What Truly Makes Us Jewish: Identity, Torah, and the Survival of the Jewish People

We prefer not to label Jews. Even when speaking to young children, it is better to explain that there are Jews who observe the commandments, and Jews who have not yet merited to observe them — often because they did not grow up immersed in Judaism or learn its importance. Yet we are all Jews, and we are all bound by the same Torah that we received at Mount Sinai. No Jew is exempt from the commandments by virtue of any social definition.

The Origin of the “Secular” Label

The Jewish Enlightenment movement created the category of “secular Jews” in order to provide social legitimacy for a lifestyle not faithful to halachic law (the original term was “free Jews”). This label became embedded in everyday language and can be misleading. The truth must be stated clearly: there is no such thing as Jewish identity without loyalty to the Torah, just as there is no such thing as dark light.

Lessons from Jewish History

When we examine the turbulent history of our people, we find that every attempt to create a value-based Jewish life without Torah observance ultimately failed. Hellenized Jews tried to fashion a Judaism infused with Greek culture and disappeared from the Jewish people. Early Christians attempted to create a Judeo-Christian identity and likewise vanished from the Jewish people, joined by generations of converted Jews throughout history. The Reform movement sought to create an “open Judaism,” and today its adherents are assimilating in massive numbers, to the point of eventual disappearance.

The Enlightenment thinkers also tried to create a “secular Judaism,” leading to widespread assimilation of secular Jews everywhere in the world — except in the Land of Israel. Why? Beyond the fact that Jews in Israel are surrounded by other Jews and therefore tend to marry among themselves, there is another crucial factor: even secular Jews in Israel still observe several mitzvot. These include circumcision, bar mitzvah, fasting on Yom Kippur, the Passover Seder, avoidance of pork, as well as marriage and burial according to Jewish law. Without even this partial observance, who can say whether the situation of secular Jews in Israel would differ from that of their secular brothers and sisters in the Diaspora?

Preserving Jewish Identity

Observance of the Torah’s commandments is the only thing that preserves our identity as Jews and unites us. Therefore, do not say “secular,” but rather say “Jew.” There are Jews who have merited to preserve their identity faithfully, and those who have merited only partially — or not yet, but there is no other defining marker of Jewish identity besides the Torah.

Judaism is not merely an added cultural value or a set of customs in a Jew’s life. Our Judaism is the identity that God bestowed upon us when He took us out of Egypt: “You are children of the Lord your God… for you are a holy people to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be His treasured nation from all the peoples on the face of the earth” (Devarim 14:1–2).

With the Exodus from Egypt, our people left the domain of the natural laws of history and entered the eternal domain of the Creator: “For the Children of Israel are servants to Me; they are My servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God” (Vayikra 25:55).

One Identity, One Path

The Torah defined our identity. It revealed to us who we are and our role in the world. Since the Torah determines our identity, our very existence depends solely upon it. A person cannot possess two identities at once. Therefore, any attempt to add another culture or ideology to the Torah is doomed to failure. Judaism is complete as it is, and it is only through it that our people have preserved their identity for 3,300 years. This is the secret of our endurance: “Behold, a people that dwells alone, and is not counted among the nations” (Bamidbar 23:9).

Those who observe the Torah merit to be bound to the eternal people and to pass on the Jewish legacy to their children. Every movement that attempted to deviate from the path of the Torah ultimately caused its children — or grandchildren or great-grandchildren, to abandon Judaism. In the end, each such deviation led to disappearance within a few generations.

The Tree and the Leaf: A Parable

Judaism can be compared to a wide, ancient, and mighty tree. As long as the leaves remain attached to its branches, they draw living waters from its roots and flourish. Any leaf that detaches from its branch dries up and dies.

Let us imagine what a single fallen leaf might say in the first hours after separating from the tree: “Look at me! I am still green and full of life, just as I was on the tree. You see clearly that we do not need the branches or roots of that old, ancient tree whose time has passed. I do not need its burden or its rules. I am modern. I am free. I am proof that one can live without the tradition of our forefathers.”

Other leaves may look at this “free” leaf, envy it, and follow after it. They do not realize that within a short time the leaf will wither and die without a source of life, and that before a single season passes it will crumble and vanish as though it never existed.

The Verdict of History

History itself proves that our existence depends solely on observance of the Torah.

Thank God, we live in a generation with many Jews who are strengthening their observance, as well as traditional Jews who recognize the importance of the Torah and wish to grow in mitzvah observance. Every mitzvah a Jew fulfills preserves him and his descendants from the loss of identity.