THE FORWARD: Keeping religion at arm’s length from the government is one thing. Keeping one religion at arm’s length from another, especially at the grassroots level of participation, is something else again. Whether we call it ‘‘cultural appropriation’’ or — less ominously, perhaps — cultural borrowing, there happens to be a lot of traffic between faiths in modern America.
Consider, for instance, the practice of gift giving at Hanukkah, which took its cue from Christmas. Or, for that matter, the kinds of goyishe foods (let’s hear it for mac and cheese) that many American Jews routinely consume. More striking still are the ways in which Christian notions of decorum and architecture (all that stained glass!), not to mention family-style seating as well as the sermon, have influenced American synagogue life. In each instance, American Jews have drawn on phenomena not initially their own — and then redefined them.
The same can be said of Christian Americans. They, too, have taken up practices from outside their faith and integrated them into their daily lives. The breaking of the glass at the conclusion of a wedding, or, better yet, the hoisting aloft of the bride and groom while dancing at the reception, has become a familiar pursuit of late within Christian circles. So, too, has the use of a ketubah, the official Jewish marriage document, as a recent New York Times article by Samuel Freedman pointed out, and the wearing of silver “Kabbalah dogtags” and other forms of jewelry with “Kabbalistic themes,” such as red-string bracelets…. (more)
