As a non Jew who supports Israel, I really can't, and therefore should not, comment on anything to do with Jewish holidays. But I can offer these thoughts . All human beings are imperfect regardless of gender, ethnicity, or religion which is why it makes sense to choose good values to guide one's life. And admitting the imperfection, that is, the possibility of error, does not make one less of a human being. To put it in the vernacular, it means that as an individual human being, it is incumbent upon you to get your act together. That is, do the hard thinking to make your life the best it can be. And as far as I can tell, Judaism is fully consistent with making that effort, while in my view, both Islam and leftist ideology are definitely not so.
My dentist once told me, "Make a commitment to floss every Sunday evening. At least you will be doing it once a week." Then perhaps you will start flossing on Wednesdays as well. Then four days out of seven. Then every night. Then after every meal. (I think he has stock in Oral-B). You get the picture. Am I up to flossing after every meal? No. But 4 out of 7? Yes.
There is no perfection on this Earth. As a Catholic there are what we call lapsed members of our Church and this IS their choice. Also, there are public Catholics such as the previous president and the former Speaker of the House who wear their so-called "faith" as a costume so not every Jew is perfect, tight?
One of the things I love most about Judaism is the thought of " mistakes", " missing the mark", rather than an insistence on sin and condemnation, which is found in our Bible as well, but the way back is always possible, not by supernatural means, but by our own effort and care to repair, and all of it ,on this " imperfect " Earth of ours, nowhere else.
I heard a lecture by a renowned scientist not long ago where he made the point that the Universe excels in creating black holes. In fact, " prefers" them. How " perfect" can that be? Or is our life- giving cosmic neighbourhood then "imperfectly " wonderful, in the literal sense of " wonder"?
Thus, " perfection " is as undefinable as love, God or music. So here we are ,trying the best we can, at least " good enough" , including all our faults.
Another aspect of Judaism I love in particular is how our ancestors told us about our heroes ,founders and kings, in all their flawed humanity, their worst and their best, as human as they had to be, by definition.
I loved this piece so much. I have lived in this space forever, being the daughter of an Orthodox shul going Holocaust survivor father. We did kiddush Friday nights, but then my sisters and I went out. Etc etc. It took me well into adulthood to take control of my Judaism, joining classes, becoming an adult bat mitzvah, bringing my husband along for some of it. The richness of offerings is honestly overwhelming, in terms of learning, but it is a gorgeous menu of possibilities. My husband thought I was nuts to push for our autistic son to become a bar mitzvah. He chanted his Torah portion as if inspired by angels. His older brother married a woman with no Jewish practice background. I send them Shabbat shalom texts every Friday, along with my daughter and her fiance. Our autistic son does kiddush, largely correctly, I think, and from memory, when I'm not too lazy to set things up. My eldest had only a civil ceremony, but had a scribe in Italy make a gorgeous ketuba for his wife as an anniversary gift. Italy is where they met. I am quite sure that what we modeled--perhaps most especially Friday night dinners as a family--set much of the stage. Your piece was perfect. I am radically imperfect. I shared your wisdom with my kids and my husband. A true gift during these high holy days. And for all the other days of the year.Shana tova!
How Grateful we, as humans, should be to have been conceived and created by such a loving, wise, merciful GOD, Who Wisely designed us with the wondrous Blessing of individual Choice (even the Choice not to believe in Him — how unselfish is that! — or to Choose to pursue an upward Path to Spiritual Connectedness and Eternity in the Light); Who Lovingly designed us with the ability to give and receive both human Love as well as Spiritual Love (our Choice to be open to one or both, or none); Who Mercifully designed us to be intelligent enough to gather knowledge and Wisdom and grow both intellectually (to improve ourselves and our species AND Spiritually (to connect with Him — our Light, our SOURCE).
i believe that Choice is GOD’s greatest Gift to Humanity, and the essence of teshuvah, which may include remorse (temporary and optimally resolved), but not repentance (permanently ridden with guilt); teshuvah helps us recognize that the Dark potential of our Humanity was moving in the wrong direction, and answers and corrects that by Enlightening us to the Wisdom, Love, and Mercy of changing course and moving upwards towards the Light.
I like this very much Joshua, because Jewishness is all encompassing. I am as devoted to Zionism as I can be. I am Jewish identified....always. My observance is lacking. My Hebrew Bible Study Guide....I could do better than take it out on YK ....only. I won't eat pork. not even bacon Not even on Christmas. I don't go to a Chinese restaurant for my yearly sweet and sour pork. I feel guilty eating shrimp. Here's an anecdote....at RH, I was seated as a semi lame senior on the aisle next to a nice young woman and a non binary man. He was in a tasteful pleated black skirt. He knew the ritual and liturgy far far better than myself. And he sang with a beautiful voice. He prostrate himself at the prescribed time. So who's the better Jew? I'm not going to play that game. He (they?) is apparently far more knowledgeable than me. I hope I can do the fast this year. I have every other year of my life. I'll be at Kol Nidre. Hopefully sitting near someone like this fellow who when asked by a rabbi of the congregation to do so, stretched out his tallit to encompass the young lady and myself. And that felt really good.
I tried it last year- my lighting of shabbat candles and FND had fallen by the wayside since my kids left home, so I made a conscious effort to light candles if nothing else, every Friday, even if I light them late or too early (and when the kids are home, there'd be mutiny if they didn't get FND)-it's worked mostly. So I have a few days now to decide what I'm going to do this year...
Great insights, thanks. It's columns like this that make me think you are wise beyond your years. Correct me if I'm wrong but your views here seem to have evolved away from some of your prior views where you appeared to have a somewhat supercilious attitude toward non- or less-observant jews.
Great advice, Joshua. There are so many ways of being Jewish and of practising Judaism. As long as we are doing it sincerely and trying our best to observe what we do do with knowledge and good intent, that's far better than nothing and can lead to all kinds of unknown possibilities. One thing is certain, it will see connection that takes root in deep places.
As a non Jew who supports Israel, I really can't, and therefore should not, comment on anything to do with Jewish holidays. But I can offer these thoughts . All human beings are imperfect regardless of gender, ethnicity, or religion which is why it makes sense to choose good values to guide one's life. And admitting the imperfection, that is, the possibility of error, does not make one less of a human being. To put it in the vernacular, it means that as an individual human being, it is incumbent upon you to get your act together. That is, do the hard thinking to make your life the best it can be. And as far as I can tell, Judaism is fully consistent with making that effort, while in my view, both Islam and leftist ideology are definitely not so.
My dentist once told me, "Make a commitment to floss every Sunday evening. At least you will be doing it once a week." Then perhaps you will start flossing on Wednesdays as well. Then four days out of seven. Then every night. Then after every meal. (I think he has stock in Oral-B). You get the picture. Am I up to flossing after every meal? No. But 4 out of 7? Yes.
Inspiring!
There is no perfection on this Earth. As a Catholic there are what we call lapsed members of our Church and this IS their choice. Also, there are public Catholics such as the previous president and the former Speaker of the House who wear their so-called "faith" as a costume so not every Jew is perfect, tight?
I LOVED this 😍😍😍
Thanks for this wonderful article.
One of the things I love most about Judaism is the thought of " mistakes", " missing the mark", rather than an insistence on sin and condemnation, which is found in our Bible as well, but the way back is always possible, not by supernatural means, but by our own effort and care to repair, and all of it ,on this " imperfect " Earth of ours, nowhere else.
I heard a lecture by a renowned scientist not long ago where he made the point that the Universe excels in creating black holes. In fact, " prefers" them. How " perfect" can that be? Or is our life- giving cosmic neighbourhood then "imperfectly " wonderful, in the literal sense of " wonder"?
Thus, " perfection " is as undefinable as love, God or music. So here we are ,trying the best we can, at least " good enough" , including all our faults.
Another aspect of Judaism I love in particular is how our ancestors told us about our heroes ,founders and kings, in all their flawed humanity, their worst and their best, as human as they had to be, by definition.
I loved this piece so much. I have lived in this space forever, being the daughter of an Orthodox shul going Holocaust survivor father. We did kiddush Friday nights, but then my sisters and I went out. Etc etc. It took me well into adulthood to take control of my Judaism, joining classes, becoming an adult bat mitzvah, bringing my husband along for some of it. The richness of offerings is honestly overwhelming, in terms of learning, but it is a gorgeous menu of possibilities. My husband thought I was nuts to push for our autistic son to become a bar mitzvah. He chanted his Torah portion as if inspired by angels. His older brother married a woman with no Jewish practice background. I send them Shabbat shalom texts every Friday, along with my daughter and her fiance. Our autistic son does kiddush, largely correctly, I think, and from memory, when I'm not too lazy to set things up. My eldest had only a civil ceremony, but had a scribe in Italy make a gorgeous ketuba for his wife as an anniversary gift. Italy is where they met. I am quite sure that what we modeled--perhaps most especially Friday night dinners as a family--set much of the stage. Your piece was perfect. I am radically imperfect. I shared your wisdom with my kids and my husband. A true gift during these high holy days. And for all the other days of the year.Shana tova!
How Grateful we, as humans, should be to have been conceived and created by such a loving, wise, merciful GOD, Who Wisely designed us with the wondrous Blessing of individual Choice (even the Choice not to believe in Him — how unselfish is that! — or to Choose to pursue an upward Path to Spiritual Connectedness and Eternity in the Light); Who Lovingly designed us with the ability to give and receive both human Love as well as Spiritual Love (our Choice to be open to one or both, or none); Who Mercifully designed us to be intelligent enough to gather knowledge and Wisdom and grow both intellectually (to improve ourselves and our species AND Spiritually (to connect with Him — our Light, our SOURCE).
i believe that Choice is GOD’s greatest Gift to Humanity, and the essence of teshuvah, which may include remorse (temporary and optimally resolved), but not repentance (permanently ridden with guilt); teshuvah helps us recognize that the Dark potential of our Humanity was moving in the wrong direction, and answers and corrects that by Enlightening us to the Wisdom, Love, and Mercy of changing course and moving upwards towards the Light.
Remember this on Yom Kippur 🙏
I like this very much Joshua, because Jewishness is all encompassing. I am as devoted to Zionism as I can be. I am Jewish identified....always. My observance is lacking. My Hebrew Bible Study Guide....I could do better than take it out on YK ....only. I won't eat pork. not even bacon Not even on Christmas. I don't go to a Chinese restaurant for my yearly sweet and sour pork. I feel guilty eating shrimp. Here's an anecdote....at RH, I was seated as a semi lame senior on the aisle next to a nice young woman and a non binary man. He was in a tasteful pleated black skirt. He knew the ritual and liturgy far far better than myself. And he sang with a beautiful voice. He prostrate himself at the prescribed time. So who's the better Jew? I'm not going to play that game. He (they?) is apparently far more knowledgeable than me. I hope I can do the fast this year. I have every other year of my life. I'll be at Kol Nidre. Hopefully sitting near someone like this fellow who when asked by a rabbi of the congregation to do so, stretched out his tallit to encompass the young lady and myself. And that felt really good.
I love this.
I tried it last year- my lighting of shabbat candles and FND had fallen by the wayside since my kids left home, so I made a conscious effort to light candles if nothing else, every Friday, even if I light them late or too early (and when the kids are home, there'd be mutiny if they didn't get FND)-it's worked mostly. So I have a few days now to decide what I'm going to do this year...
Great insights, thanks. It's columns like this that make me think you are wise beyond your years. Correct me if I'm wrong but your views here seem to have evolved away from some of your prior views where you appeared to have a somewhat supercilious attitude toward non- or less-observant jews.
This makes perfect sense and is completely different from kidding yourself by following one of the man made JUDAISMS IE reform and Conservative.
Great advice, Joshua. There are so many ways of being Jewish and of practising Judaism. As long as we are doing it sincerely and trying our best to observe what we do do with knowledge and good intent, that's far better than nothing and can lead to all kinds of unknown possibilities. One thing is certain, it will see connection that takes root in deep places.
The future of Jewish is bleak.
people have said that for 5000 years. And yet...
Thankfully in the UK we have our Progressive communities who propose just this approach.
Thank you Joshua Hoffman. A great beginning 🙏