The journey begins.
I begin with the premise that rather than people being here to serve the needs of religion, religion is here to serve the needs of people. Reform Judaism meets my needs. It gives me the opportunity to shape my own Judaism, basing it on my own response to the Jewish past, my own interpretation in the present, and the excitement of being able to pass it on to the future of my children and grandchildren.
I am not limited by halachah. I see it as a wonderful creative process by which the rabbis of the Talmudic period were able to create an intellectual bloodless revolution, destroying the authority of the priesthood, and enabling Judaism to become a religion that was portable, and not merely one that was restricted to a limited geographic area. It is a part of the warp and woof of the tapestry of Jewish history, and enabled subsequent intellectual revolutions within Judaism to occur.
Each Friday evening, my wife and I light Shabbat candles together. We sing Shalom Aleichem, and I recite a portion of Eishet Chayil, a woman of valor. Of course, I don’t use the verses that do not pertain to our time, and I usually add a phrase or two of my own that speak of special things that Dee has one during the preceding week. We chant the full Kiddush, and enjoy a special meal. After that, we enjoy a quiet evening at home, and will sometimes go to services. We also may go to theater or a concert. There were many Friday nights when we would have Shabbat dinner and all of its ritual with two close friends of ours in the picnic area of the Hollywood Bowl, and then enjoy the evening there. One of our favorite Shabbat experiences was in a French restaurant in Edinburgh, Scotland, when the waiter, a Roman Catholic Scot, saw us lighting the candles, and in his thick burr asked if we minded his joining us in the Kiddush. He and other members of his family had lived in Israel, and he was fluent in Hebrew.
Our most meaningful High Holy Days were a few years ago, when we in a 26-foot RV in the wilds of Wyoming. We had our own private services, just the two of us. We blew Shofar, read Torah from a text, and instead of a sermon, the%2
I begin with the premise that rather than people being here to serve the needs of religion, religion is here to serve the needs of people. Reform Judaism meets my needs. It gives me the opportunity to shape my own Judaism, basing it on my own response to the Jewish past, my own interpretation in the present, and the excitement of being able to pass it on to the future of my children and grandchildren.
I am not limited by halachah. I see it as a wonderful creative process by which the rabbis of the Talmudic period were able to create an intellectual bloodless revolution, destroying the authority of the priesthood, and enabling Judaism to become a religion that was portable, and not merely one that was restricted to a limited geographic area. It is a part of the warp and woof of the tapestry of Jewish history, and enabled subsequent intellectual revolutions within Judaism to occur.
Each Friday evening, my wife and I light Shabbat candles together. We sing Shalom Aleichem, and I recite a portion of Eishet Chayil, a woman of valor. Of course, I don’t use the verses that do not pertain to our time, and I usually add a phrase or two of my own that speak of special things that Dee has one during the preceding week. We chant the full Kiddush, and enjoy a special meal. After that, we enjoy a quiet evening at home, and will sometimes go to services. We also may go to theater or a concert. There were many Friday nights when we would have Shabbat dinner and all of its ritual with two close friends of ours in the picnic area of the Hollywood Bowl, and then enjoy the evening there. One of our favorite Shabbat experiences was in a French restaurant in Edinburgh, Scotland, when the waiter, a Roman Catholic Scot, saw us lighting the candles, and in his thick burr asked if we minded his joining us in the Kiddush. He and other members of his family had lived in Israel, and he was fluent in Hebrew.
Our most meaningful High Holy Days were a few years ago, when we in a 26-foot RV in the wilds of Wyoming. We had our own private services, just the two of us. We blew Shofar, read Torah from a text, and instead of a sermon, the%2
posted by JMS | 8:54 PM
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