By jmb
This short introduction seeks to explain why the topic of Jewish-Mennonite connections is personally meaningful to me.
So first, someday I will write a longer essay that explains my complicated religious/philosophical journey, but for now I will simply state that I’m a convert to Judaism through the Humanistic movement, who also has retained significant ties to the Mennonite tradition (even though I don’t really identity as a Christian anymore), enough that these days I prefer to say that I’m #BiReligious or better that I’m a Jew who engages in #MRP (Multi-Religious practice).
To say it another way:
Judaism provides my primary identity, but also provides me a method of dialogue and engagement with Biblical and other texts, and most of my spiritual and ritual practices. And being a part of the Jewish community (both online and in-person) is also a huge part of why I’m Jewish.
The Mennonite/Anabaptist tradition provides most of my ethics, including an orientation towards the primacy of peace, as well as an emphasis on simplicity and the community hermeneutic of scripture and other texts (which I see as very complimentary to the Jewish chavruta approach). And I’m a fan of the historic Jesus as his ethical, human teachings.
And thanks to the Humanistic movement of Judaism, I am able to do both. Unlike other other movements of Judaism, the Humanistic movement does not forbid MRP for converts, and does not discourage it for those born Jewish. And taken together, both the Jewish and Mennonite traditions share another major commonality — an emphasis of practice over beliefs, which makes it much easier for me to stay engaged as someone who does not hold to traditional ideas about God.
So anyway, I will be sharing more content (both my own, but also content by others), that explores or touches on commonalities between these two traditions, as well as content that contrasts differences between these traditions. To find these posts, just go to: https://jmb.mx/blog/category/theology/jewish-mennonite-connections/