Authentic Self and the Assimilated Jew, Part 3: Secular/Assimilated Jew?

 

Judaism isn’t just a religion.
Many Jews, religious and secular Jews alike,
feel a Jewish peoplehood connection,
or a cultural connection with Jewish tradition,
even if they don’t connect with the religious obligation element.

 

We are regularly asked whether not every Jew follows the Law.

Many people claim that Judaism is at its essence a religion, a set of beliefs about the world

To this, we are always sad to report that there are quite a few secular Jews. Jews who, like many Christians, do not really believe in God and others who have renounced any belief in a divine being. there are spread allover the world many who feel a connection to their Jewish identity even when not believing in the Elohim Hashem Jehovah God.

But we should also be aware that among Jews there are also quite a few who believe in the One and Only True God of Israel and who do not approve of all that is happening in present-day Israel.

Several Jews and Jeshuaists are therefore trying to spend their days outside Israel for the Most High and to express their faith in a dignified way, even if it is not always according to people’s expectations. But they realise that impression to their God is more important than impression to people.

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To remember

• “Assimilated Jew” in the title of this series because “Authentic Self and the Assimilated Jew” had a nice aesthetically-pleasing alliteration to it.
• assimilated = giving up part of your identity/culture/observance to become part of an outside majority community.
• Judaism significant impact on life
• imperfect/non-observance of commandment =/= reflection of a belief that G-d does not exist
• price of keeping keeping commandments = more than willing to pay at present
• lot of life choices based on Jewish observance => no secular Jew
• connect to Jewish cultural tradition as much as one might think

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Preceding

Who is a Jew?

Jew refering to be religious or to be a people

This fighting world, Zionism and Israel #1

This fighting world, Zionism and Israel #5

 

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Additional reading

1. 2015-2016 Religion
2. A Quarter of Europeans are Still Antisemites
3. Anti-Semitic pressure driving Jews out of Europe
4. A Gentile and the Mosaic Law
5. Hatikvah – the official anthem of Israel
6. As there is a lot of division in Christendom there is too in Judaism
7. Judaism and Jeshuaism a religion of the future
8. A celebration of harvest, and of thanksgiving for the provision God has given
9. What Jeshuaists believe
10. Policy Statement of the Jeshuaist community
11. Noahide Laws or Seven commandments incumbent upon all of humankind
12. Jewish People Inventors of Hope
13. Does God really care?
14. Vital importance of reading and following the Kitvei Hakodesh
15. Changes in the Remnant of Jewish Believers
16. Also Goyim or Non-Jews in the Jeshuaist movement
17. A misunderstanding about Messianic Judaism
18. Difference between Messianic Judaism, Jeshuaism, Christianity and Christendom
19. Jeshuaists, Messianic Jews, Messianics and Christians
20. Who or What is a Jeshuaist
21. Focus On Your Unique Path

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Related

1. The Jewish Experience by Gilad Altzon
2. What Kind of Jew are You?
3. “But Judaism is a Religion!”
4. Jewish Oppression and Crimes Against Humanity
5. Anti-Semitism: Jewish mythology and lies
6. Reality Check: Jewish Oppression and Crimes Against Humanity
7. Semitic Semantics
8. Gene Wilder (1933-2016) feeling Jewish
9. A Reflection for Purim
10. Bible Stories for Atheist Babysitters

Jewish Young Professional

I put “Assimilated Jew” in the title of this series because “Authentic Self and the Assimilated Jew” had a nice aesthetically-pleasing alliteration to it. But honestly, I don’t self-identify as a secular Jew or as an assimilated Jew.

Secular?

I don’t consider myself secular because in spite of my imperfect or non-observance of commandments, Judaism still has a significant impact on my life. I believe in G-d. My imperfect/non-observance of commandment is not a reflection of a belief that G-d does not exist. I think G-d exists, and while I do not know what I believe with respect to divine reward and punishment, I believe G-d prefers that I keep the commandments. The reason I don’t keep commandments is because the price of keeping them is more than I am willing to pay at present, come what may.

It’s not that I don’t believe in Torah or mitzvot (commandments). It’s…

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Adolfo Kaminsky, a forger who saved many lives died

Adolfo Kaminsky (or Adolphe; 1 October 1925 – 9 January 2023) was an Argentine-born member of the French Resistance, specializing in the forgery of identity documents, and photographer.

Not always so easy to keep to the sabbath

We always should remember that Shabbat is not just about not doing certain things, or the other way round, just doing special things, or having special food or bringing sacrifices.

Religious elements in a marriage ceremony

Before planning to live together in union, one should carefully consider the cultural and religious differences and how one will deal with them after the marriage commitment.

Through Gratitude, Blessings Pour Upon Us, for Hanukkah or Anytime

Walking the Bridge Books

Isaac said, Hanukkah is a time of blessings.

Hanukkah is a celebration of the vast abundance of Uncreated Light that pours Itself into all manner of blessings for us.

We all know the story behind Hanukkah, how a handful of holy men withstood an army of soldiers. The odds were overwhelming. It was practically a sure thing they would lose. You could bet on it.

This tiny group of people were so low, you could hardly even call them the underdog. You’d just call them the dog. Yet they came out victorious. God’s light brought them through. Then the single vial of holy oil for the lamps surprisingly lasted eight days, to rededicate the temple.

They were beyond grateful. They were deeply blessed.

Uncreated Light pours into whatever blessing is needed, at any time.

Your needs change over time. What you need now is not what you needed a few…

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Hanukkah gathering under the light in the darkness

In the literal darkness of the war bringing figuratively light with the real light of the candles to commemorate a previous battle won long ago and not forgotten.

Difficulty in getting new young members

As a small faith community, getting new young members is not easy. We all must do an effort to bring in the younger generation and to get them enthusiastically to share their knowledge and gifts with the older generations.

Shemini Atzeret 5782 Times and Torah readings never to stop

Simchat Torah is a component of the Biblical Jewish holiday of Shemini Atzeret (“Eighth Day of Assembly”), which follows immediately after the festival of Sukkot in the month of Tishrei (mid-September to early October on the Gregorian calendar).

News Update: Offbeat Jewish News Edition

For us Rosh Hashana for Hebrew Year 5783 began on Sunday, 25 September 2022 and ended on Tuesday, 27 September 2022 and we made the best of it.

Though perhaps late, we love to share this writing of a ‘Jewish Young Professional’ who is not shy about dropping a sarcastic but also humorous overtone and who finds that Rosh Hashanah should suck more than secular New Year’s. Rosh Hashanah like being a liturgical marathon, though for us such service would only take about 3 hours (she and some others perhaps finding it much too long). But good luck, there’s some good food afterwards, making it a “happy” holiday,

CoViD affected every community. No matter how kind, warm, and well-intentioned the community, we all now have to find a way to get back on track. Concerning meals, we just had to be on our own, figuring out to have something that did not contribute to the pollution of this world.

At the European continent, some of us may be living far away from a synagogue where we can come together daily, so we have to do it with weekly services and meetings at homes of brothers and sisters. There we can enjoy the food which the host has prepared, and for whatever it may be we say ‘praise to Hashem’.

 

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Preceding

Looking at 1 Nissan, 5781 or Sunday, March 14, 2021

A New Year festival to bring better times

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Additional reading

1. End of Summertime and the Time of introspection.
2. Thinking ahead before Rosh Hashanah
3. Our Responsibility in corona-times #2 Opportunities for spirituality and reflection
4. Rosh Hashana 2021 / רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה 5782

Jewish Young Professional

If you don’t blog about Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year), are you even a Jewish blogger? And yet, the Rosh Hashanah post I want to post is taking too long to write (timely blog content has never been my strong suit), so I’m doing a News Update post on 7 Jewish-related news stories (7 in honor of Shabbat, you know?) as my pseudo Rosh Hashanah post.

At this rate, I’ll post my real Rosh Hashanah post for Valentine’s Day. “Rosh Hashana 5777 | ראש השנה תשע’ז” by Lilachd is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

As always, I shall cover the amusing, light-hearted stories, not the important, controversial, or sad. Btw, I’m not covering any Rosh Hashanah/Sukkot inspirational message stuff. First off, I’m not feeling any of that and secondly, you can just google – it’s all over the internet. Unless otherwise noted, bolding in the…

View original post 1.762 woorden meer

Fish vs. Pond Size – Jewish Community Edition

For a community that is already small in normal times, there has been a time of more loneliness during the lockdown periods due to the impact of the Coronavirus.
In some countries, things are allowed to return to normal, while in others, such as Belgium, we are still very cautious and foresee Zoom meetings.

We can imagine that in several countries the communities are still a shadow of what they once were. Getting all the congregants turning up again will also not be so simple, because often people have to travel some kilometres to come to service, and as such shall lose again some time by travelling to and fro.

For many, it will be a matter of readjustment and of having healthy fresh water in the fishbowl again. For many, it is also not so evident to get back in form and in confidence to share some tasks. Some prefer to stay in the shadow, whilst others would not mind being lions leading the troup.

We may question how far we as a community want to feel the collective experience. For months, many of us became accustomed to the private enclosure, and prayer time on our own at home.
Now going to yeshivah demands again some effort people have to bring up after work or daily duties.

After the Covid pandemic, we need retaining walls to carry out our daily work and bring life back to the brewery. For this, big fish are welcome to pull the procession of little fish along in an adventure of reading and study, but also of reflection and argumentation.

Now it may well be that people have come to a point where they want to look further afield and go to places where the sea is deeper but where the fauna is also wider and more abundant.

Do not mind exploring other Jewish communities, even when they may be much further or even out of state.
Who would not love to look for a Jewish or a Jeshuaist community that not only is vibrant and fully egalitarian, but also a Jewish community that is still a moderate-big pond post-pandemic with an existing coral infrastructure?

Those who are able to such larger communities are the lucky ones.

I want to be a smaller fish in this pond. I’d like to grow into a big star Torah-reading fish again. And I’m willing to take on some of those thankless coral jobs for the right community. But mostly, I really just want to feel like a fish again.

But do not be discouraged by the lack of large communities. We must be fully aware that, as Children of God, we will only be part of small communities. It is up to us to bring life into our very small communities. Each of us must bring new oxygen and even though the Covid period is not yet over, we must bring back the taste for more. Sometimes we have to do the digging ourselves to make the pond bigger.

Now is the time to bring out the picks and shovels and build a stage on which we can sing and dance together.

Jewish Young Professional

I thought I’d offer a somewhat different take on Fandango’s Provocative Question, as it got me thinking about my preferences and priorities for the Jewish community I want to be a part of, and how they have changed.

I’ve written before about my love for the singing, dancing, energy and celebration of “Big Party Judaism“. I guess this would be a small fish in a big pond model. Even aside from the fun social aspect, I enjoy the spiritual energy of Judaism in a large group of people.

Party time! Photo byQuang Nguyen VinhfromPexels

That said, when it comes to having a congregational home, I found myself more at home in the big fish in a small pond model. I gravitated towards communities where I’d play a bigger more active role, say, as a regular Torah/Haftarah reader, vs. a more passive one…

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What causes the Rise of the Far-Right

The feeling that their own nation is sacred and should be protected against outside forces makes people choose right-wing politicians who promise them an ideal flourishing prosperous nation

Tel Aviv University study found a record-high number of reports of antisemitic activity throughout the world in 2021

Tel Aviv Univ. echoing recent ADL study on antisemitism in the US, find worldwide increase in Jew-hatred over the past year.

Israel and Gaza trade rockets as conflict escalates

Iran controls the trouble in and around Israel. It literally activates and ferments violence when it wants to. Hamas & Hezbollah don’t do anything without their paymasters say so.

The decline in Israel-Russia ties

Israel has been forced to vote against Russia in recent weeks, which caused Russian anger. They are pointing to Israel’s own conflict. In other words – keep out of our war or your own war might begin.

Clashes at al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem leave more than 150 injured

There are many predicting a new intifada coming soon ignited from clashes with Israeli police at the al-Aqsa Mosque