A perfect example is that often one’s passion about Judaism is due to the fact that they happen to have been born that way- yet that leads to an important discussion asked of Rabbi Moss and here is his response:
The person asking the question assumes that I am Jewish by accident. That assumption is false. There is no such thing. The very basis makes no sense. The postulation "what would I be if I were born someone else" is as absurd as asking what if an pepper was actually a carrot, or an apple was a Samsung. I am what I am which therefore means that I can be no one else. My family, my birthplace, my past - this is me. My soul was picked to be born into a Jewish family. What this means is that I am the product of 1,000’s of years of Jewishness. I can question it. But it is who I am. Sometimes when a question is asked it’s a real question. And sometimes the question is a cop out. Like, "what if I were someone else?" That is an example of the latter. But even that we can assume comes from my Jewishness. Questioning our beliefs is an age old Jewish characteristic we inherited from our forebears. When you are born Jewish-you are born questioning. And with all the questions and all the tests over all the generations, Judaism is still standing solid. You and I, together with all Jews of today, are living testament to the eternity of Judaism. Only by you being you, and me being me. Rabbi Moss and Rabbi Mendel Bluming
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorRabbi Mendel Bluming also dedicated six years to serving on the board of directors of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, where he received the Matthew H. Simon Rabbinical Award for exceptional communal leadership. Archives
June 2023
Categories
All
|