Advertising Jewishness

I have four catalogs sitting in front of me on my table.  One is a crafts supply catalog, another a party supplies catalog, yet another is a teachers' supply catalog, and the final one is a promotional products catalog.  Each of these catalogs contains a section entitled "inspirational" or "faith-based" products that are ostensibly all Christian in nature.

Bracelets, sticky-backed foam cutouts, plushies, beads & charms on ribbon, inscribed rocks, flashlights, backpacks & tote bags, posters, bookmarks, stickers, pencils, erasers, yo-yos, temporary tattoos, pencil cases, make-your-own fleece blankets/pillows, squishy stress balls, necklaces, hats... you name it, these catalogs have it, and they have it imprinted with a wide variety of catchphrases:

PUSH - Pray Until Something Happens
FROG - Fully Rely On God (printed on frogs, or with an image of a frog)
Walking In His Path
Walking With Jesus
Wild For God (with an image of a panda bear)
Paws-itively In His Path (with an image of a tiger)
Fishing For Men or Fishers of Men (appearing with the obligatory fish symbol)
I'm On God's Team (on a baseball cap)
Colors Of Faith
Smile, Jesus Loves You
Jesus Loves Me
God's Love Is Eternal
God's Love Guides Me
God Is With Me
God Is Great
Friends In Christ
Jesus Is Peace
Jesus Is Love
Catch The Spirit

That's just a sampling, and not even counting the items with scripture references.

I can't help recognizing that Judaism doesn't have catchphrases.  We have good quotes, but they're not "sound bites".  Beyond "Shalom" and "Chai", we don't have much that is short enough to count as a catchphrase.  I think the shortest thing I can come up with off the top of my head is the Hillel quote: If I am not for myself, who will be for me?  If I am only for myself, who am I?  If not now, when?

Not exactly something that prints easily on a pencil, a squishy stress ball, or the tummy of a small teddy bear...

Looking in our synagogue gift shop, we don't have a lot of merchandise that proclaims the awesomeness of God.  Nor does any of it contain sayings about how we're all friends because of God, nor that God is super because he blesses us.  I don't see anything that says I should smile because Hashem loves me.  And I certainly don't see any yo-yos telling me to spin God's glory out to the world.

Judaism doesn't "do" that sort of thing.

As Rabbi Michael mentioned in our Hebrew School tefilah not too long ago, Judaism doesn't much care about what you believe.  Judaism cares about what you do and how you act.

Ours is a religion of action, and by comparison, Christianity focuses a lot on beliefs.

But, are we missing out on something by not having more "quotable" statements of faith?

Judaism has a strong history of non-evangelism.  In other words, we don't go looking to convert people.  Judaism believes that every spiritual path has a role in the world to come, and while Jews believe it is the best path for themselves, there is nothing in our faith tradition that says we have any better a path than others, nor is our path the only "right" path.

So, the idea of marekting Judaism through tchotchkes with sayings like "It's good to be kosher", seems laughable.

On the other hand, perhaps there is something to this idea...

Not marketing Judaism for the purpose of gaining adherents, but marketing Judaism in order to increase awareness of Judaism.

In other words - in places that are not New York City - perhaps we need to let people know we exist?

I think back to one of my old offices, where some of the people I worked with honestly believed that all organized religions were just different flavors of Christianity.  That Adonai, Krishna, Allah, Confucius, Buddah, Shiva, etc. are how all these different languages say "Jesus".  These coworkers of mine did not understand why separation of church and state was so important.  To them, people are fighting over what name to call Jesus in public prayer, and they thought that was just silly.  Why can't they just call him Jesus in public because we're here in America and speak English, and they can call him whatever they want in their own homes and churches.

Certainly an ad campaign could only help improve that situation.