why I practice Judaism

This is modified and reprinted from my comment on GodolHador's blog where he questions his beliefs. I didn't have the patience to 'doctor it up' so it may be a little disjointed and out of context:
"What IS a good [belief] system, then? Maybe, human beings are not able to take the fact (if it IS a fact) that we are an accident on this planet, that existence is accidental and unplanned, and that there is 'no one driving the bus'. I personally, am NOT able to take that theory. I prefer to believe in my Judaism, even while being aware, that there are lots of questions with as yet unknowable answers. So, I continue to hope. And meanwhile, I have the opportunity to create a wonderful life for my family, with beautiful rituals and beautiful holidays, with elevating songs and niggunim which instill in them (I hope. In some of them, at least)an other-worldly feeling of Kedushah, of something OUT THERE beyond themselves. Of a good purpose for living. And you never know...maybe "b'acharit ha-yamim", either the universe's or our own, we will find out the answers."

Comments

anonym00kie said…
i always tell people who try to convince me that i beleive in fairy tales, that if that is the case, and there is no meaning or purpose to our existence, than they have even more reason to let me live in my delusions. should i be miserable just because they are? let me live happy in my 'delusions' and they can be the miserable martyrs turning around in circles convincing themselves to stay alive in a world with no purpose!
11:04 PM
Jim said…
Hi, lady-light, I followed you from the Jerusalem cop blog. I see you are a lover of Hebrew, wow, that is the love of my life, totally. How about Kabbalah, do you do that? The text is my daily everything, good to meet you, I will read your blog as I go.

PS: yes the kid should be a professional designer.
11:30 PM
kasamba said…
LadyLight- I absolutely and resolutely second your post!
I really do feel G-ds presence so in that sense, it's not so difficult for me to believe.
4:41 AM
Lady-Light said…
'mookie, that is an interesting idea that I might write a blog about, believing in 'fairytales', good or bad? There ARE people, though, who consider themselves 'secular humanists' and live sans religion, believing that they only need to be good human beings, however they define that. Me, I need to know there is as you said a purposeful existence. I want to believe that Jews are here for a reason. And I try to live according to that belief.
Jim:
Thank you for finding my blog! Tell me about your love of Ivrit - where is it from? And I will tell my daughter what you said (thank you!)
Kasamba:
I too feel G-d's presence; you have to search for it, though. And sometimes you don't understand it until later...but it is there.
5:12 PM
Jim said…
Ivrit; I was raised pagan/christian, with no direct ties, lived secular humanism till about 32. Had a night vision, HaSHem directed me to the Book, introduced me to Moshe who read to me and I saw the Ivrit come out of his mouth, float in the air, in the most beautiful configurations and relations. Didn't know what it was, until later in the year, after much research and study. Took to it like duck to water, love it deep, discovered my Jewishness, trying to learn. Thanks for your blog and your company.
3:01 AM
Jim said…
Well, how do you mean? Jewish sexpert, is their more to it than I know? I know what Kabbalah says, how the inside and outside relate to each other, is their more that I should know? I know rejection, and I know the why of it. Answer me, and I will tell you more.
1:18 AM
Jim said…
so much more, ayala, so real and vital and more.

jewishsexpert, thanks very much for the conversion understanding, i needed to hear that, I appreciate you speaking up, and replying to me personally. You are an expert.

And thank you LadyLight, for the opportunity and a place to visit.
4:39 AM
Lady-Light said…
Ayala, I read your reasons for your emunah, and (playing devil's advocate here)a person could say, well, that is a tautological argument: You believe in Hashem because He is real & because He told you to follow the Torah (which is of course written in the Torah)thus being circular reasoning. I know a whole BUNCH of people (did you know people came in bunches, like bananas?)who would say, "I can't SEE Him or FEEL Him or SENSE Him with any of my senses, so just because it's written in a book doesn't mean it's real". They would (and have) said to me, 'you need outside proof of His existence'. I have had family members say to me, 'every religion thinks they are the One And True Religion - what makes Judaism any different or better than they? They also (to my utter despair)see Jews not behaving nor conducting themselves in a good and ethical manner, e.g., the recent Problem which has been written about on the Jewish Blogosphere these last few weeks - so it is evident (to them) that Judaism is 'no better' than any other religion.
Such a person, would not buy your argument, that you believe 'because He is real'. Now, because you CHOSE Him, that's a different story!
Jim:
I don't know if you are aware that I posted a Hebrew poem written by my father (z"l). He wrote it during the Yom Kippur war in Israel, in 1973. I posted it on May 4th. Scroll down to see it. Hope you can read it. I am using a different computer, so the next poem might have to be transliterated.
8:19 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Great Debate: Is it Itsy Bitsy, or Inky Dinky, of Spider Fame?

Image
For the better part of a year, I've had an on-again, off-again debate with my D.H. as to the "correct" adjective in the children's finger-play nursery rhyme, "The Itsy-Bitsy Spider" (now you know which one I favor). My D. H. insists that the correct descriptive is "inky dinky," whereas I demur.  I vaguely recollect from my own childhood, either hearing " itsy-bitsy spider ," or even more familiar to me, the description "eency-weency," referring to said spider's miniscule size, yet plucky persistance, and how he (she?) braved the violent rainstorm which "washed it out" after the arduous climb up the water spout, yet doggedly climbed the spout again, after the sun came out and 'dried up all the rain.' Many, if not most of our American nursery rhymes originated on the other side of the pond, in England, for obvious reasons: the American colonists were British in origin, and brought with them the culture an...
Read more

The End. Is there a Beginning...?

This is my first post back on Tikkun Olam since April 23rd, 2015. It does not feel real. Why is it that we never think we will ever have a JOLT in our lives that will change the entire life course we have been traveling? We continue on, day by day, complacent, even in the face of serious illness--believing that what we are living is the only reality; that it is immutable, that it is PHYSICAL: you can touch it, feel it, and it will continue to be there for you tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow... But it isn't. And it won't.  Because the unthinkable can, and does, happen, in time. To everybody. As it happened to me, almost a year ago, on August 10, 2015, when my DH - Dear Husband, of 46 years, died. I am living in an Alternate Universe. Because the universe in which I was living all my life until now, is gone. I still want to slap myself in the face and wake myself up. It's a dream. A terrible nightmare.  It's a horror movie with a frightening ending, but I will...
Read more

Hijab for Jewish Women?

Image
Someone used this phrase in a comment on a post about the hijab wearing Jewish women in Ramat Bet Shemesh Alef: "modern Hareidi community;" this is an oxymoron. Just for the record, I rarely agree with a Hareidi interpretation of anything. This mode of dress is just a bad interpretation of a good concept ( tzniyut ) taken to extremes. Personally, I cover my hair because I feel it increases my humility by remembering that there is a G-d above me ( not because of the reason of less attraction to men). I chose many years ago to do so; but I have come to believe a woman can be Orthodox without covering her hair all the time; just while in shul, and where it shows respect for the Torah, such as at shiurim, or where it is the preferred mode of dress, such as at yeshiva dinners and the like. But to go to the grocery? Not necessarily . I think the whole message of tzniyut is lost in those hijab cases: where will they go next? Hiding in the home and not going out? Sitting behind a cur...
Read more