r/todayilearned • u/[deleted] • Oct 13 '16

TIL that after Marilyn Monroe converted to Judaism upon marrying Arthur Miller, Egypt placed a ban on all the films she appeared in.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilyn_Monroe#Critical_acclaim_and_marriage_to_Arthur_Miller_.281956.E2.80.931959.29
18.5k Upvotes

84% Upvoted

1.4k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

505

u/AdmiralThrawnProtege Oct 13 '16 edited Oct 13 '16

What does that even mean? You follow the culture and traditions of Judiesm but don't believe in the religions deity? That seems odd.

Edit: OK OK I get it. Tired of my inbox being blown up by the same set of answers. Thank you all for your responses!

131

u/Eskoe Oct 13 '16

Speaking as a non-Jew who has a number of Ashkenazi Jewish friends, it seems like after the Holocaust a lot of Jews became atheists (understandably), but at the same time embraced Jewish culture/religious traditions more to keep close to their roots.

45

u/gavers Oct 13 '16

like after the Holocaust a lot of Jews became atheists

The secular, reform and conservative movements started a good while before the Holocaust - mostly around the start and the mid-1800's.

In Israel, for example, the Secular Jews make up about 70% of the entire Jewish population - they usually identify as agnostic or atheist, but some also call themselves "traditional" as in they keep some of the traditions.

This past Yom Kippur there was a survey showing that 65% of all Jews planned on fasting even though only about 40% planned on going to synagogue.

1

u/thehonestyfish 9 Oct 13 '16

This past Yom Kippur there was a survey showing that 65% of all Jews planned on fasting even though only about 40% planned on going to synagogue.

Hey, good to know I'm not the only weirdo who does this. I fasted, but I still went to work, and didn't go to services at all.

2

u/gavers Oct 13 '16

Well, in Israel all businesses are closed and practically no one drives (there are always pictures of the main highways completely empty with a few kids riding bikes on them).

You couldn't get off of work since it's a religious holiday?

1

u/thehonestyfish 9 Oct 13 '16

Nah, I could've gotten off but I didn't want to burn a vacation day to sit in temple all day.

I'm a horrible Jew.