Episode #11: Rank Or Refined
What kind of person do you want to be? Enlightened and refined or brazen and rank? Returning to Judaism will bring you closer to the former and further from the latter.
As someone who is looking to get into religion there are certain things about Jews that you are now first coming to deal with. You can’t help it. Your consciousness is hitting you over the head with the fact that you are part of a culture that has had a unique and special relationship with the Creator for thousands of years. Now you are trying to figure out how you can enhance this relationship in the best way possible. That’s why you are here listening to this podcast.
You are beginning to realize that the Torah is part of that unique and special relationship. But the Torah seems so large and cryptic. Did you really expect that God’s explanation of Life would be tiny? The immense universe works in perfect harmony. Tiny? I don’t think so. Do you really think that Torah for Dummies would be the right choice for you? No. You deserve the whole enchilada. Sorry it’s going to take some work. But the act of doing so will be rewarding.
The Torah is your Heritage, one that spans thousands of years. Other peoples don’t have such an amazing Heritage. You are now realizing that your relatives have lived by the Torah and been highly successful. You want to be highly successful. You have an inner itch to make the world a better, safer, more livable place with no war, no hunger, no crime, and no disease.
At times throughout history Jews have attained these lofty goals. You are beginning to feel some pride in the attainment of these things and wonder why they can’t be achieved again. It won’t be accomplished by voting Democrat or Republican. Religion is way more potent than politics. Altruistic goals can be achieved again and there are two places for you to start: read the Torah every day and keep the Sabbath every week. Then let the Jewish religion wash over and through you and guide you.
If you are unable to do these things consistently every day and every week, just do them as often as you can, as often as it feels right. Some observance is better than no observance. And I can tell you from my own experience that the more you do it the easier it becomes because you start feeling better and enjoying life much more so you become inspired to do it rather than not do it.
One of the more famous Rabbis of our time, Yosef Mizrachi, has many videos you can watch on the internet for free. He’s a bit controversial because he’s very clear about his Torah understanding and makes enemies in both the Jewish and non-Jewish world. He also inspires many converts. He’s uncompromising in his interpretations and backs all of his comments by citing Torah. His enemies mostly attack second-hand, out-of-context quotes from his lectures but he has a huge following of the smartest and most religious Jews of our time.
I caught a YouTube clip of him debating four secular Jewish young men on one side of the table. The Rabbi had two observant men on his side of the table but they didn’t say much as the Rabbi had the whole thing under control. The young secular Jews had an obvious plan to make the Rabbi and his orthodox positions look unreasonable next to their open, free, liberty lifestyle positions. They failed miserably but brazenly displayed their rank persona.
One of the secular Jews wore a polo shirt with a business tie and faked sleeping through the whole debate as if there was nothing to be gained by listening to religious points of view. Another sat menacingly with full Islamic garb, face mask, and headscarf. A third guy tried to aid the main secular debater with occasional supportive points but was basically a non-entity.
And the main guy engaging with Rabbi Mizrachi came with a Burger King cheeseburger and french fries. I guess he was trying to tempt the Rabbi with his delicious non-Kosher food and display how his cosmology allowed him to be free to eat whatever he wanted. The Rabbi, of course, had no interest in the cheeseburger and so the temptation was easily a non-temptation.
The secularists actually aided the Rabbi in making his points over and over again. He explained God’s Torah and lived accordingly so he was able to know the difference between right and wrong. Since the secularists had no God to reference how they acted they had no idea the difference between right and wrong.
Apparently, they felt that disrespect would convince the Rabbi his positions were obsolete, confining, and limiting. They ended up looking very young, like babies, immature, ignorant, and unwise next to a man attempting to show them a better, more mature, intelligent way. He exuded enlightenment and refinement.
And you are just like these inane secularists. You don’t know the benefits of Torah so you walk through life eating cheeseburgers and doing silly things. But now you are beginning to understand how immature that cosmology is. Afterall, if there is a manual out there that will help you become a member of an army trying to make the world a better place, why not enlist? Having the Liberty to do anything and everything is not the definition of intelligent living nor does it bring the highest life down to the material world.
The Creator made the world work in perfect harmony. Trying to bring this world down into our world is a large but wonderful goal. And whether you succeed or fail the act of doing so makes your life so much more worthwhile. Others will see you as mature and wise. Potential marital partners and business partners will see you as a good person to be around. Your whole being will vibrate at a more attractive rate.
Your upbringing was remiss in not educating you about what Jews do in contrast to other people, religious or secular. I’m going to bring you up to speed. The main thing Jews do is good. Good means they wake up every day with the goal of refining their character. Refined characters don’t do anything and everything. Refined characters are very careful about what they do and what they say. Jews have been doing this very thing for 3,000 years.
The Torah tells Jews to honor their parents, keep the Sabbath, tell the truth, don’t take what’s not yours, keep real weights and measures, love your fellow man, keep away from gossip and bad people, be modest in your appearance, be more committed to what you hear and what your mind tells you (ears/brain) rather than what you see and what your heart (eyes/emotions) tells you.
Constantly, from the time a Jew wakes up until he ends his day, he is dealing with refining his character, male and female alike. He is taught to be grateful for everything big and small and to get to know, to the best of their ability, the Creator of all things. Jews are doing that at four years old, at forty years old, and eighty years old. They don’t spend their time eating cheeseburgers. They could, and some do, but mostly they have better things to put their life, energy, and efforts into.
What Jews have been doing for 3,000 years is amazing. No one made you aware of this. More observant Jews do this more than less observant Jews. But observance level is not the issue. Who else in the world has done these things? Jews have been tortured, murdered, expelled, and discriminated against in every way evil could possibly conceive and yet here we are.
You could drop LSD and eat Magic Mushrooms and not achieve the depth of understanding or the powerful protection that Jews have received throughout 3,000 years as they endeavor to refine their character, seek to know the Creator, and to bring Hashem’s world into this musty material environment. No one has ever described Jews to you in this way but you have been longing for more Jewish life for quite a while now and have no idea why.
Imagine if you had this conception of Judaism from a very young age. Where would you be now? I don’t think you’d be eating Burger King and challenging the concepts of a knowledgeable Rabbi. You’d probably be married to a wonderful woman with lots of kids, a modest employment situation, surrounded by a huge community who loves you and looks after you. Sounds like a good thing and Jews have been experiencing this good thing, regardless of all the bad things, for over 3,000 years. If the good didn’t overcome the bad Jews would have stopped living this way a long time ago.
Intuitively you know the Jewish way is a superior lifestyle and you are ready to move in. You won’t be becoming a new person. You’ll be returning to who you really are. You’ll like that very much. Will you miss cheeseburgers? Yeah, probably, but not for long because what replaces them are so much better.
Okay, so just start living the Jewish life a little bit at a time. Don’t be self-conscious about your Jewish efforts. You will make mistakes and experience some embarrassment. No one cares! One thing I can assure you is that those who are more observant than you will not be looking down their noses at you. Actually, they will look at your newbie efforts and be delighted.
Know that they are more interested in getting to their next prayer session that to spend even a second of their time evaluating your observance level. They know that wherever you are you’re on your way to bringing more Hashem into the world. You are part of the Army. And that delights them.
Are you ready to transform your current daily goals into something that has greater meaning? You know, getting back into religion is very trendy right now. It seems the secular thing has peaked and run its course. Is Freud more potent than the 10 Commandments? Not even close.
Secular education has led to boys in girl’s locker rooms, secular morals have allowed immense fraud in government, and secular laws have encouraged judicial corruption. This track record has brought upon us a new religious enlightenment.
So now Christians are re-baptizing at a stunning rate. Islam is advancing in numbers. People want to marry into their own religion. There is a common bond there. There is no stated common bond in secular marriages. How can a Justice of the Peace cement any marriage?
However, now more than at any time in the past people are vetting their houses of worship and the elders that lead them. They are not joining congregations for no reason. The Catholic Church got crushed because of the way they handled the sexual abuse of children by many of their pastors. After the World Trade Center was destroyed the “Religion of Peace” moniker did not strike a truthful tone. So, this current house of worship vetting is a very good thing.
But the Jewish religion, forever focused on the Torah and the Sabbath, just keeps truckin’ right along. The only thing holding you back now is YOU. So, think about it as long as you want. Don’t let me or anybody else talk you into it.
The Jewish religion and the practice of Jewish rituals is very personal in that you make them your own. No one will put a wafer in your mouth. No one will ask you to get on your knees and put your forehead on the floor.
You worship and celebrate Hashem at your own pace and within your own comfort zone.
Please go to my website Jew2u.com. There is an easy reading list of books you can start with. They are not religious tomes. The books all speak to secular people returning to their roots. After going through the list of books you will be well qualified to do your own literary investigations. From the first book on the list that you read to the last book that you read just know that what you are doing IS “Torah study.” And now you’re on your way!
Shalom!
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