What kind of Jew are you?
November 28th, 2002
This quiz link (courtesy of Mike Silverman), can help you find out. It’s humourous, but it also surprisingly accurately described my beliefs as fitting most closely in with secular humanist Judaism. I’m a 3-day-a-year synagogue-goer, and my synagogue happens to be of the Orthodox denomination, but I’m also a skeptical agnostic who tends to view Judaism more culturally than religiously. I rather like what these folks have to say:
Judaism is much more than a set of religious beliefs and practices. Secular Humanistic Jews have a strong connection to Jewish history and culture and are committed to the future of the Jewish People. Secular Humanistic Jews rely on reason, rather than faith, to understand the world and believe that human intelligence and experience are capable of guiding their lives.
Secular Humanistic Jews believe that Jewish history is a human saga, a testament to the significance of human power and responsibility. We identify with the experience and culture of the Jewish people and we celebrate our Jewish identity at holidays and special moments of our lives using practices, rituals and language that are consistent with our secular beliefs and ideals. We enrich our knowledge by studying the collected teachings and experiences of the Jewish people, as well as modern ideas based on rational inquiry.
There are other interesting quizzes at SelectSmart too. According to the Mideast Selector Quiz, I’m an average Israeli (but choice #2 was Israeli far-right wing, which makes me wonder how they define “far right wing” based on the answers I provided). Last place in that quiz was Palestinian suicide bomber . . . I wonder if they track IP addresses of anyone who takes the quiz and gets that as a result? Perhaps they should start.
Oh yeah, and apparently I should move to Alaska, read Nietzsche, and vote for the Marxist-Leninist party in Canadian politics (as you can see, some of these quizzes are more accurate than others).
Related posts:
Posted in 
Tags:
Good for you. Humanistic Judaism is the future of world Jewry – whether admitted or not. I grew up affiliated to a conservative shul disenfranchised. I am not affiliated, but if I were it would be to this secular movement.