Becoming Jewish, Part 5 (Sacrifices)

When I was a boy, growing up in the Southern Bible Belt, it was common to come across Jack Chick tracts. He’s about as legalistic as they come with condemnation, hellfire and a gratis of little devils coming after anyone who has a good time, and even acts of kindness are chalked off as excuses [...]

Becoming Jewish, Part 4 (On Holiday)

The store owner smiled as she spoke, “You need to get a Seder plate now, you understand why?” “No,” I replied. “You have four children. … It’s like Christmas when you bring out the decorations.” That made sense. Our holidays, if not defined by symbols, are marked by them. My wife trusted my ability to [...]

Becoming Jewish, Part 3 (The Commandments)

I find the justification of modern-day Christian leaders to sequester the fourth of the ten commandments invalid and obscene. If leaders taught obedience to the rules outlined in Acts 21:25 or the seven laws of Noah, which it strongly overlaps, then it would make sense to not follow the Sabbath. Most of the pastors who [...]

Becoming Jewish, Part 2 (The Ritual Of Righteous Living)

My anthropologist professor informed the class that every amassing ritual has a fail-break to stop it. Her example was the point in the wedding ceremony where the congregation is asked that if anyone knows of a reason why the couple shouldn’t wed to “Speak now or forever hold your peace.” Other times rituals fail because [...]

Becoming Jewish, Part 1 (Half Born)

The doctor hadn’t arrived and the contractions were getting more frequent. “Don’t push!” the nurse cried out, then flushed white and ran out of the room in a panic.
It was her first day in the maternity ward and knew only what she was trained for. Contractions were two minutes apart, lasting more than a minute [...]

Purim

My family attended their first Purim a couple of weeks ago. I’m still reflecting on it with a certain level of interest, clicking through articles on various blogs and Jewish websites.
The lowdown is that everything happens for a reason. If we choose not to risk ourselves for righteousness in whatever circumstance we’re placed into [...]

Let’s Meditate on Chamad

In a recent brief facebook encounter with Rabbi Daniel Lapin, he addressed the issue of IQ.
Rabbi: Fortunately, ancient Jewish wisdom rates Wisdom as far more important than IQ, as our IQ is fixed but our wisdom can be increased. No word for “intelligence” in Torah. Wisdom is “chochmah”. Increase wisdom? Sure, see tomorrow’s Thought Tool.
I [...]

The Disciple

Another creative venue is photography. There are some amazingly brilliant works on Flickr and I’ve long enjoyed it, but the 200 picture limit on free accounts caused me to pull back almost entirely. I shelled out the $25 and am going in deep.
I thought about going into portrait photography, but my skills there are [...]

What Judaism taught me about Christmas

Christmas. To some it means “Santa Claus, and ho-ho-ho, and mistletoe… and presents to pretty girls.” To others it means lights and giving and kindness to your fellow man. Jews celebrate Hanukkah, commonly known as the Festival of Lights. Whereas the secular world has adopted Santa Claus for its icon and Christians have adopted the [...]

Where’s the Joy

During my trip to DC, a dear friend and I had a conversation where I disclosed two separate thoughts that he put together.

I believe that any authority over me was put there by God.
When I was moved from one department to another I put myself into a state of misery, assuming I was being punished, [...]