This week I read two interesting posts from bloggers that I admire in the Jewish cyberworld. My favorite yenta, YoYenta, wrote the following (secular) New Year's resolution: "I will no longer participate in Judaism out of obligation....It’s not so much that I want to stop being Jewish (as if that were possible), I just want to stop pretending that the external rules and obligations are nourishing me when they’re not."
And a great, learned friend and prolific muser, Adrian Durlester, sadly wrote the following on his blog: "My passion is waning. I seek solace in the words of Torah and prophets to little avail. It is a crisis as much of lack of passion as it is a crisis of faith. Oh, that inner spark still burns – it is there, I can feel it. Yet the pilot light seems unable to light the big burner."
What would prompt two active and inspired Jewish minds to write such such desparate posts? This is something I have been grappling with for a few years and it sparked a writing project that I have been working on for over two years, not a piece of music, but some serious writing.
For generations we have educated our children in the rituals of being Jewish and walked them year-in and year-out through our calendar of major and minor holidays; all with symbolic rituals and observances that we hope to relate to our living scattered throughout the diaspora in a modern world. If we were lucky, we had someone inspire us to study Torah and other rich Jewish texts from Prophets or Mishnah. Over the last decade or so, even the Zohar (Jewish Mysticism) has come into the mainstream--mostly because of pop culture icons like Madonna, and internet-saavy gurus like Rabbi Michael Berg.
But for most, there has been a major disconnect between what we learned as kids, (and some as adults) and how we really apply our knowledge in day-to-day living. And that, my friends, is the key. When our Judaism becomes something auxilliary to our lives, it seems like an obligation (as in our Yenta's case). And when whole communities see their Judaism as separate from their day-to-day lives, we leave our leaders and scholars feeling desperate and uninspired (Adrian).
Something has to change. A bridge needs to be built. We need to provide our kids and our adults with a Jewish toolbox for living life. Judaism has nuggets of wisdom that can be applied daily. To that end, I began at the most basic (not easy, but basic) starting points of Jewish life to begin my writing. I began to reinterpret the 10 commandments in a collection of essays I call, "Positive Jewish Living, New Enlightenment from the 10 Commandments"
Do you know that when I googled those three words together (Positive Jewish Living) I got basically no substantive hits? The only website I got was something called "Your Jewish Fairy Godmother, " which was no more than an advice column by someone Jewish, no actual Jewish content there. How is it that a religion so old, with so many universal teachings is not associated with the words "Positive" and "Living" all at once?
Here in America where most Jews are not Hebrew-literate,we are detached from our sacred texts. Volumes of commentary elude us, even the most observant every-week Shabbat temple-goers, long for fulfillment during those days in-between our days of rest. Where is that being provided? What are the resources for the every-man who just wants some spiritual nourishment to fuel his every-day?
Please, if you have something you're reading, doing, listening to, post it here so I/we can be enlightened and uplifted. In the meanwhile, I am going to work on my Positive Jewish Living stuff to present to you to try and keep your fire stoked.
Hang in there, don't give up! I'm with you.
Beth
And a great, learned friend and prolific muser, Adrian Durlester, sadly wrote the following on his blog: "My passion is waning. I seek solace in the words of Torah and prophets to little avail. It is a crisis as much of lack of passion as it is a crisis of faith. Oh, that inner spark still burns – it is there, I can feel it. Yet the pilot light seems unable to light the big burner."
What would prompt two active and inspired Jewish minds to write such such desparate posts? This is something I have been grappling with for a few years and it sparked a writing project that I have been working on for over two years, not a piece of music, but some serious writing.
For generations we have educated our children in the rituals of being Jewish and walked them year-in and year-out through our calendar of major and minor holidays; all with symbolic rituals and observances that we hope to relate to our living scattered throughout the diaspora in a modern world. If we were lucky, we had someone inspire us to study Torah and other rich Jewish texts from Prophets or Mishnah. Over the last decade or so, even the Zohar (Jewish Mysticism) has come into the mainstream--mostly because of pop culture icons like Madonna, and internet-saavy gurus like Rabbi Michael Berg.
But for most, there has been a major disconnect between what we learned as kids, (and some as adults) and how we really apply our knowledge in day-to-day living. And that, my friends, is the key. When our Judaism becomes something auxilliary to our lives, it seems like an obligation (as in our Yenta's case). And when whole communities see their Judaism as separate from their day-to-day lives, we leave our leaders and scholars feeling desperate and uninspired (Adrian).
Something has to change. A bridge needs to be built. We need to provide our kids and our adults with a Jewish toolbox for living life. Judaism has nuggets of wisdom that can be applied daily. To that end, I began at the most basic (not easy, but basic) starting points of Jewish life to begin my writing. I began to reinterpret the 10 commandments in a collection of essays I call, "Positive Jewish Living, New Enlightenment from the 10 Commandments"
Do you know that when I googled those three words together (Positive Jewish Living) I got basically no substantive hits? The only website I got was something called "Your Jewish Fairy Godmother, " which was no more than an advice column by someone Jewish, no actual Jewish content there. How is it that a religion so old, with so many universal teachings is not associated with the words "Positive" and "Living" all at once?
Here in America where most Jews are not Hebrew-literate,we are detached from our sacred texts. Volumes of commentary elude us, even the most observant every-week Shabbat temple-goers, long for fulfillment during those days in-between our days of rest. Where is that being provided? What are the resources for the every-man who just wants some spiritual nourishment to fuel his every-day?
Please, if you have something you're reading, doing, listening to, post it here so I/we can be enlightened and uplifted. In the meanwhile, I am going to work on my Positive Jewish Living stuff to present to you to try and keep your fire stoked.
Hang in there, don't give up! I'm with you.
Beth