Yes, read literally, the Torah appears as the vulgar meanderings of Iron Age sexist, racist, fascist fanatics. And yes, the way orthodox Jews live, caught up either in personal and tribalistic gossip or in the seemingly meaningless excuse for seclusion and difference-- Halacha-- is profoundly disturbing. But, I keep coming back and sticking with the Torah and Judaism, because of those undeniably enlightening and enriching elements contained within them.
For instance: when I realize that nearly 100% of the human populace do not think for one instance before they put food in their mouth, and then I make a bracha-- taking just those few moments to consider the miracle that lies before me, all of the awesome natural processes and immense human effort and collaboration that went into this food-- I cannot help but feel blessed that I have been given this unique opportunity to enrich my life experience, to elevate it to something beyond instinctual pleasure-seeking, to a realm where I can deeply deeply appreciate all that is given, and take that energy to give back.
So, you are saying you embrace Judaism because it makes you a more thoughtful person.
ReplyDeleteI won't disagree that it does, and I certainly won't disagree that it pays to think. But that is not "what Judaism is", even though thoughtfulness might be an unavoidable byproduct of it. (Thought there are probably many thoughtless Jews out there, so even this I would disagree with.)
I think you've played a sneaky trick here. The first paragraph of your post makes it seem like what you want to talk about is why you like Judaism -- not why you find thoughtfulness an admirable trait.
But the second paragraph just talks about how you have become thoughtful because of Judaism, which as I've already said has nothing intrinsically to do with Judaism. Indeed, I teach people to be thoughtful all the time, and I've never once used any tenet of any religion as a tool in this.
I think it's great if Judaism led you to be more thoughtful -- but that is no explanation for embracing Judaism. Tragedy also tends to make people more aware and thoughtful -- but it doesn't even make sense to say you embrace tragedy. My life in Santa Cruz helped me to define myself and to develop direction and purpose I was sorely lacking. But that didn't drive me to embrace Santa Cruz, because Santa Cruz wasn't responsible for these changes, but rather *my experiences* with Santa Cruz.
And this is the way I see you. You have always been a relatively thoughtful person, and you have used many philosophies and ideologies and hobbies to provoke you to thought in the past. And all those things are gone now. So this explanation of "why Judaism" doesn't carry much weight with me.
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