What Keeps Us Faithful Jews?
Fri, January 27, 2012
Adult Ed Shabbat 1/27/12, by Rabbi Amy R. Perlin, D.D.
When our Adult Education Committee decided that this year’s offerings would fall under the title: A Year of Jewish Questions: What’s Yours?
I received a list of questions that people wanted answered during the sermons this year. Tonight’s question: What keeps us faithful Jews? was one of them.
When I first looked at the question, I asked myself how would I approach the question. What was really being asked?
What keeps you, Rabbi Perlin, Jewish?
What keeps any Jew a Jew?
What keeps Jews “faithful?” What is faith?
And I was struck by the fact that this question had nothing to do with what makes someone a good Jew. This question addressed the important issue of what keeps all Jews Jewish.
So I realized that I was not capable of answering that question for everyone and that this was a wonderful opportunity for members to do more than ask questions to be answered this year… this was a question to which the members had the answers.
But, as a rabbi, I do want to venture a quick demographic overview. If you asked constituencies from a host of Jewish subgroups, you might get the following answers to the question “what keeps us faithful Jews?”:
- Orthodox: Our God, the mitzvot commanded by God, our texts and laws keep us Jews
- Conservative: Adapting Jewish law to modern times, our desire to be the continuing link in Jewish history
- Reconstructionist: Community
- New Age: Individuals engaging in Jewish Spiritual Experience however each individual defines that experience
- Secular/Humanistic Jews: Not God… Jews keep Jews Jewish
- Cultural Jews: Our past history, my family, Jewish foods, festivals we share with loved ones and friends
- Zionist Jews: Israel – oldest continuous link for all
- Survivors: The Holocaust
- Assimilated Jews: Not much
- Affiliated Jews: The synagogue, Jewish organizations, the JCC
- Reform Jews: Our Jewish values grounded in Torah, social justice, life cycles and holidays that enrich our lives from birth to death and generation to generation.
I asked our members on Wednesday in an e-mail to write a paragraph of 250 words or less to answer the question. Here is my 126 word answer:
“Judaism enriches every aspect of my life from my marriage to motherhood. The mitzvot and values of the Torah guide my life, from kashrut and Shabbat, to welcoming the stranger and visiting the sick. I live on Jewish time, finding holiness in sacred places, most importantly the synagogue and our Jewish home, where I engage God, pray with sincerity, embrace community, and celebrate holidays and life cycles that ground my life and give it meaning. I partner with God as a Jew, every single day, through my passion for social justice, tzedakah, tikkun olam and ahavat Yisrael – the love for the land and people of Israel. Jewish history calls me to work tirelessly for Jewish survival and continuity. That is what keeps me a faithful Jew.”
Ultimately, the answer to this important question belongs to every Jew, and every person faithful to the Jewish community, to all of you. The answer is in your heart, your soul, and your connection to God or family, history or values, Torah or tradition. You have heard from some of our members already tonight. And now you will hear from the rest. Take time to listen to each one of them share their answer as to what keeps them faithful Jews. I hope you take the time to explore and ponder what the answer is for you.
Members of TBS respond:
(My thanks to all who responded. Last names were removed for the internet)
What keeps us faithful Jews?
I had a moment of purity once a few years ago, a moment with Judaism that remains crystalline to this day. Christians talk of being born again or being imbued with the Holy Spirit. I have had this experience as a Jew, a moment of clarity that I believe will sustain me and keep me a faithful Jew for the rest of my life. After a period of wandering in the Jewish desert of Northern Virginia, we joined TBS. Our first High Holidays here came shortly after. Leaving our young children with a babysitter, we arrived a bit breathless to Kol Nidre having taken an unexpected ride to the Temple on the shuttle bus. We ended up seated on the creaky folding chairs way in the back, not exactly the view I had envisioned. Early in the service, the congregation stood and sang the Shema. The creaking chairs, late arrivals, and rustling clothes paused for just a moment and all that could be heard were the voices singing in unison. Suddenly, I understood that Jews all around the world were doing the exact same thing at the same moment as me. My heart was lifted in a way I have never before (or since) experienced. That singular moment will always be the center of my Judaism.
–Susan B
What keeps us faithful Jews?
My father, Samuel Halper, was the most faithful Jew I ever knew. His faithfulness to Judiasm is what defined him filling him to the core. What kept him a faithful Jew was the traditions past on to him by his own father and the pure pleasure he received from being Jewish. He was a role model not only for our family but also for his entire community. This weekend I am observing his second yahrzeit.. Focusing on my father and not on me, I am not really answering the question posed to the congregation, however a question like this , makes me stop and think…I have some work to do.
–Roni S
What keeps us faithful Jews?
I know you are looking for people to write a paragraph about living Jewishly. I will not write a paragraph, but I did want to share a couple thoughts. I think remembering is very important. Influential people, important events, dreams for the future need to stay in your conscious thought so you can aim toward the positive. I think Jews do that better than others. There was one High Holiday service where you gave everyone a puzzle piece. I kept mine. It is in my wallet and I see it almost every day. I think we are all pieces of a big puzzle. Everyone counts. We are not complete unless everyone joins together to create the whole. Thank you for helping me see the importance of each individual.
–Sally B
Faith is the Fabric that Binds Us Together
It is the feeling that I am only a small part of something even greater and far more powerful. To be able to add one small voice in prayer and song (even if off-key) to the chorus of many. A community that shares the same values and commitments, which stands ready to comfort those in need, support those facing adversity, and strives to make our place on earth a just society that recognizes that each person is unique and adds to the mosaic of life.
Faith is being proud of your heritage, learning to apply sacred principles to daily life, and ensuring that they are passed on to the next generation. We are here for each other; we stand together as one. We celebrate rites of passage, and mourn when souls are removed from spark of life. We cherish nature and its bounty and blessings. We seek perfection, but understand human frailties.
In the end, faith is what you believe in your heart, and how you live your life. For what, and why? Do we have a purpose in this life, or are we just wandering aimlessly in the proverbial desert?
–Brian D
What keeps us faithful Jews?
It’s all about the connections. Some of the ways that we can keep our Jewish faith alive include affiliating with Jewish organizations, attending Jewish camps, having a Jewish group of friends and continuing our Jewish education. In my house, Judaism has always been one of the top priorities, as we light the Shabbat candles, regularly attend services, put up Hanukkah decorations all over the house and most importantly, value our Jewish education. Continuing our Jewish education through confirmation and post-confirmation, connecting ourselves with BeaSTY and NFTY-MAR, and choosing a college with an active Hillel are key to us staying faithful. An active Hillel was an important factor when I was looking at colleges so that I will be able to connect to a Jewish community while I am away from home for four years. These years are very important in our lives because we discover and develop our religious and political views. We look through the eyes of our Jewish values in order to form our views on issues in our world. It doesn’t stop there. We need to stand up for what we believe in and voice our opinions. Attending programs such as Jewish Advocacy Day, lobbying in Richmond with the JCRC, or L’takein, lobbying on Capitol Hill through the RAC, connect us with our faith and help us to remember that our Jewish values are major factors in deciding our political views. Whether choosing a Supreme Court Case on Separation of Church and State to write a research paper on or choosing a college, our Judaism connects to every aspect of our daily lives.
—Eliana B
What keeps us faithful Jews?
Community is what keeps us as faithful Jews. With the Holocaust and its profound affect on our numbers, it did not destroy the spirit of our community. We stood up, together and we rebuilt. Time and time again we show that we can come together look adversity in the eye and we can look to the future with hope and with faith.
–Love, Deb D
What keeps us faithful Jews?
Dear Rabbi Perlin,
I certainly can’t answer for everybody, but I know what keeps me a faithful Jew: an unbreakable shared community which permeates Judaism and manifests itself as an overriding belief in social justice and love of our fellow human beings. The Jewish community, especially here in the United States, has always been at the forefront of the civil rights movement and the fight for justice for all, regardless of how different they may be from us. Nothing is more important to me. When Rabbi Hillel was asked to sum up the entire Torah he answered: “That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation; go and learn.” Although both Jews and Gentiles alike share this golden rule, it has been my experience that Jews live by it, but too many of our fellow human beings claim to do so, but see no conflict in discriminating and professing disdain, and even hatred of others on account of their race, ethnicity, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, or differing viewpoints. Although we Jews have our faults and blind spots, to include some religious bigots, here and in Israel, who seem to have lost their way, or at least can’t see the forest for the trees, the Jewish community as a whole, has been, and continues to be, a shining beacon to the world. We are far more enlightened and tolerant of our fellow men and women, than virtually every other religious community in the world. Jews don’t just preach the golden rule. We live it. That is what keeps me a faithful Jew.
–Lyle J
What Keeps Us Jews Faithful?
Betsy A, member of TBS and President of the Tribe, DC’s Premier Jewish Motorcycle Club
I believe there is a single G-d who not only created, but with whom every Jew can have an individual and personal relationship. I believe that G-d continues to work in the world, affecting everything people do. My Jewish relationship with G-d is a covenant relationship and in exchange for the many good things G-d has done for me and the Jewish people, we keep his laws and seek to bring holiness into every aspect of our lives. Judaism is a camaraderie I have never before experienced and because of this feeling of belonging, my faithfulness has become a passion. Knowing G-d is always there and knowing the camaraderie is always there that is what keeps us, as Jews faithful.
What keeps us faithful Jews?
I have a very early childhood memory of watching the movie “Damn Yankees” with my mother. You may recall the lead character agrees to “sell his soul to the devil” for a chance to be a baseball hero. A topic of great interest to me!
I remember asking my mother, “What is your soul.” She replied, “Your neschume.” Now I was ever more confused.
I don’t really remember how she got me to understand, but the lesson somehow taught me about the “essence of your being.”
To me being a faithful Jew is not how well I read prayers, know all the traditions, the Torah, Israel, or Jewish history.
But it is the essence of my being, my spirit, my ethics, my belief in good, and the importance of how we touch one another.
I am a faithful Jew because frankly, it is the only thing I could ever be.
–David D
What keeps us faithful Jews?
Dear Rabbi,
I think the answer to that question must be different for each individual. The more I explore Judiasm, the more I am committed to being a faithful Jew. Spending most of my life not feeling comfortable in my own skin or around many people, exploring my Judaism has given me a place to belong and something to be passionate about. It gives me a tradition and a past history to claim as my own and to teach not only to my children and grandchildren, but other people’s children as well. I remain a faithful Jew because it works for me in my life and provides me with a framework to build my life around, a community to be a part of, and a sense of being taken care of.
–Donna C
What keeps us faithful Jews?
Lately, I’ve come to appreciate that being a faithful Jew means there’s always something more to learn. I could improve my Hebrew reading and comprehension. I could learn to chant the Torah. I could study every different melody of Lecha Dodi or Adon Olam or compose one of my own. I could delve into the texts and uncover countless new meanings of any single story in the Torah. I could read the Torah as history, as literature, as truth, as fable, as proof of God’s existence, or as the law of the land despite the lack of proof of God’s existence.
If I were not a faithful Jew, how could I pass down the Torah’s values to my children? What would inspire them to be faithful Jews, however they define “faithful Jews”? I always imagined I would marry a Jewish man and raise Jewish children. I did. There’s no guarantee that my sons will imagine their futures with Jewish families, but if I can share the joy of our religion with them, to set an example and share what I learn with them, perhaps they will want the same thing I want, for the next generation.
–Julie S