Say pretty please with sugar on top: Oh, well, then of course, Israel must do so. Islamic nations are demanding that Israel open its nuke plant to IAEA inspectors. Well, I demand that Islamic nations STFU on telling Israel what to do until after every single member of the OIC has full diplomatic relations with the Jewish state. And stops funding terrorism. Both, by the way, are extremely reasonable requests of civilized nations. And yet, I think I will not live to see my demands fulfilled.
And yet, China has huge trade ties with Iran A visiting scholar from China says it won’t stop Israel if it decides to attack Iran. I’m thinking he’s not representing official policy, and Ha’aretz is expressing wishful thinking, or something. Plus, I think the time that Israel could have attacked Iranian nukes is past. It’s a moot point.
Jimmy Carter, Walt Mearsheimer hardest hit: Say, guys who think Israel should negotiate with Hamas, the U.S. just designated another member of Hamas a wanted terrorist. This one has ties with Iran.
Our enemies, our allies: The Pakistani ISI was behind attacks on U.S. troops in Afghanistan. And yet, we will still give them billions of dollars in aid. Our priorities are messed up. Then again, the Iranians and Syrians acted with impunity, murdering hundreds of our soldiers in Iraq, so what should we expect?
Wait, wait, I know the answer to this one: Can young Jews become more Jewish without much Judaism?
No.
Speaking of becoming more Jewish w/o much Judaism…
You’ve said to me on HA that I should come home to Judaism. I dunno.
If there was a Chabad over @ Texas Tech I might check it out. Alas-there is one temple in Lubbock and it is VERY liberal. It also has a female ‘rabbi’. I don’t approve of women in the pulpit and have always been center-right…so going to shul -at least here-is out.
For right now I’m sticking with the Catholics-I’m just no longer taking communion.
I really wish that my and the brother had been raised more Talmud-Torah…but we weren’t. As a result he’s agnostic and I play religious musical chairs. My husband is a Calvinist-so going all baal teshuva isn’t an option. There must be a Judaism for people like me who are right-leaning but theologically moderate.
There is, but probably not in Lubbock, alas. I wonder if there’s online stuff you could join. Skype Shabbat… betcha you could find it somewhere. Although I have no problem at all with women rabbis and cantors. I go to a Conservative synagogue. I’ve been to some Reform schuls, both liberal and some that are as close to Conservative as you can get without being one. I prefer Conservative. I like my service in Hebrew. Is there a JCC in Lubbock, or is the Jewish population too small?
It’s too small. The muslim community-of the hijab/abbaya wearing variety-is larger. I work @ one of the nicer Walmart Supercenters in the area. Occasionally one of the muslim women will asked me for help. I help ONLY because I don’t want to lose my job-and since I don’t look especially Jewish and have an Irish surname they don’t realize that they’re in the presence of an eeeevil Joooooo.
Seriously-I feel afloat faith-wise. I really like the fellowship that I get from christianity-but I don’t believe that Jews go to hell. I made the decision recently that I was born a Jew and that I’ll die-hopefully many years from now-a Jew. I just don’t am lost as to where I can fit in to all this.
With regard to the Paki bit I find it really annoying when the trolls start on about the aid to Israel but ignore the billions given to the above, for example.
Then they also display total ignorance of some 45 billion that gets sent to Mexico each year for the “short back and sides” the gardens receive in California.
As for the Jewish question (Yes I realise that that can be misinterpreted)
“Samantha was able to articulate that she avoided Judaism because she was trying to be the Jew she thought she should be and not the Jew she is,”
This just makes my mind boggle.
So what markers does she go by to decide what she should be if she rejects Judaism, the cornerstone for Christianity, and the 2000 plus years of social progress made from those roots?
Maybe the Jew that she is trying to avoid came about through lack of understanding or ignorance of her roots or is it through trying to curry favour with her “detractors”?
She’s a kid, Cynic. She’s been brainwashed to believe that religion is a fantasy construct made up to explain why the sky gets dark at night. Or maybe her parents (probably, in fact) pay only lip service to their Judaism. Are they twice-a-year Jews? Probably. Frankly, I didn’t like Judaism much when I was her age. I liked being a Jew, and I was always a Zionist, but the religion bothered me. Part of that was because I was in my twenties. Part of it was because I was brought up to believe it was a pain in the ass, always having to follow all these extra rules, clean up and prepare for holidays, go to synagogue on a workday, etc., etc. My mother and grandfather never taught me about the joy in Judaism, only the duty. I discovered the joy all on my own, years later. My brothers? They’re not religious at all. This organization is doing a wonderful thing, trying to catch kids who think the way I used to, and give them a reason to like Judaism.