What does it mean to be a Jew?
What does it mean to be a Jew?
I suppose this question has been asked countless times during our history, yet my new blog compels me to attempt to answer this and other pertinent, uncomfortable questions. I recently read a fascinating article by Rav Shlomo Aviner. Where he discussed how Jews relate to Israel. If Judaism is a religion then one can practice anywhere and not need to be connected to Israel. If Judaism means being part of a nation then Israel is integral to every Jew’s existence. I would like to offer a third possibility.
I believe being a Jew is akin to being a part of a family. Being Jewish means you have brothers and sisters wherever you go. Being Jewish means every bubbie and zeide you see in the street is your bubbie and zeide. Being Jewish mean every Jewish child that you see is your own.
A few days ago I was walking out of the subway station on my way back from a meeting when I noticed a boy with a kippah standing in front of the MetroCard machine looking puzzled. I nodded to him, as this is my general salutation to all Jews that I pass. The boy proceeded to ask me if I could help him out. It seemed that the MetroCard machine would not take dollars, so I offered to swipe my MetroCard for the boy.
After I swiped him through the boy offered me two dollars for the cost of the fare and I told him to put the money in Tzedakah. As I walked away from the station an incredible feeling welled up inside of me. Here was a Jewish kid in a jam and I instinctively treated him like my own son and that is what being Jewish means. It means that every Jew is our son, every Jew is our daughter, every Jew is our Mother, every Jew is our Father, every Jew is our zeide, and every Jew is our bubbie.
That having been said, I wonder how as a people we can continuously read the society pages of the New York Times trumpeting lavish weddings and touching ceremonies of intermarried couples who fill the pages week after week. How do we hold back our tears? How can we meet Jewish children in the street and not wail over the fact that they cannot recite the Aleph Beis? How can we not cry over the fact that our local Orthodox synagogues, which are bursting at the seams, contains only a fraction of the Jews in our neighborhoods?
The question ultimately is............ do we really believe Jews belong to one big family? Do we really love all Jews or is it lip service? Is my fate really contingent on another Jew’s fate whom I have never met? Is Hashem truly not distressed by the fact that so many of his children lack the skills and knowledge to speak with him?
Someone once told me that a person’s mission in this world is to love and be loved. I, for one, will be working on my love for my brothers and sisters............ How about you?
Shol uveracha
Great stuff this blogg of yours. Just accessed it now.
I had a similar experience yesterday as your one with the Metro card and didn’t really make anything of it until I read this piece. Yasher Koach.
I hope you don’t mind but I’ll be using this idea for my Parshas Zachor drosha this evening.Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Jonathan Altman
Sea Point, Cape TownPosted by Jonathan Altman on 03/10 at 04:39 AM
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