By Rabbi Micah Streiffer
What is Judaism? Is it a religion? An ethnicity? A nation? Something else??
(Spoiler alert: I will not be answering this question in this article.)
Judaism defies categorization. It’s a religion—but you don’t have to practice it or believe in God to be part of it. It’s an ethnic group—but you don’t have to be born into it. It doesn’t fit neatly into any of society’s boxes.
There are a few reasons for this. One is that Judaism actually predates the boxes. The category of “religion” (at least as we know it today) is a modern concept. It arose in Europe during the Reformation and the Enlightenment, as a way of distinguishing a person’s private system of faith and beliefs from the supposedly secular realm of the state and its laws. That’s a distinctly modern, post-Enlightenment, post-Christian way of seeing the world— and it didn’t exist before the 18th century, let alone in Jewish texts. When ancient Israelites or early rabbinic Jews wrote about Jewish practices, beliefs, and rituals, they weren’t distinguishing them from the secular world, and they weren’t using the word “religion” to describe them. In fact, pre-modern Hebrew doesn’t even really have a word for religion!
Another reason Judaism is so hard to categorize is that we Jews simply don’t agree on what it is. For some of us it is our religion – a set of beliefs and practice that connect us with God and with the spiritual realm. For others, being Jewish is a matter of culture and creativity. Some of us connect by speaking Hebrew, donating to Jewish causes, learning Yiddish, studying Talmud, reading history, exploring recipes, or joining the spinning class at the JCC. Still others feel a strong sense of belonging to the Jewish people, but aren’t actively involved in any of those ways.
Why am I talking about all of this? I would like to suggest that in 2026, “What is Judaism?” is the wrong question. Rather than trying to define Judaism, our task ought to be to connect with it—in whatever ways are most meaningful for us as individuals, and whatever ways help bring Judaism tradition to life in our lives.
For me, learning has always been the way that Judaism comes alive. When I open a page of Talmud or read a midrash on the weekly Torah portion, I feel myself part of something that transcends me. I feel like I’m learning from my ancestors, arguing with the ancient sages, and thinking through life’s questions together with the philosophers who came before me. That’s what Judaism is for me: an incredible, ongoing, multigenerational conversation—that each of us is invited to join.
This is exactly what we try to nurture at Laasok: a community of people who connect to Judaism through learning, curiosity, and conversation. I’m so proud of the community we’re building, and enlivened by the conversations we are having each and every week.
So if study is one of the ways that Judaism comes alive for you—or if you’re curious whether it might be—let’s talk. There is always another book to open, another question to ask, another voice to add to the conversation.
L’shalom,
Rabbi Micah Streiffer
Founder and Director, Laasok