The Galut - November 2013
I continue to wrestle with concept that Assimilated Jews are not like jumbo shrimp.
The meaning is understood, but you still have to question the possibility.
At what point do we have the right to interpret Torah. Can we accept some of the Sabbath Laws? The spirit of the Law needs to be observed. Do we participate in Shabbat because we are supposed to? Do we gain the peace and recharge that it is supposed to provide?
There are of course many opinions beyond R,C or O. Are we looking to find spiritual peace for our benefit or to comply with the Torah.
Without Torah laws to unite us, how do we create a sense of Jewish community in an
Assimilated Jewish Community? I feel that I want to participate more in community building projects and practice Teshuvah, but if nobody comes to the event... what is the purpose?
The Rabbi is banging the drum to find out what we the congregants want. I'm sure we don't know. But if I have make a guess it would be a place that we could can all feel at home and welcome. A place where we are asked to participate and can feel a part of the team.
What Rabbi hopes is to create a sense of Shul being the center of Jewish life.
Until being Jewish and serving and sharing our community is more important on Shabbat than:
Meetings
Sporting Events
Children's Events
You know responsibilities with Gentiles that draw you from your Heritage and Community.
We need to tell our children that yes, we are different. We don't need to try to fit in.
Marry a Jew so you are comfortable with smells of brisket and rituals you share.
Marry a Jew so as to comply with Torah.
Israel does not need to fit in. They are different and always will be, or they will cease to exist.
I believe that the Torah advises of that. Torah also tells us that we are held to Ha Shem's standards and that we need to be the "light of all nation's" and help them.
So we need to help Jews first and always and then reach out to others...
I can't help feeling that every act of Xtain tolerance or acceptance is an unconscious church driven attempt at proselytizing. They don't need to convert us, they just need to stop us from following our Jewish heart or Yiddishe Kup.
If we are the light of Nations and attempt to help everyone, we are obviously doing Tikkun Olam. That is not and never will replace the Torah. If you replace Torah, the word of Ha Shem... Ehud Olmert happens. The Galut happens.
When we listen the countless miracles of astonishing magnitudes continue.
We stand before the yearly assault on commercial sensibility and realize that retail must go on. Until the Internet kills it completely of course. But seriously how does the atmosphere of the
Xtain holiday affect us? This question is asked constantly, and why? Why does the Xtain holiday affect me? Why would it or should it unless I live in a Xtian world....I don't, I may work in it and I may still live in the Galut...but that is just until I have grown enough to go home!
Watch the ice..it is slippery and it's not just on the ground....it is all around you waiting for you to fall.
B*H*
I continue to wrestle with concept that Assimilated Jews are not like jumbo shrimp.
The meaning is understood, but you still have to question the possibility.
At what point do we have the right to interpret Torah. Can we accept some of the Sabbath Laws? The spirit of the Law needs to be observed. Do we participate in Shabbat because we are supposed to? Do we gain the peace and recharge that it is supposed to provide?
There are of course many opinions beyond R,C or O. Are we looking to find spiritual peace for our benefit or to comply with the Torah.
Without Torah laws to unite us, how do we create a sense of Jewish community in an
Assimilated Jewish Community? I feel that I want to participate more in community building projects and practice Teshuvah, but if nobody comes to the event... what is the purpose?
The Rabbi is banging the drum to find out what we the congregants want. I'm sure we don't know. But if I have make a guess it would be a place that we could can all feel at home and welcome. A place where we are asked to participate and can feel a part of the team.
What Rabbi hopes is to create a sense of Shul being the center of Jewish life.
Until being Jewish and serving and sharing our community is more important on Shabbat than:
Meetings
Sporting Events
Children's Events
You know responsibilities with Gentiles that draw you from your Heritage and Community.
We need to tell our children that yes, we are different. We don't need to try to fit in.
Marry a Jew so you are comfortable with smells of brisket and rituals you share.
Marry a Jew so as to comply with Torah.
Israel does not need to fit in. They are different and always will be, or they will cease to exist.
I believe that the Torah advises of that. Torah also tells us that we are held to Ha Shem's standards and that we need to be the "light of all nation's" and help them.
So we need to help Jews first and always and then reach out to others...
I can't help feeling that every act of Xtain tolerance or acceptance is an unconscious church driven attempt at proselytizing. They don't need to convert us, they just need to stop us from following our Jewish heart or Yiddishe Kup.
If we are the light of Nations and attempt to help everyone, we are obviously doing Tikkun Olam. That is not and never will replace the Torah. If you replace Torah, the word of Ha Shem... Ehud Olmert happens. The Galut happens.
When we listen the countless miracles of astonishing magnitudes continue.
We stand before the yearly assault on commercial sensibility and realize that retail must go on. Until the Internet kills it completely of course. But seriously how does the atmosphere of the
Xtain holiday affect us? This question is asked constantly, and why? Why does the Xtain holiday affect me? Why would it or should it unless I live in a Xtian world....I don't, I may work in it and I may still live in the Galut...but that is just until I have grown enough to go home!
Watch the ice..it is slippery and it's not just on the ground....it is all around you waiting for you to fall.
B*H*
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