UM...YOU'RE NOT ORTHODOX, ARE YOU...?
בס"ד
30 Tishrei
Yeah, that's what I get asked sometimes. It's an awkwardly worded question, awkwardly asked. But I try to make the best of it:
"Actually, yes, I am Orthodox, but I'm the user-friendly kind." I smile.
After that, everything goes swimmingly.
I've said it before & I'll say it again: I love Jews. I have respect for the choices which other Jews make which are different from my own, even when I don't understand how they made those choices. If G@d gave all humans free will, then who am I to hold others in contempt for thinking for themselves & exercising that G@d-given freedom? I may not agree with them, but I respect them nonethless.
Did I mention that my female student is not affiliated Orthodox?
My prayer for the Jewish People, is for us to not hate each other for our differences, for us to not make negative assumptions about each other, for us to not veneer other Jews who have made choices dissimilar to our own with our own prejudices & fears. Ameyn selah.
posted by Soferet | 3:25:00 p.m.
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5 Comments:
Do you come with a manual as well?! :)
בס"ד
Oh, I wish! :)
No, sorry. I didn't say it was easy, but these are my ideals which I do my best to live by. Sometimes it's trickier than other times, but G@d willing, I behave appropriately.
בס"ד
I agree with you, Jewropean. We're all human, none of us are G@d. So none of us can judge another nor know what it is that others ought to do. If we can't see into the hearts of our fellows, then we cannot truly advise them beyond a certain boundary.
I've done some heavy thinking on this, as a central-towards black hat Orthodox (whatever that means) B"T who started out "Traditional/Conservative."
Where I'm currently holding, is that my G-d is certainly capable of judging each person according to his/her system of belief. If you believe in a fiery Hell, and take steps to deserve it according to your belief system, well, then that's where you'll wind up. I, on the other hand, will not wind up in a Christian's idea of Hell for not believing in Jesus, since I am not a Christian.
But that means since I subscribe to halachic Judaism, that's the belief system I need to work within, and that's my path to a Kesher with Hashem.
It's sort of an outgrowth of 613 commandments for Jews/7 for non-Jews, and no one's asking you to switch sides, or trying to say one is "better:" Non-Jews have their own path to follow.
Jewropean, I do agree with you.
I see myself as an Orthodox Jewess in real life, but as a B"T when forced into confrontation with the non-Orthodox members of my family.
That's the distinction to me... that I don't have the same support from my mother as I would if she traveled the same path as I do. And I wouldn't need to tread so carefully when discussing the way I am raising my children with her, because a lot of the ways she did things with me won't work with Orthodox kids. I think she sees my way of life as a rejection of hers, instead as building on the foundation she gave me. It's a tricky path to walk, and that's the difference that being a B"T rather than an FFB makes to me.
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