INTRODUCTORY UNIT - RITUALS, CULTURE AND US

10. WHERE DO THE JEWS FIT INTO ALL OF THIS?

The scenario of alienation that we have outlined in general terms above, is borne out very well when we come to examine the situation of Judaism in the modern world.

As is the case in many of the old traditional cultures, there has been considerable attrition of affiliation

• The close relationship between the members of the 'tribe' and the traditional tribal system, with its specific beliefs, has changed enormously over the last two centuries.
• There are many who are alienated from the collective and who show very little, if any, interest in the traditions of the group.
• There are many others, loyal members of the Jewish tribe, who have drifted far from the traditional culture and the philosophical and theological underpinnings of that way of life.

But many of both these groups show their greatest loyalty to the culture when it comes to life cycle events. Others still, have reinterpreted and modernized the tradition, often dropping aspects of the tradition once considered central, while developing new ideas and traditions on the basis of the old ones to create a cohesive and coherent balance of the old with the new.