Monday, November 1, 2010

The Seven Habits of Highly Religious Jews

All the time, people tell me that they are not “religious”. Then they tell me all the Jewish things that they do.  Not “religious”, it seems to me, means that they feel guilty about all the things they think they should be doing.  Therefore, here is a better list of criteria, from me, about what how one can judge whether they are “religious” or not. Why should we cede that term to the Orthodox?  You don’t have to do them all to be religious, but if you are looking to expand your practice, the list might provide a few pointers.

1 - Living in Jewish Time - This doesn’t mean that you always know what date it is on the Jewish calendar - rather that you anticipate Shabbat at the end of the week, consider what you will do differently to mark Shabbat, and try to spend time with family and friends.  Having a Jewish calendar, even this one, on your fridge, or putting “Jewish Holidays” on your Google calendar is a good way to keep even minor Jewish holidays from sneaking up on you.

2 - Being Jewishly “Observant” - Again, perhaps not the anticipated meaning of observing the mitzvot, but keeping a Jewish eye out on the world.  This could mean worrying about Israel in the headlines, or “seeing the world through parashat hashavuah glasses” - using the stories and characters of the Torah as metaphors for our lives.

3 - Studying - See last month’s column or my High HolyDay sermons.  As we grow and change, so should our understanding of Judaism.  There are plenty of ways to learn - books, classes, on-line resources -even reading this column.

4 - Trying to Be Holy - We are told in the portion that we read on the afternoon of Yom Kippur to be holy.  There follows a list of practices and laws - including respecting one’s parents, not keeping the wages of our workers overnight, not oppressing the weak, not standing idly by - in short, trying to live up to our Divine potential.

5 - Tikkun Olam - As Jews, we feel a responsibility not only to our co-religionists, not only to our fellow human beings, but to the whole world.  We believe that God left it to us to finish creation.  Our job is to make the world better, not use it up.

6 - Being Part of a Jewish Community - For communal prayer, Judaism asks for a group.  There are reasons to be with others - to share joys and sorrows, to multiply the strength of our individual hands, to be able to look beyond ourselves.  Besides, it is fun.

7 - Self-Reflection - Yom Kippur is not the only time to look back and try to see where we have gone wrong and where we can do better.  Anytime that we can stop, we should see where we have been, so we can better decide where we are going.

So, add up your score.  I bet you’re more religious then you thought.  Now that you feel more comfortable calling yourself a “religious” Jew, feel free to do even more.