California Bill Wants To Track Who Is Jewish. It’s A Bad Idea.

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(OPINION) A few years ago, I traveled to South America for multifaith research. Jetlagged and seeking comfort, I attended a Friday night Kabbalat Shabbat service in Santiago, Chile. Much to my shock, despite being thousands of miles away from home, I heard several familiar prayers and tunes I sang growing up.

As I left the synagogue, hugging strangers who wished me a Shabbat shalom, I was met with an irrevocable sensation I couldn’t shake: I felt connected to a global community. Despite my elementary understanding of Chilean Spanish, we share a lived experience.

A recent New York Times article details the ongoing effort in California to pass SB 1387, a bill that considers the addition of Jewish heritage to the list of over 50 recognized racial and ethnic identities. Of course, in typical Jewish fashion, followed by the complexities of the proposed legislation are vertiginous amounts of opinions regarding the matter. And there should be, because nothing about Jewish identity is clear-cut enough to merely check a box.

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After the service and as I was on my way to an impromptu Shabbat dinner nearby, I realized that it is the tragedy beyond the walls of the synagogue that often shapes and informs Jewish identity for so many around the world, which is why it is difficult for many Jewish people to check the ‘Jewish’ box.

North African and Middle Eastern Jews were forced out of their homes during the Farhud. Ashkenazi Jews were not white enough to be considered fully European during the Holocaust. This intergenerational trauma does not simply fade, thus complicating Jewish identity in its midst.

The complexities of Jewish-American identity don't fit in compartmentalized racial binaries. Jewish identity is inherited, interpreted, and observed differently on an individual-to-individual basis. While heritage and ancestry are certainly technical aspects of Jewish identity, there are several contemporary instances that complicate its resonance.

While Jewish identity may feel comfortable to share for some Jews, due to the diasporic nature of the ethnoreligion, family histories and connections to Jewish heritage have warped and grown textured across the globe for millennia. This aspect of an individual’s identity is not as clear-cut as the race discussion alone, because the Jewish community is multiracial.

Although the American Jewish community is often wrongfully reduced to a monolithic people, all somehow from either Brooklyn, New York, or Poland, the results of a 2020 Pew Research Center study shed light on the diversity of Jewish Americans. Seventeen percent of Jewish Americans identify themselves as “Hispanic, Black, Asian, some other race or multiracial, Sephardi or Mizrahi,” or immigrants from outside the United States, Canada, Europe or the former Soviet Union or have a parent born outside of those nations. The research predicts this number will only increase.

It is unlikely that every Jewish person, or even the majority of Jewish people, would voluntarily check off the “Jewish” box if prompted, given what informs their worldview. I know I wouldn’t. Not because I am ashamed; even if I were, given my editorial work at a well-known Jewish newspaper, a mere Googling of my name (and my name alone) would likely make it obvious.

But rather, I fear that when a government maintains a running list of living Jews, or any marginalized group for that matter, it has never been beneficial.

When confronted with the option to check off the “Jewish” ethnicity box on governmental paperwork, I ponder how different members of my community would approach such a decision.

How would the culturally Jew-ish enjoyers of the occasional pastrami sandwich at a Jewish-style deli label themselves? Or American Russian-speaking Jews who were forced to carry a separate ‘Jewish’ passport when living in the former Soviet Union?

What about observant, patrilineal Jews who, in some Jewish circles, are still required to convert, despite growing up within the religion? Or Jews of color from North Africa, South America or South Asia with multiple boxes to check off? Identity contains multitudes, especially when diasporic due to persecution.

A running list of living Jewish people maintained by the American government today could very well harm Jewish families. During the Red Scare and the age of McCarthyism, predominantly Jewish industries were targeted immediately with claims of dual allegiances. Jewish professors, entertainment professionals and scientists were disproportionately profiled and harassed.

It is worth noting that a fundamental Jewish value is to question dogma and authority. To that end, I question what will be achieved with this potential addendum, especially since it is not certain (and in fact unlikely) that every Jewish person will check off the box. And even with full hypothetical compliance, what will this information bring to the table other than potential targets for more hate crimes?

A list of Jewish individuals in the hands of a government has never historically benefited Jewish communities. In the context of the United States, there is ubiquitous evidence that Jewish Americans are better off unidentified as such in government rolls and databases. The people who know this principle best are the Jewish American immigrants from countries all over the world, continually struggling with rising rates of antisemitism to this day.

Yael Bright is a multimedia culture and religion beat journalist based in the San Francisco Bay Area.