Jewish Community for Beginners and Experts

LECTURER: Gabor Balazs, philosopher
Gabor is a consultant and a trainer of Jewish content in the Hub. Gabor is an assistant professor of Jewish and Israeli Philosophy at the University of Jewish Studies, and he is active in numerous frameworks of Jewish adult education. Formerly Gabor worked as the Director of Jewish and Israel Studies at Lauder School, Budapest. He also was the director of the Israeli Cultural Institute in Budapest and the headmaster of the school of the Orthodox Jewish Community of Hungary. As a community activity serves as the vice president of the Orthodox Community of Hungary. Gabor received his PhD. at Bar Ilan University in Israel and his first teaching position was there. His main interest is in the connection between morality and religion and theories of contemporary Jewish communal identity and in Israel studies.

MOZAIK HUB
The Mozaik Hub is a professional platform, which provides infrastructure, co-working space, customized professional support, learning opportunities and financial support for Jewish community NGOs and initiatives in Hungary.  

BALINT JCC
Balint House is the home of the Hungarian Jewish community, a place that brings people together. A meeting place for organizations, cultures, friends and strangers, Jews and non-Jews. A sensitive, open, ever-changing home supported by the traditions and the community-forming ideals of the Hungarian Jewish community. 

LAUDER JAVNE SCHOOL
Lauder School is a special workshop where through Jewish traditions and culture students acquire traditions along with the values of modern Jewish culture. The school is intent on educating its students with the help of traditions and the values of modernity to learn about the world and Judaism, to be open-minded and to accept differences.

HAVER FOUNDATION
The word “haver” means friend both in Hebrew and in Hungarian. Haver Foundation’s volunteers give interactive classes mostly in high schools and universities to educate about Judaism with the help of informal educational tools. In our classes we discuss such topics like Jewish identity, Jewish culture and traditions, Jewish history, the Holocaust, Jewish religion and communities.

Chapter 1 – Why do we need a community?
What is the role of the community in the process of becoming a human being and why is it important for the man of the 21st century that communities survive? The lecture includes the mission statements of the participating organizations: „We believe that if we manage to create such a Jewish community where the members are aware of our common past, they believe in our common values, and they are ready and willing to actively work on realizing these values, then it will be fun to be a member of the community and the lives of the members will be happier with the existence of the community than without it.

Chapter 2 – Retrospect: the kahal
In this lecture we take an honest look at the pros and cons of the traditional Jewish communities, the so called kahals, and conclude that those good ol’ days were not that good. In our day and age, we can stay true to our Jewish traditions if instead of chasing an idealized illusion of the past, we work to build a Jewish community appropriate in our ever-changing environment.

Chapter 3 – The disintegration of the traditional community (kahal)
What were the internal and external reasons that led to the disintegration of the traditional Jewish communities prior to modern times? In our opinion, in this disintegration process the appearance of new religious movements such as kabbalah and Chassidism of the 16th century played a key role along with the Era of the Enlightenment as well as the political representation of modern European states.

Chapter 4 – Unity and disruption
The lecture analyzes the myth of the statement “In the good old days the Jewish communities were so unified” and then articulates its central thesis: we do not have to believe those who try to make unity and unification within the Hungarian Jewish community seem like they are values and they are in the common interest of the community. The Jewish community will not be strong because one of the groups will manage to unify the different religious federations and organizations. The Jewish community will be strong if we manage to preserve the communities with different values and the congregations with different rituals but the network of these groups will be able to cooperate with one another honestly, openly, and respectfully in certain issues.

Chapter 5 – The dynamics of innovation and preservation: The emergence of the Jewish religious movements
In this chapter we deal with Jewish religious movements of past and present, introducing the circumstances of their emergence and their main traits. We conclude that the orthodox and the reform movement are equally important in the life of the Jewish community today. Therefore, it is worth looking into the history, the reasons, the correlations, and the contributions of both to the emergence of the Jewish community of today.

Chapter 6 – The emergence of the Hungarian Jewish reality
The lecture details the attributes and the history of the Hungarian Jewish religious movements. Its central thesis is that if we can forget about the completely unnecessary debate about “Who is right?”, and all the Jewish groups accept each other and they look for ways to cooperate, then we might be able to help people of Jewish origins who are not in touch with the Jewish community today to find a community for themselves.

Chapter 7 – How to use and how not to use the past?
This lecture deals with the history of and the disbeliefs about the uniquely Hungarian status quo ante community. It sets the ironic and self-reflective historical point of view of a story from the Talmud against current aspirations of revival and ahistorical monopolization of the community, which has ceased to exist for ever.

Chapter 8 – The different concepts of tradition and modern communities
In this chapter we try to present the different interpretations of a Jewish community based on a piece by retired British chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks. We conclude that the numerous independent Hungarian Jewish communities should be able to cooperate with one another and not only on a temporary, pragmatic basis. A social network could be created in which every one of the small communities could contribute in its own way to realize a monumental, long-term goal.

Chapter 9 – A worthless question: Is Judaism a nationality or a religion?
In this chapter we set out to formulate a proposal according to which we should stop using phrases like religion and modern nationality in the European sense as they are foreign concepts in the Jewish tradition and culture. Instead, we urge the use of the phrase “Jewish Peoplehood. Belonging to the Jewish peoplehood would mean that the individual accepts the existence of all the Jewish communities regardless where they are because Jews around the world share a common history, common values, common culture, and common future.

Chapter 10 – Who is Jewish? (A question without a good answer)
In this chapter we aim to explain through historical examples that in the past it was not easy to answer the question “Who is Jewish?” either. The concept of Jewish peoplehood focuses on common denominators instead of differences. Therefore, if an individual wants to be a member of the community, that person has to meet the requirements of one of the Jewish communities. Moreover, the more communities start using the term Jewish peoplehood, the more likely the emphasis will be on inclusion rather than exclusion.

Chapter 11 – And still the same question: Who is Jewish?
Since when are mixed marriages forbidden according to the Jewish tradition? And since when do we consider those Jewish whose mother is Jewish? In our opinion, we should not only consider those people Jewish who are Jewish by Jewish law, but we should also look at those who are active in Jewish community life and their relatives as members of Jewish peoplehood.

Chapter 12 – Member recruitment: the complex question of conversion
In this chapter we examine how the institution of conversion emerged through history. It will come to light how many different and contradictory yet reasonable sentiments exist about conversion in the Jewish tradition. In our opinion, it would be hopeless to attempt to find a common denominator concerning conversion among the different movements, yet it could be possible to have a more respectful and inclusive discussion on the subject.

Chapter 13 – Equality and acceptance. Women’s equality and sexual diversity
What are the reasons that many traditional Jewish communities either have negative views about or discriminate against members of the LGBTQ community and they do not give equal rights to women within the life of the community? In this chapter, we attempt to present a rather inclusive approach with the help of religious resources. Eventually, we conclude that there are basic Jewish values that urge us to respectfully communicate with the above mentioned groups even if we do not lean towards acceptance.

Chapter 14 – Social responsibility: tikkun olam
In this chapter we will discuss the “cosmopolitan Jewish identity”, which became widespread in the 21st century and we will introduce tikkun olam, an important concept. The Hebrew phrase of tikkun olam is usually translated as “repair of the world” and it reflects the assumption that social responsibility is one of the basic Jewish values. We are to make the entire world that surrounds us a better place and improve the non-Jewish society, not only our immediate environment. 

Chapter 15 – Active solidarity: tzedakah
The lecture discusses two important Jewish values: gemilut hasidim (every good deed we do to help those in need without expecting any kind of compensation) and tzedakah (charity). All these traditional values suggest that in order for a community to survive, its members need to maintain it instead of the organization relying on outside help.

Chapter 16 – Religion and tradition in a secular era
What sort of theological difficulties does the Holocaust present in connection with the concept of the almighty and good god? Although the existence of evil in the world seems inextricable as a theological problem, according to the conclusion of the lecture, going to synagogue still remained a rational, justifiable activity. However, it would be more than desirable to have numerous redefined synagogues or community spaces along the traditional synagogues.

Chapter 17 – The Jewish tradition and the modern leadership values
There are many who think that the survival of the Jewish communities will mainly depend on the fact whether there will be competent, responsible community leaders. The lecture presents the most important tasks of the Jewish leaders of the 21st century through a female and a male leadership model.

Chapter 18 – Future opportunities, or why is it worth being an active Jew in the 21st century?
This recapitulatory lecture discusses the reasons why the initiators of the video series think it is worth living an active Jewish community life in Hungary today. They – Mozaik Hub, Balint House, Lauder School, and Haver Foundation - would like to participate in the creation of such a social net that would bring smaller and larger organizations together and that would have at least three major pillars: pluralism, widely interpreted traditionalism and responsible action for the common goals.