...but you can't take the Temple out of the Leora. (wait that makes no sense)
Simon and I had wine and snacks with the arranged-married couple from India who lives next door to us. I don't know anything about Hinduism, so they told me a little about it. (My context is so Jewish that, for this introduction to a new religion, I asked about their gods/books/stories, food/clothing customs, and temple practices.)
Hindu temples sound really cool. I wish there was more unstructured prayer time in Jewish temples, where you could, like, walk around and around the room, repeating names or mantras quietly, and not in unison with (or even particularly involved with) anyone else.
It's kinda weird that I don't really believe in God anymore. I've read lots of cool religious stories, and they're generally kind of alike in tone. I'm like, yes, my religious lineage is from some very interesting people in the desert like 5000 years ago, and the journey of their descendants... as opposed to some other equally interesting, equally random people from somewhere else. You know? I mean, I don't believe in the Greek gods at all, or the Hindu gods particularly, so I'm not sure why the Jewish God should be all that different.
Judaism is still totes neato, of course. I've never particularly based my practice, ethics, interests or identity on a belief in God, so it's not a huge religious crisis or something.
I just kinda miss it.
(for those new to my el-jay: in addition to the whole Rabbi's Daughter thing, I attended a tiny Orthodox Hebrew Day School in the mountains, during some very religiously formative years. They had very clear stances on certain things, such as the omnipotent/omniscient/omnipresent God. Also, "HaShem wrote the Torah, and then He created the world", and "If you marry a non-Jew, you're finishing the work that Hitler started". I was the first Reform kid who attended that school, they were very tolerant of my Reform-ness, 12-yr-old feminist ideals, etc. It was a very cool experience.)
My mother says she's never seriously questioned the existence of God, any more than she's questioned the existence of the sun or something, she's always felt like God's existence was kinda obvious to her. I know my dad believes in God, too, although he is down with oodles of Jewish ideas of God, from quite concrete to very abstract, and I have no idea whether he's picked any favorite theories in particular. They don't really mind what I believe: it always comes down to, what we believe matters a whole lot less than what we do.*
But still, sometimes, it's kinda lonesome without God around.
*writing this out makes me curious what the boundaries are for them on that one. They'd probably object if I declared a belief that we should oppress somebody, or if I started worshiping idols, or, similarly, if I decided that Jesus was the Messiah. They've always said that, when I grew up, I could adhere to any kind of Judaism that I wanted. There really is a huge range of kinds of Judaism. But I suppose that means that polytheism and complete secularism remain out of bounds. Which, of course, makes me want to try them. A prescribed religion is kind of the perfect nemesis for my 'You Can't Make Me, I'll Do What I Want'. anyway, time to make tasty dinners
Hindu temples sound really cool. I wish there was more unstructured prayer time in Jewish temples, where you could, like, walk around and around the room, repeating names or mantras quietly, and not in unison with (or even particularly involved with) anyone else.
It's kinda weird that I don't really believe in God anymore. I've read lots of cool religious stories, and they're generally kind of alike in tone. I'm like, yes, my religious lineage is from some very interesting people in the desert like 5000 years ago, and the journey of their descendants... as opposed to some other equally interesting, equally random people from somewhere else. You know? I mean, I don't believe in the Greek gods at all, or the Hindu gods particularly, so I'm not sure why the Jewish God should be all that different.
Judaism is still totes neato, of course. I've never particularly based my practice, ethics, interests or identity on a belief in God, so it's not a huge religious crisis or something.
I just kinda miss it.
(for those new to my el-jay: in addition to the whole Rabbi's Daughter thing, I attended a tiny Orthodox Hebrew Day School in the mountains, during some very religiously formative years. They had very clear stances on certain things, such as the omnipotent/omniscient/omnipresent God. Also, "HaShem wrote the Torah, and then He created the world", and "If you marry a non-Jew, you're finishing the work that Hitler started". I was the first Reform kid who attended that school, they were very tolerant of my Reform-ness, 12-yr-old feminist ideals, etc. It was a very cool experience.)
My mother says she's never seriously questioned the existence of God, any more than she's questioned the existence of the sun or something, she's always felt like God's existence was kinda obvious to her. I know my dad believes in God, too, although he is down with oodles of Jewish ideas of God, from quite concrete to very abstract, and I have no idea whether he's picked any favorite theories in particular. They don't really mind what I believe: it always comes down to, what we believe matters a whole lot less than what we do.*
But still, sometimes, it's kinda lonesome without God around.
*writing this out makes me curious what the boundaries are for them on that one. They'd probably object if I declared a belief that we should oppress somebody, or if I started worshiping idols, or, similarly, if I decided that Jesus was the Messiah. They've always said that, when I grew up, I could adhere to any kind of Judaism that I wanted. There really is a huge range of kinds of Judaism. But I suppose that means that polytheism and complete secularism remain out of bounds. Which, of course, makes me want to try them. A prescribed religion is kind of the perfect nemesis for my 'You Can't Make Me, I'll Do What I Want'. anyway, time to make tasty dinners