Our conversation, as usual, begins with getting to know our guest.  We talk with Rabbi Estrin about how he ended up as a military chaplain and whether he had to go through basic training.  We also discuss his path towards the rabbinate and his current work with Chabad, and Elie graciously explains what that organization is all about.

We then dive into the historical origins of Chanukah, going back some 2200 years and the efforts of the Greeks to Hellenize Judaism, or assimilate it into Greek pagan culture.  Elie reviews some of the main historical figures in the story and the lead up to a guerrilla war against the Greeks.  Upon retaking the Temple Mount, Judah Maccabee had his band of followers cleanse and rededicate the altar, which required burning oil for eight days.  Although they only had enough pure olive oil to burn for one day, the supply miraculously lasted for the full eight days giving rise to the tradition of lighting a menorah.  Tony learns that Chanukah stands for “rededication” and Elie also explains the reason we see different spellings of the holiday (e.g., Hanukkah).  He also brings up some recent archaeological finds in Israel that are of importance to the history of Chanukah.  Rabbi Estrin re-emphasizes the importance of the holiday for religious freedom — the right to practice one’s faith according to one’s conscience freely, particularly in a realm where you are a religious minority — and its importance for remembering and celebrating Jewish identity.

Following our discussion of the events 2200 years ago, Elie explains where Chanukah fits into the grand scheme of Jewish holidays.  Although we often hear of “High Holy Days,” Rabbi Estrin notes that there really are no “minor” holidays in the Jewish calendar and each celebration has its own particular and important meaning.  He reviews the difference between rabbinic holidays and biblical holidays.  We then explore a number of the traditions associated with Chanukah, beginning with the lighting of the menorah.  Elie notes that there has been some historical debate whether Jews are to light one candle on the first day of the holiday and progress to eight, or whether one starts with eight candles lit and roll down to one.  The former tradition has tended to predominate as a means of representing how light increasingly pushes back darkness.  We also discuss what can constitute a menorah, and Elie tells Tony that whatever is available is fine and points out Jews have been incredibly creative in always finding ways to celebrate even under the harshest of conditions such as the Holocaust and Soviet persecution.  This emphasizes the resilience of the Jewish people and the seriousness with which they take their faith.  Our conversation also covers a number of other traditions such as the dreidel, gelt (and giving of presents), and the various foods associated with Chanukah.  The emphasis on fried foods and dairy leads Tony to conclude that this might be one of the most delicious holidays ever.

We conclude with conversation about how Jews celebrate Chanukah in various settings, including America.  Rabbi Estrin, who works closely with college students through Chabad, recognizes that it is often difficult to retain one’s religious identity when in the minority and Chanukah becomes an important time for Jews to reconnect with their faith.  We talk about the issues of assimilation and cultural/religious identity that we have discussed on previous podcasts (see below) with Elie noting that it is a constant challenge to convince folks that being Jewish is not just about being dependent on a synagogue, but is something that must be lived daily in one’s life and that you need to build upon your faith one piece at a time, a message that is applicable to individuals within all faiths.  Recorded: November 13, 2015.

RELATED LINKS

Chabad at the University of Washington.

Rabbi Elie Estrin on Twitter.

RELATED PODCASTS

Daniel Libenson on Present and Future Judaism.

Carmel Chiswick on the Economics of Being Jewish in America.

Linda Weiser Friedman on Jewish Humor.

Carmel Chiswick on the Economics of American Judaism.

Jeff Levin on Judaism and Health.

Rajdeep Singh on American Sikhs and Religious Liberty.

]]> http://www.researchonreligion.org/historical-topics/elie-estrin-on-the-history-and-traditions-of-chanukah/feed 0 http://www.researchonreligion.org/religion-politics/ron-hassner-on-religion-in-the-military http://www.researchonreligion.org/religion-politics/ron-hassner-on-religion-in-the-military#comments Sun, 11 Oct 2015 08:00:01 +0000 http://www.researchonreligion.org/?p=4126 From issues as diverse as pacifism to rituals that require special garments that interfere with uniforms, militaries around the world often find themselves trying to accommodate the various religious beliefs and practices of their soldiers.  How such issues are manage has largely gone unstudied by academics.  However, Dr. Ron Hassner — associate professor of political science at the University of California, Berkeley — has taken up the task to research this topic by assembling a group of scholars for an edited volume entitled Religion in the Military Worldwide.  We discuss the specific findings presented in this work and Prof. Hassner’s general thoughts on the management of religion in the armed forces.

Our discussion begins, though, with a summary of Prof. Hassner’s previous work on “sacred space,” a topic that we have visited before on the podcast.  In this line of research, Ron has argued that territory that is deemed sacred to religious adherents faces a problem of being “indivisible,” unlike land or loot, and makes many conflicts very intractable. Ron argues that the failure to understand the importance of “sacred space” has led to numerous diplomatic misunderstandings and policy errors, but he also presents ways to mitigate conflict, which includes involving clergy into policy discussions.  We also raise the issue of the “sacred” Big Game between Stanford and Cal, and the iconographic ax that is awarded to the winner, and Ron presents us with a little known, but perhaps very revealing, correlative fact about that ongoing rivalry that involves him.

We revisited this earlier line of Ron’s research agenda because it provided him with a segue into his current interest in understanding how religion functions within militaries and how different countries manage potential conflicts between religious belief and ritual, and the necessary dictates of preparing for, and conducting, combat.  And it was not just his previous research that prompted such an interest; Ron’s own experience of having to prepare plates and kitchen utensils for kosher meals led him to think about this topic.  He also recounts second-hand stories wherein a Hindu soldier was reported to have risked his life on the battlefield to tend to a cow that was harmed by artillery fire.  These and a few other stories helped to pique Ron’s interest into investigating whether or not there are any interesting empirical regularities around the world as to the management of religion in the military.  Finding virtually no pre-existing literature on the topic, he decided to assemble a group of scholars who had some connection to the topic and he discusses how this came together in the edited volume noted above.

We then dive into the topic of religious demographics in the military, which one might think would be a relatively straightforward task for empirical research.  However, many militaries, including the United States, do not keep and/or share religious demographics.  Ron explains how some scholars have tried to get around this lack of data with unique collection strategies, including counting beards, the number and denomination of chaplains, and yarmulkes.  Issues of mandatory conscription versus an all-volunteer force can have an interesting impact on the religious demographics.  Ron further asked his scholars to probe the issue of the denominational composition of smaller units within the military.  This leads to an interesting discussion on socialization and how even members of a platoon who do not initially share the religious beliefs and practices of the majority of the group will often conform to those preferences over time as an act of cohesion.  Ron shares a few interesting stories to this effect.

We then talk about the manner in which military commanders have to accommodate very specific religious practices that might conflict with standard operating procedures with a large bureaucracy.  Tony brings up the issue of Sikhs and protective helmets, given that the Sikh practice of long hair and turbans make it difficult to outfit soldiers with this basic piece of safety gear.  Prof. Hassner then brings up the fascinating case of Japan, a nation that many people consider to be amongst the most secular in the world.  Ron notes that although religion is significantly downplayed in the Japanese defense forces, a very large number of soldiers (including officers) will not drive vehicles or board ships that have not been blessed by Shinto clergy in a purification ritual to rid the object of evil spirits.

Our next topic is to look into the U.S. case and how religion is managed therein.  Here Ron talks about how he had two different scholars with differing viewpoints — Martin Cook and Pauletta Otis — regarding the presence in the U.S. armed forces.  The former shows a great deal of concern over the excesses of religious symbolism in military music and symbols/badges used on the battlefield.  He sees these excesses as conflicting with general military goals of trying to win hearts and minds of populations in foreign lands, particularly in recent military campaigns in the Middle East.  Otis, on the other hand, notes that while excesses do exist, there are procedures for addressing these problems and the system works fairly well, which leads her the con.  We also chat a bit about how religious belief and practice play out in daily operations, including combat.  This is the main topic of Ron’s next book but he gives us a flavor for some of his findings, as well as what some of the authors in his edited volume had to say.  It is hear where we look both at the Iranian military and India’s armed forces.  We discuss how there was an interesting selection bias in the Iranian military during the Iran-Iraq War that led many devout Muslims to join special units that engaged in suicide attacks out of a firm belief in martyrdom.  We explore India’s experience in trying to integrate people of very different faith traditions that are often in conflict with one another into the same units.  Interestingly, Ron notes that rather than creating religiously homogenous units that might be prone to mutiny if ordered to fight against co-religionists, combining individuals of different faiths actually helps to build unit cohesion as all the soldiers know they are dependent upon one another for survival on the battlefield irrespective of spiritual preferences.

We finish our interview with some of Ron’s reflections on what he has learned throughout the years of studying this topic.  One of his main takeaways was that there really are no pat solutions to dealing with the issue of religion in the armed forces, but rather leaders are often learning and adjusting to changing circumstances.  Recorded: October 7, 2015.

RELATED LINKS

Ron Hassner’s biography at UC-Berkeley’s Department of Political Science.

Religion in the Military Worldwide, edited by Ron Hassner.

War on Sacred Ground, by Ron Hassner.

RELATED PODCASTS

Ron Hassner on Sacred Space and Holy Conflict.

Philip Jenkins on Religion and World War I.

Robert Kinnune on Military Chaplains.

Sean Scott on Religious Rhetoric in the US Civil War.

James Felak on Pope Pius XII, the Wartime Pontiff.

Our conversation begins with a discussion of challenges facing contemporary Jews in America.  Dan notes that Judaism is not only seen as a religion, but as an ethnicity.  And even though there has been an increase in the number of “secular Jews” religiously, there remains a great deal of pride in heritage among this group, which he notes provides a great opportunity for engaging Jews who may have been falling away from their spiritual roots.  We talk about some of the demographic categories that were mentioned in last week’s interview with Carmel Chiswick.  Dan works closely with college students and understands the difficulty of “young adult singles” as they enter a period of their lives that is often devoid of Jewish rituals.  He also spends some time discussing how Jews have always had to respond to changing circumstances, and discusses the emergence of a “controversial re-imagination of Israel” in the form of secular Zionism over the past century and a half.  He notes that young people today are trying to grapple with these changes, and likens the challenges and adaptations he sees going on currently to the business concept of “disruptive innovation.”

We then turn attention to his work with young Jews on college campuses, first looking at Hillel.  He explains the historical background of Hillel as a place designed to make Jews feel comfortable in a culturally Christian college setting dating back to the 1940s.  Over time, Hillel has tried to appeal to Jews who are intensely religious, occasionally involved in the faith, and those who have no conscious need for Jewish ritual activities but nonetheless want to feel connected to their ethnic heritage.  Balancing the needs and wants of these three communities can be difficult.  It is in this context that we talk about his work with jUChicago, which seeks to meet many of the more secular Jews in spaces they feel comfortable and yet still make them feel part of a larger community.  Unlike Hillel that has a building where college students come to assemble, jUChicago is designed with no real central location (other than some administrative space) and will engage students for dinners in their apartments, social events in the city, or wherever the participants desire to be met.  This flexibility is a key feature of the organization that adapts to student needs, a process Dan calls “design thinking.”   During this discussion, Tony also learns about the “small letter” culture spurred on by Apple media products, and a little bit about Chabad.

The final portion of the podcast picks up on the theme of where American Jews are heading in the 21st century and the creation of the Institute for the Next Jewish Future.  While based on college campus, this organization is aimed at engaging the Jewish community throughout the entire life cycle.  The goal of the institute is three fold.  First, it is designed as a think tank to study Jewish needs and strategies in the coming decades.  Second, there is an emphasis on training religious and lay leaders in ways that continue to foster Jewish human capital.  And finally, the institute seeks to facilitate the networking and funding of Jewish leaders who they train.  Tony asks Dan about his thoughts on where Judaism is heading and he connects back to his earlier thoughts on how Judaism has changed historically.  While conveying an anecdote about how a Jewish sociologist thought that Judaism might not be recognizable a century from now, Dan did not think that was necessarily a bad thing given his optimistic belief in how humans adapt to new environments, yet preserve lineages to the past.  Recorded: April 8, 2015.

RELATED LINKS

Daniel Libenson’s bio at the Institute for the Next Jewish Future.

jUChicago.

Hillel International.

The Jewish Innovator’s Dilemma, an ELItalk by Daniel Libenson.

The Vanishing American Jew: In Search of Jewish Identify for the Next Century, by Alan Dershowitz.

RELATED PODCASTS

Carmel Chiswick on the Economics of Being Jewish in America.

Carmel Chiswick on the Economics of American Judaism.

Linda Weiser Friedman on Jewish Humor.

Colleen Haight on Jewish Peddlers in 19th Century America.

Jeff Levin on Judaism and Health.

Mark Glickman on the Cairo Genizah.

Mark Koyama on the Economics of Jewish Expulsions.

Religious conflict has been common throughout history.  But why have conflicts over sacred spaces such as shrines or temples been so remarkably difficult to solve, especially when compared to conflicts over more “secular” territory or issues?  Ron Hassner – associate professor of political science at the University of California at Berkeley, and the co-director of the Religion, Politics, and Globalization Program – presents an intriguing explanation for the intractability of religious conflict.

Prof. Hassner argues in plain and simple language that the nature of “sacred ground,” specificially its indivisibility, frequently makes conflict impossible to resolve between two parties who are contesting the ownership or control of sacred space.  Prof. Hassner vividly illustrates his theory with a number of intriguing examples including the conflict over the Temple Mount / Haram el Sharif in Jerusalem, the controversy over the building of a mosque and Islamic cultural center near the World Trade Center in NYC, and several other historical conflicts.

Near the end of the podcast, Prof. Hassner notes that it may be impossible to end conflict over various sacred spaces, but there are means for mitigating the negative effects of such conflict.  He appeals to diplomats to include the views of religious authority when crafting mutually agreeable settlements to conflict.  Since the initial interview back in 2010, Prof. Hassner has been granted tenure in his academic department.  Us folks at RoR would like to think that his appearance on our show had a big hand in that decision.  Recorded: October 15, 2010.

RELATED LINKS

Prof. Ron Hassner’s website at UC-Berkeley.

War on Sacred Grounds, by Ron E. Hassner (Cornell University Press).

The Religion, Politics and Globalization Program at UC-Berkeley.

RELATED PODCASTS

Sean Everton on Dark Networks.

Monica Toft on Religion, Terrorism, and Civil War.

Eli Berman on religious terrorism.

Rod Stark on the Crusades.

How has American Judaism changed over the course of the past two centuries?  Using an economic approach that focuses on the importance of wage rates and time costs, Prof. Carmel Chiswick — University of Illinois, Chicago and the George Washington University — examines how the socio-economic context of the 19th century had a major impact on how immigrant Jews practiced their religion in America.  Prof. Chiswick explains that higher wage rates and the subsequent higher opportunity cost of time led to a shortening of Jewish services, less emphasis on traditional religious education, a preference for secular higher education, and the need to import rabbis, cantors and other religious specialists from Europe.  We trace how this influenced the growth of Reform and Conservative Judaism.  The conversation then turns attention to the role of education in Jewish progress.  While there is some degree of trade-off between religious and secular education, we later examine how traditional religious education (especially study of the Talmud) can act as a complement to secular studies.  Other topics explored include the issue of inter-marriage, the relaxation of dietary restrictions, Chabad, and how the creation of modern Israel had a big impact on American Jews.  We finish by speculating about the future of American Jewry and its impact on Judaism worldwide.  Recorded: April 26, 2011.

RELATED LINKS

Carmel Chiswick’s website at the University of Illinois, Chicago.

Carmel Chiswisk’s website at the George Washington University.

The Economics of American Judaism by Carmel U. Chiswick.

The following links are not directly related to the content of the podcast, but were mentioned at the beginning of the episode.  They represent folks who have helped direct traffic to our podcast series in recent months.  A big thanks to them!

LDS Living.

The Western Tradition blog.

Michael McBride’s The Religious Marketplace.

Brad R.E. Wright’s blog.

Baylor University’s Institute for Studies of Religion.

Internet Imagineering (Neil Luft and crew).

RELATED LINKS

Ken Wald’s website at the University of Florida.

The Jean & Samuel Frankel Center for Judaic Studies (at the University of Michigan).

Religion and Politics in the United States (6th edition), by Kenneth D. Wald and Allison Calhoun-Brown.

The Politics of Cultural Differnces: Social Change & Voter Mobilization Strategies in the Post-New Deal Period, by David C. Leege, Kenneth D. Wald, Brian S. Krueger, and Paul D. Mueller.

The Politics of Gay Rights, edited by Craig A. Rimmerman, Kenneth D. Wald, and Clyde Wilcox.

Cambridge Studies in Social Theory, Religion, and Politics.

RELATED PODCASTS

Carmel Chiswick on the Economics of American Judaism.

David Brody on the 2010 Midterm Elections.

RELATED LINKS

Carmel Chiswick’s website at the University of Illinois, Chicago.

Carmel Chiswisk’s website at the George Washington University.

The Economics of American Judaism by Carmel U. Chiswick.

The following links are not directly related to the content of the podcast, but were mentioned at the beginning of the episode.  They represent folks who have helped direct traffic to our podcast series in recent months.  A big thanks to them!

LDS Living.

The Western Tradition blog.

Michael McBride’s The Religious Marketplace.

Brad R.E. Wright’s blog.

Baylor University’s Institute for Studies of Religion.

Internet Imagineering (Neil Luft and crew).

RELATED LINKS

Prof. Ron Hassner’s website at UC-Berkeley.

War on Sacred Grounds, by Ron E. Hassner (Cornell University Press).

The Religion, Politics and Globalization Program at UC-Berkeley.

RELATED PODCASTS

Eli Berman on religious terrorism.

Rod Stark on the Crusades.