that there are many ways to be Jewish. I would say there are as many different ways as there are Jews in the world, and perhaps more.

If we were to make a list of the characteristics that make up Jewish identity, the fanatics’ list would have a single quality: a Jew is only someone who strictly observes halacha. For the others, the list would be as long as their knowledge of Judaism. Raphael Patai argues that Jewish identity is entirely proportional to your knowledge of Judaism: the more you know, the more “Jewish” you are. And Jewish identity includes much more than just the religious. It also includes the ethical, social, political, cultural, and many other aspects.

There are those who see their Judaism in black and white. There are others who see it in multi-colored shades. There are those who only know how to count up to one. There are also those who count much higher.

By Marcos Gojman.

Bibliography: Amos Oz “Dear Zealots,” Raphael Patai “The Jewish Mind”