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Photo taken from Stuffonmycat.com
I met a guy here in New York who told me he is a non-practicing former ultra-orthodox vegetarian yogi who celebrates Shabbat and gay rights Jew. Interesting, I thought. Lucky for him, New York has a community that meets his needs.
Between all the denominations, Judaism as a culture, nation and/or religion, and the want to connect to something greater – G-d or Universe, community, or a higher power in ourselves – there is no place better to explore than this town. But before we get all exotic here, I have to ask then, why explore in the first place? Why be Jewish? What is Jewish?!
There was a great piece in New York’s Jewish Week a while back which humorously addressed the notion that the word itself - Jewish - is written as an adjective, such as bluish. It’s like something, but it’s not quite it. (I.e. The mountain is high-ish). So what does it mean that Jews are Jewish? Are we like something, but not really? Hmm. There might be some truth in that
Whether we’re die-hard or non-believers, we all have something in common. We’re on this constant quest for what is. We’re academics who need the logic behind it, and artists who need to feel what’s real. Often these two conflict. Rarely are we satisfied in our search. Therefore, we’re like Jewish, but we’re just not there yet. And the beauty is, it only takes us somewhere new; perhaps even somewhere deeper and more meaningful.
I see a ton of people who become threatened and assume they have to change who they are or push it aside to explore their spirituality and faith. If that were the case, I’m not sure we’d have such an exponential number of ways to be Jewish (making it all the more difficult to define).
It’s true that Judaism connects us to something greater than ourselves, but more than anything, it connects us to who we are and our own potentials. So take the first paragraph in this article, fill in the blanks with your own passions and personalities, and let's take it from there. Let’s call this our Wandering Jew and the City experiment – and take it up a notch wherever we are on our journey.
So although this column cannot define Jewish (you’ll have to do that yourself), it can answer any questions you have about the faith, the culture, ways to explore it all here in New York City, and why so many Jews are Buddhist. If you’re feeling a little curious and have questions about Judaism in all its identities, please email me at FindMyJewSpot@gmail.com. And if you have a definition, we'd love to hear it! Think about it. What does it mean to be Jewish? Comments are welcome below.
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