I’ve never quite understood why leaving one’s Jewish religion is defined as “leaving with a question”. Notwithstanding the fact that it is a botched counter-term for chazara bit’shuva – the process of repentance for one’s sins – it is often a process which, though riddled with doubts, ultimately ends with one’s adamant surety in his/her decision.
I was certain in my decision to leave the religious world behind, and though my family hadn’t accepted my decision at first and fought me hard on it, I stood fast and carried it through.
Religious folks often liken the process of chazara bit’shuva as “stepping into the light”, darkness being the implied metaphor for the secular world. I would argue that it is just the opposite: leaving one’s religion, and thereby foregoing the belief in an almighty deity, is seeing the world in a much clearer and more truthful way than ever possible in the narrow-minded, superstitious, and fanciful world view of religion.
I have to completely agree with you. This has come up in my thinking several times. How can we allow the religious to control our terminology? חוזר בתשובה (chozer bitshuvah) makes it sound like they have gotten the answer to their question, while יוצא בשאלה (yotsei bish'eilah) makes it sound like he that leaves religion only has question marks in his mind. I totally get what you mean.
ReplyDeleteThis is why I prefer the term דתל"ש (that is, דתי לשעבר), which is a term that was created (as far as I know) by ex-religious people themselves. Hebrew's an old language, of course, and there is a lot of prejudice built into the language (sexism, xenophobia, ethnocentrism, etc.), but it's something that's being looked at among academics.
I remember one time when I was at a public lecture given by a professor from Hebrew University (I can't remember her name), and she made the point that Hebrew is a sex-maniac language. In English, you can say the following:
I know the doctor very well.
When I make this statement, you don't know my gender as the speaker or that of the doctor. However, as soon as I open my mouth in Hebrew, you know that I am a man and the doctor is a woman!
אני מכיר היטב את הרופאה.
She said, "as soon as you begin to speak, the Hebrew language requires you to identify what organ you have between your legs." She was very right, and it's something that I hadn't noticed until that day.
I think the same thing is true with regard to what you have brought up in this post. There is a tendency in the language to lend credence to the religious perspective. It's something that we (as a community of nonbelievers) need to work on to change.
Thanks for contributing!
I had never given much thought before on how the Hebrew language carries with it a sexist slant, possibly because I was more preoccupied with learning it for the sake of furthering it for Torah study.
ReplyDeleteBut thinking about it, I would agree with the Professor. A couple usages I had learned would be for the term בעלי which does not just mean "my husband" but rather "my owner." Not only that but if a group of women are being addressed the language spoken is in the feminine, however, should one male enter the room the language reverts to a masculine syntax.
Changes would indeed be good, especially if this kind of terminology is currently used for modern speech.