6 Principals of a Modern Day Jew
When I ask myself what are the underlying principals that a Jew today must acknowledge
1) “First, be a Mensch”
While prayer and rituals are part of our religion, they cannot substitute ethics and moral behavior. If needed to choose, better to excel in the man to man and fail in the man to his maker, as apposed to the other way around. Like my mom always said to us growing up “first, be a mensch”. We too as parents want our children first and foremost to be moral good people.
“The message of the Hebrew Bible is that serving god and serving our fellow human beings are inseparably linked. Unless the holy leads us outward toward the good, and the good leads us back for renewal to the holy, the creative energies of faith run dry.” ~Rabbi Sack Z”l
2) Always ask questions
A Jew isn’t afraid to ask even the toughest of questions. We even have a dialogue with god. Abraham Asked — “Shall the Judge of all the earth not do justice?”.
Judaism is not a religion of blind obedience. We want to use our intelligence and our comprehension to the best of our ability at any given point in time. We allow our questions to grow deeper as we mature. This doesn’t mean that we give up rituals when we don’t fully understand them. (like not taking a pill because you don’t fully understand its effect on your body. In that case, you would simply trust your doctor).
Jews always placed a high priority on education, learning and teaching. A famous principal is “lo habaishan lamed” (=the shy doesn’t learn). Part of learning is speaking up and asking good questions.
3) Family unit is of utmost importance
The nation of Israel began as a family unit of Yaakov and his family. Raising a family is considered a sacred duty. Families are the foundation of the nation.
Parents are seen as partners in God’s creation of each human being. Children must honor their parents. Educating your kids is the parents obligation. Even with other types of families existing today, sometimes not by choice, the ideal Jewish family consists a father, mother and children. As the world becomes more individualistic and expectations from marriage become extremely high, this foundation is at stake. We need to cherish this foundation and protect it.
4) History= god’s path in the world
We can learn so much from history. The bible teaches us how to look through history. History is not just an external list of physical events and personal human interests. While these external events are taking places, we learn from the bible to review the internal spiritual reasoning leading up to these events.
Unbelievable miraculous historical events are taking place in our times. A dispersed nation (from dozens of separate countries) returning to their homeland after 2000 years of exile. The founding of the state of Israel despite being surrounded by enemies who would love to see us destroyed and have proved this again and again. Historically these are incredible times for the Jewish nation. It is difficult to ignore such events.
5) “lo bashamiam hi” (=It is not in the sky)
“How did God forbid you to turn on the light on Sabbath? There was no electricity back then? “ :)
This one is critical, and many secular Jews have trouble understanding this one. In Judaism, while much Jewish law is unchanging, we use our set of rules/laws of Torah study to interpret the Jewish law when new circumstances arise. Historically in case of a disagreement between interpretation, we used a “higher court” of law that determined the law. A higher court of law with real authority has yet to be formed in modern day Israel. Jewish law is meant to progress as human society does, using our intellect and Torah study rules and principals.
6) 2000 years away from our homeland took its toll
For 2000 years we were exiled from our country. During much of history, our mere existence was put on stake. Pogroms, exiles, inquisitions. Remaining Jewish and alive was no easy task. We developed defense mechanisms. Then during periods of emancipation, where we were given a chance to integrate, we focused on trying to fit in, being like everyone else.
The Torah expects the Jewish nation to be a light of ethics and spirituality for all nations. Our unique role as a people lay by the side; For 2000 years we had no land, no army, no normal community life.
