Dear Reader, Welcome to our “news” letter, where the puns are intended, the jokes are corny, and the information is top-notch. Or at least, the first two things are true.
During my daily checking of the newsfeeds via Feedly, I came across an opinion article that interested me enough to want to write about it this week.
Before I get into that I’d like to go off on a tangent and briefly discuss this newsletter I am writing every week. I generally put the word news is quotes because it isn’t necessarily writing about news. Sometimes it will be just my thoughts on a specific topic, like last week’s edition was. Someone suggested changing the name to a museletter. That is cute and I like the idea. Another idea that was suggested was calling it a Jewsletter. Again, I like the idea.
Admiditly, I stole the idea of calling it a “news”letter from Jonah Goldberg and his G-File that he now writes twice a week at The Dispatch (a very good right-of-center news site and one I can highly recommend subscribing to). It may be time to grow out of the stealing and go with something creative. Let’s make this a poll. shall we?
The poll will be up for a week (that is the longest default option I’ve got) and as both Mayor Daleys said “vote early and vote often”. Now back to the show…
As a rule, I like to stay in my lane and only talk about Orthodox Judaism. It’s what I know and as They Might be Giants once sang - I've often been told that you only can do what you know how to do well.
The opinion piece I read was titled “Why I envy Orthodox Jews”. It went on to discuss some of the reasons the writer, a Reform Rabbi, envied Orthodox Jews. Here is what I think is the crux of his writing:
I envy their commitment to Torah learning. They know Jewish texts can create a new world, a world of passion and of power.
I admire the commitment to Jewish education that they have instilled in their children. They take it as a given. It is very common — even expected — that Orthodox young people will take a gap year after high school and that they will study in Israel.
I envy their commitment to living in Jewish time. For Orthodox Jews, Shabbat is Shabbat. Sukkot is Sukkot. Pesach is Pesach. It is what they do for God and for the Jewish people and for their families. I have seen entire families walking to and from synagogue together — sometimes three generations on one sidewalk — I envy that.
I envy their commitment to Jewish discipline — to staying with Jewish tasks. The novelist Anne Roiphe once lamented, “A Judaism that does not involve new commitments, and that does not work for others, will melt away in the heat of the barbecue on the patio, the light of the TV, the warmth of the variety of comforts now available.”
Our Orthodox friends and relatives live lives of Jewish commitment. I envy that.
I happen to agree that those are all things that should be envied and I think it’s overall a nice, positive article about Orthodox Jews. What bugged me was the subtitle of the article - What do you envy in a religious tradition that is not your own?
What bugs me is that this is his religious tradition. In the long arc of history, Reform Judaism has only been around for a short time - about 250 years. Before Moses Mendelsshon, Abraham Geiger, and others came along there were just Jews. Of course, there were Jews who were not observant, but they were still Jews just without any hyphenation.
In short, the writer is Jewish and these traditions he is envious of are his. If he wants them, all he has to do is reach out and take them.
The Next Episode of the Podcast
On February 18th we will be discussing the age-old question “Why are there Two Jews, Three Opinions?”. I think I have an answer to this question that will interest you.
Video of the Week
Here is something that I came across on YouTube thanks to the all-powerful algorithm:
Imvho, newsletter is a generic enough term to cover any planned serial missive, but a musing newsletter ala museletter is a thing that needs to catch on with the masses
Is there any gatekeeping to Orthodox vs Reform? If I had to compare to Christianity, this sounds like it would be Catholic vs Protestant... the former definitely gate keeps that identity through things like Confirmation and Baptism