Don't Hate Me 'Cause I'm a Jew - Part II

I'd like to continue forward my last post by expanding on, what I feel to be, some of the central points from Rabbi Ken Spiro's book World Perfect: The Jewish Impact on Civilization. 

There's an entire class and, so I've been told, powerpoint presentation devoted to teaching this particular book to students enrolled in the Maimonides crash course. 

I decided to actually read the book in order to gain more substantial information so I can avoid sweeping generalizations as much as possible. Pretty much all the information here, besides the anecdotes, are directly from his book. This is all Rabbi Ken Spiro. Not me. I just organized and wrote it the way it makes sense to me. 

My last post talked about the Greeks and the Romans. The book covers a great deal more about them and if you're interested in doing your own research, I'd like to suggest the following sources:

Martin Kolh's Infanticide and the Value of Life
Michael Grant's From Alexander to Cleopatra: The Hellenistic World
Page DuBois, Torture and Truth
Stanley F. Bonner, Education in Ancient Rome

I also admit that these sources, and the ones that I'll be mentioning throughout, are from Spiro's book. Spiro is not only a Rabbi, but he also completed postgraduate work at the Pushkin Institute of Moscow and holds a master's degree in history from the Vermont College of Norwich University. He's legit. 

Please feel free to do your own research if you care to do so. I'm happy to discuss discrepancies as I'm all for the never ending search for truth!

I'm becoming obsessive and anxious about credibility and sourcing, so if you start to notice that throughout my future posts, I apologize in advance. As someone who has been trained in the academic world, I know all about the importance of fact-checking and reliable sources. Given that these blogs are a side project, I hope no one expects me to produce manuscript-esque work every time I post. So please bear with me. If you doubt the validity of something, I strongly recommend that you go and search out the truth yourselves. I am not trying to "sell" anything. I am merely imparting the knowledge that I have been learning on a daily basis. 

Anxious disclaimer ended. 

I picked quite a bit on the Greeks and Romans in my last post, so I want to talk a little bit about how other cultures also practiced much of the same. 

Consider the following:

In Japan, infanticide was called mabiki - a word used to describe the thinning of vegetables. 

Indians sacrificed human beings up to the period of the Brahmans around 900-700 B.C.E. 

The Chinese practiced human sacrifice longer than the Indians--up until the 16th century. 

The Aztecs, considered a highly advanced society for its day, dragged their prisoners of war up their pyramids in order to rip out their hearts to make a blood offering. They believed that blood was the source of life, so they routinely sacrificed people to prevent the (their) world from coming to an end. 

I'd recommend Craig J. Reynolds' Feudalism: Comparative Studies, Frank A. Kierman Jr.'s Chinese Ways in Warfare, and Edward Blunt's Social Services in India if you're curious about the particulars. 

Before I move on to Judaism, I'd like to emphasize a few things:

Every nation and culture contributed positive and negative things to the world. 

Judaism is not perfect. Not every Jew is perfect. Nothing is perfect. 

This post is about exploring what Judaism gave to the world. 

What many people outside of Judaism, Jews and non-Jews alike, don't actually know is that - according to Judaism - the Jewish people didn't invent anything. It was all God. Not us. God. The Jewish people were merely chosen to disseminate His message to the world. 

Sound familiar? Of course it does. Because every other religion on the planet also believes that it has a mission to distribute the word of God (whatever God or Gods) to the rest of the world. 

So who were the Jews?

First of all, they appeared around 1300 B.C.E - well before Greek civilization. 

Who do they trace their ancestry back to? Abraham. He lived sometime around 1800 B.C.E. 

And what was different about the Jews?

They believed in one God. 
All 600,000 of them claimed to have miraculously escaped from Egypt due to the intervention of their God. 
After said escape, they came to Mount Sinai and received the Torah. 

And this Torah - this bible - was different than any other holy doctrine. It made the Jews look like ungrateful jerks. Seriously, when you read the Old Testament, there are a lot of Jews in there who whine, sin, ignore the word of God...but they still chose to cling onto this doctrine as a reminder of both the good and the bad so they wouldn't forget why they were there in the first place. 

Remember those 6 universal values I mentioned in my last post? Well, I'm going to give a run-down about how all of those fundamental principles are ingrained in our holy doctrine. 

And, again, I'm not an expert on ANY religion, including my own. So I'm sure many other religions have the same values, but - and just referring to Christianity on this one due to my limited knowledge of other religions - Judaism came first. So, you're welcome Christianity. She says in jest, of course. 

1) Sanctity of Human Life

The Torah states that every human being is made in the image of God. As in, our souls are part of God and we are all invested with His divine presence. Therefore, every human life is precious. Moreover, the Sixth Commandment is that Thou Shall Not Murder. The word "murder" is used and not kill because murder means that an innocent person has been slain. Judaism allows for killing in the case of defending a life. Judaism is also of the opinion that if you do not actively try to destroy evil, it will destroy you. 

I'm still on the fence about that one. I was given a scenario in a different Maimonides class on Monday. 

Let's say you were sent back in time. You find yourself in this park. Beautiful day. Lots of kids and parents around. One kid in particular asks you to help him get started swinging. He's incredibly cute and friendly. As you're about to push, a voice whispers in your ear: "This child will grow up to be Hitler."

Let's say you know without a doubt this voice is God. 

Would you kill the child?

Honestly, my first reaction was no. I've thought about strangling Hitler the man with my bare hands many times over throughout my life. But I've never imagined Hitler as a kid. 

A few of us talked about environmental factors. What if we took Hitler the child and removed him from Germany and brought him up somewhere else. Maybe brought him up in Sweden. The Swedes really seem to have their priorities straight when it comes to avoiding conflict altogether. Could Hitler have grown up an entirely different person?

I guess it depends on whether or not you believe human beings are either inherently good or inherently evil. Frankly, if we're all infused with the divine presence, we should be inherently good, but since we have Free Will (which is what Judaism believes) we can therefore choose to do bad things. Perhaps even become evil. 

Would I kill Hitler the child? I would need more than 100% guarantee that it was God telling me it was Hitler. I'd also need undeniable proof that no matter where Hitler grew up, he'd still do precisely what he did. Essentially, I would need God to go all Ghosts of Christmas Past/Present/Future on me in order to prove that Hitler was destined to grow up to become a genocidal maniac before I acted. But then the Holocaust would have never happened. And you have to wonder - would the Jews be known without the Holocaust? How would society view us then? There certainly would be more of us around. But would the bulk of us be observant or would we have all assimilated? Without the Holocaust, would the Jews and non-Jews alike have banded together to ensure that Jewish culture was preserved and that the world learned precisely what genocide was and that it was, without a doubt, the worst crime committed against humanity? The United Nations might have never formed. And all the work the world aims to do today to prevent and put an end to genocide might not even be existence.

The world without Hitler. I'm sure it might have been a beautiful place. But then again, maybe someone else would have come along and done the same. We'll never know. 

To sum up the universal value of the sanctity of the human life: 

While the Romans were getting their rocks off watching people die, the Rabbis wrote in the Mishna (Sanhedrin 4:5):

"He who saves one life ... it is as if he save an entire universe. He who destroys one life ... it is as if he destroys an entire universe."

If you want to avoid a metaphorical apocalypse, don't murder. But, as Edmund Burke supposedly once said, evil prevails when good men do nothing. Defend the innocent, destroy the evil. But either way, all human life is sacred. 

2) Peace and Harmony

For those of you who don't know, the Jewish word for "Hello", Goodbye", and "Peace" is "Shalom". One word to express all three. When we come and go, our message is, and always has been, peace. 

Have any of you ever visited the United Nations? I haven't. I would, especially since they're responsible for the prevention of genocide and 'taking care of' the world. When bad things happen, they step in. They're an important crew. 

The UN has never been accused of being Pro-Jewish. They have, however, since the Palestine partition vote, passed more than a thousand resolutions condemning Israel, even going so far as to declare Zionism to be racism (Phelps-Brown, Egalitarianism and the Generation of Inequality). 

Despite this, what do they have posted on the wall outside the General Assembly headquarters in New York City?

Oh hey. Quoting the Torah.  

This is what they didn't put onto the wall:

"The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard lie down with the kid, the calf and the beast of prey shall feed together with a little child to herd them."

That's the Jewish version of peace: brotherhood and harmony. This is known as the "Messianic vision" since we're still waiting for the Messiah to bring peace into this world. Otherwise known as the "Second Coming" for Christians. 

According to Maimonides, the great medieval Jewish scholar, "The sages and prophets ... [wanted] to be free to pursue Torah and its wisdom... [They longed for a time when] there would be no hunger and no war; no jealousy and no strife ... and the entire world would be entirely occupied to acquire the knowledge of God". 

So if the Jews were all about peace, did they ever go to war? No. War was considered a last resort. The exception being the settling of the Promised Land by the year 1258. Since King David had blood on his hands, God prevented him from building a temple in his honour. Even participating in a justified war renders you unsuitable for holy tasks. 

At the end of the day, Jewish people just wanted to be free to study the Torah, do good, and bring harmony to humankind. 

I'm not saying the Jews never rose up and fought others. The Maccabees had to kill the Greeks and Hellenist converts in order to avoid being massacred themselves. The ancient world was a bloody time, but the Jews never went out of their way to pick a fight with anyone. 

No, I'm not about to discuss the Israel-Palestine conflict. I could read and read every day about that issue and still be entirely left in the dark about it. I'll leave that to someone far more informed.  


3) Justice and Equality

The word justice occurs 120 times in the Torah. 

The Torah states:

"You shall not commit a perversion of justice; you shall not favor the poor and you shall not honor the mighty; with righteousness you shall judge your neighbors."

Jewish scholars were expected to copy out the Torah. The King was expected to make two copies. One to carry around with him to remind him of his responsibilities. 

But the Jewish government wasn't a monarchy or a theocracy. 

It had a king (executive branch). 
Sanhedrin (a supreme court; judicial branch).
No legislative branch. The Sanhedrin were responsible for applying the laws. 

The Sanhedrin were made up of 71 men. No man could become a member unless he had children. According to Judaism, no person truly understands the concept of mercy until they have a child. 

No one was voted into power either. A person rose through the ranks, so to speak, based on their knowledge, integrity, and dedication to the community. 

This is actually similar to many tribes in Africa, specifically from what I learned in reading Achebe's Things Fall Apart. The story is set in Nigeria in the 1890s. Many of the men who are in a position of power are there solely due to their wisdom. Not their wealth or their status. 

During the Roman Empire, the president of the Sanhedrin was Hillel - one of the poorest of Jews. 

To deal with prisoners, instead of separating them from society, the Jews sent the criminal to work for a good family and the family became responsible for the person. They became an "aved" - essentially an indentured servant but still respected and treated properly. They were "sold" to a family willing to take responsibility for this person. The aved could not be kept for more than 7 years and were released once they paid off their debt (that they stole). 

In the Talmud, it states "Whoever acquires a slave acquires a master."

If you had a servant, you were responsible for them. They were your equal and needed to be treated with respect. 

No one keeps slaves or servants anymore. Hired help, yes, but they must always be respected. 

No one is above the law. 

4) Education 

In Judaism, to be an ethical or lawful person, one needed to be educated. 

Education and the law went hand in hand. In fact, education was essentially the top priority. 

In order for parents to teach their children the word of God, they had to be literate themselves. 

As far back as King Hezekiah (late 8th century, B.C.E.), we know that among the Jews there existed a system of schools for every single child. 

In the non-Jewish ancient world, the literacy rate was under 1%. 

The Jews were the only people in the ancient world to have 100% literacy rate.

Peter Abelard, a French medieval monk, wrote in the 12th century:

"A Jew, however poor, even if he had ten sons, would put them all to letters, not for gain as Christians do, but for understanding of God's law. And not only his sons, but his daughters."

In 17C Poland and 18C Italy, Jewish communities maintained free schools staffed with professional teachers and provided - besides books and education - free hot meals and clothing to the students.  

There's also documented proof that Jewish communities encouraged continuing education for adults. Organizations such as "The Society of Wood-Choppers for the Study of Mishnah in Berditchev" and the "Society of Wagon Drivers for the Study of Talmud" were apparently common. 

Higher education for the win. 

5) Family

According to Judaism, when God created Adam, he actually created a being that was both male and female. When he removed Adam's rib to create Eve, he was simply removing the female part from the man and created two separate beings. 

In Judaism, when a man and a woman get married, it is like the halves of a soul are re-attaching to become one again. 

Romantic. 

In Judaism, a husband has the LEGAL obligation to sexually satisfy his wife. In most other ancient societies, it was the other way around!

In Jewish history, the women are treated with the utmost respect. 

Abraham was told by God to listen to Sarah. 
Rebecca was considered wiser than Isaac as she possessed prophetic insight regarding her twin sons Jacob (the good one) and Esau (the bad one). 
Miriam, Moses' sister, risks her life to save her baby brother.
To name a few. But seriously, there are countless heroic women in the Torah.

I think we know how the rest of the world viewed women. 

One Greek poet sums it up nicely: 

"Marriage brings a man only two happy days: the day he takes his bride to bed and the day he lays her in her grave" (Palladas). 

Talk about your Prince Charming. 

What do the Rabbinical sages write in the Talmud?

"Love your wife as you love yourself and honor her more... He who is without a wife dwells without blessing, life, joy, help, goodness, peace and without defense against temptation."

I consider myself a modern liberal feminist and I've often looked on orthodox Judaism with distrust and weariness. 

But let's take a few steps back for a moment and think about this. If the rest of the ancient world considered women good for two things: sex and childbearing, while the Jews treated women like equals, then what is our real problem with Jewish women?

I take a Jewish femininity class that discusses the woman's role in Judaism every Wednesday. I'm not going to get into that just yet because I'd like to stick to one theme at a time. However, I will say that if people just took the time and did their research, they'd actually see a lot of sense in many of the expectations that women take on. 

Will I be able to take them on myself? I couldn't tell you. My sole priority is learning. In the meantime, I have been actively dressing more modestly in the sense of the word itself. For me, that means no cleavage and dresses that at least come down to around the top of the back of my knees. I also only wear dresses/skirts outside now. For now, I'm satisfied with that. Woot. 

My other big issue with Judaism and women had to do with what women are allowed and not allowed to do. That is one complicated series of things, so I'm going to just stick to one: leadership roles. 

In circa 1100 B.C.E, the judge and prophetess Deborah ruled the Israelites for roughly 40 years. Why? Because she was the best person for the job. 

If women are the best person for the job, they're going to be asked to do it. 

The more ambiguous stuff I'll get into another time. But don't worry. I'm not dismissing it or sweeping it under the rug. I'm seriously grappling with these issues as I learn more about Judaism. The feminist in me rages on. 

6) Social responsibility

Did you know that Judaism obligates Jews to give away 1/10th of their earnings to tzedakah (charity) every year? The word actually means "justice". 

To give to charity is to enact justice.

Just as God obligates charity, he too obligates love. 

We're all familiar with the Golden Rule: "You shall love your neighbour as yourself" (otherwise known as Do Unto Others as you Would Have Them Do Unto You). 

I'm not going to list everything we're told to do. Believe me, it's a lengthy list. 

But in Leviticus, we are told "You shall not stand idly by while your neighbour's blood is shed."

Hell, even America doesn't have a law that makes it a crime to be a bystander to someone's suffering. Obstruction of justice, yes, but not a bystander. 

But in Judaism, it's not enough to avoid being bad. We have to actively be good every second of every day. 

We're not just obligated to be good to other people - we need to treat animals and the environment nicely as well. 

So the whole Green Movement? Grounded in Judaism. The Torah says you can't destroy the environment in any way. Can't even cut down a fruit tree in a time of war. 

In the US, the first Earth Day was in 1970. We can trace the movement further back to the 1960s with all that Love the World music (some of my favourite music actually). Further still, to the founding fathers of "eco-wisdom" in the 1800s: Whitman, Emmerson, and Thoreau. 

When did the Jews receive the Torah? More than 3300 years ago.

We're trend-setters, y'all. Sorry, God is the trend-setter. Thanks God!

---------

For sure Judaism brought a lot into this world, but we also recognize there were some pretty bad Jews too. As I said before, no one is perfect. 

But if one Jew messes up - even though in Judaism it essentially says we're all responsible when one of us does - you can't blame Judaism. 

Not every Jewish person follows every single Torah law. Just like not every Christian follows all of their codes of conduct. My point, though, is that morality - as much as I feel it is inherent - had to have come from somewhere. 

But what I really want to end off with is this: we're ALL responsible for the upkeep of this world. Upkeep of the world and ourselves. 

With all that said, we know that we didn't necessarily inherit these universal values from the Greeks, and although the Torah embodies these particular values, the Jews did not believe in democracy. 

So if we live in a liberal western democratic society, how have we come to accept Jewish values as our own?

Rabbi Ken Spiro provides the answer. And I'll tell you what he says in the next post!

It's a 300 page book. You didn't seriously think I was going to finish summarizing this in one post did you? I hope you've at least enjoyed my commentary throughout. 

Many thanks to Rabbi Ken Spiro who I hope to meet later this year when I go to Israel! Also thanks to the Mandels who, three times a week, provide me with the substance for these posts.

And thanks, of course, to Aish for welcoming me into your community of scholarly individuals. 

MB

Don't Hate Me 'Cause I'm Jewish - Part I

Last Tuesday’s Maimonides class was on Anti-Semitism and I have to say it was quite the eye-opener.

Not that I wasn’t aware of the rampant Anti-Semitism alive and well in today’s world—or the so called “reasons” behind it—but what struck me most were the things they failed to mention to me in Hebrew School or my Genocide in the 20th Century class in high school.

Before I get into that, I’d like to begin this post by stating that Holocaust Education Week occurred earlier this month. For those of you unfamiliar with the event, I’d highly suggest learning more about it. I’m always the first one to say everyone should take the time to learn about other “Remember” Days, Weeks, and Months, but this is certainly one people need to take up the mantle of carrying forward.

The last of the Holocaust survivors are dying. Our children will not have the opportunity to meet them. We must remember—if not for the sake of the millions of people who lost their lives, but for the sake of our children and their children and the future of our world.

One child of Holocaust survivors—Justice Rosalie Abella of the Supreme Court—recently gave a keynote address at a Holocaust event earlier in October. Canada’s role during WWII was certainly better than most, but less than exemplary.

In August, The Star published an article that revealed the existence of a Jewish Internment camp in Ripples, N.B. near Minto. This camp was home to more than 700 Jews and imprisoned others who spoke out against WWII.

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2013/08/03/internment_camp_for_jews_in_second_world_war_a_littleknown_piece_of_new_brunswick_history.html

Although Canada, like many other countries, did not do much to help the Jews during the war, its postwar efforts provided shelter for 30,000 Jews who lived through the horrors of the Nazi regime. Today, Canada chairs (Mario Silva) the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance—an organization that makes up 31 countries—which sole aim is to “ensure that the lessons of the Holocaust are not forgotten.”

http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2013/10/27/holocaust_education_week_about_more_than_remembering_marmur.html

But Canada, and the rest of the alliance’s members, cannot be the only countries to bear the responsibility of carrying on its message. The lessons from genocide itself should be something each and every human being should carry forward. Genocides occurred long before the Holocaust and it has continued to happen since.

However, this post will not speak to the number of genocides that have occurred before and after the Holocaust. My wish is to speak directly to Jewish concerns.

I want to share a particular anecdote with you about my experience as a Jewish person in secular society.

A few years ago, I had the opportunity to work as an intern in Jewish Advocacy for B’nai Brith Canada. The only reason I was hired—in all honesty—was because my grandfather, Bill Grosberg, works for the organization and has continued to do so since he was 14 years old. He will be 90 years old next September.

Having only just completed my first year studies during my Bachelor’s degree at Queen’s University, I was asked to compile an emergency contact list for all Synagogues in Canada. Should any far-reaching Anti-Semitic acts occur, B’nai Brith wanted to be able to send out a nation-wide message to those responsible for the security of the synagogues.

During my time as an intern, I was asked to sit in on a conference call involving all B’nai Brith Advocacy members across Canada. Frank Diamont, B’nai Brith Canada’s CEO—at that time the Executive VP— addressed all of us on a very important matter that concerned all North American Jews.

First, I would like to say that I did not personally work for Frank. I was also never involved directly in B’nai Brith’s politics or their role in the Jewish North American world. So if anyone wants me to comment on what’s going on with them, I haven’t the faintest idea. Besides, gramps has been showing these entries to the good folks at the Hove Street office, so I rather just say HI GRANDPA I LOVE YOU! and move on.

My reason in bringing up my previous internship is merely to retell a scenario that Frank spoke of almost seven years ago when I worked there.

He described the situation for Jews in Toronto as dire, that the horrors of the Holocaust were by no means behind us but irrevocably part of our futures. That if there was someone else, who possessed the charisma and ambition of Hitler, who rose to power, they could—like Hitler—just as easily round up the Jewish people and deposit them into a ghetto that could, and would, fill the core of Toronto.

I scoffed then, all those years ago. I felt the assessment to be extremist and borderline paranoid.

But here I am, years later, and my eyes are finally open. I started paying attention to the news. I started listening more to how people talk. And I’m beginning to understand how people think.

We’re all away of the internet being full of slander, libel, and propaganda. But this one takes the cake: http://whitewraithe.wordpress.com/2012/12/08/britains-jewish-royal-family/.

I can’t even begin to describe how utterly ridiculous some people are. Yes, the Jews are taking over Britain! That’s something we should be concerned about. Nevermind that Britain committed multiple genocides over many centuries as it climbed itself into the position of World Super Power towards the end of the nineteenth century. No, what we should be freaking out about is that Jewish people are marrying into the British Royal Family. Because that family is just so gosh-darn powerful.

Most of the world hates Jewish people. Most of the world hates everyone. But if genocide is still happening, if people can still talk about each other in such outlandish ways, who’s to say that North America won’t one day – as a whole – turn against the Jews? Or any other minority for that matter.

It took one man to wipe out two-thirds of European Jewry. What if Canada decides it no longer wants to put up with us anymore? Even then, when “None was too many” http://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/cur/socstud/foundation_gr6/blms/6-2-4f.pdf —what if the government suddenly decides it no longer wants to help us carry our burden? Not simply the burden of carrying the message of the Holocaust forward, but the burden of being Jewish in a world that is apparently not quite over the idea of obliterating Jews from this world?

How long can the memory of the Holocaust haunt us until its message runs its course?

What do most people think of when they think of the Jews? They think, of course, of the Holocaust.

What does it mean when a group of people are remembered only for the fact that someone tried to exterminate them?

Nevermind that out of eight of the individuals who have won Nobel Prizes this year, 6 are Jewish, 2 are Israeli, and 1 is a Holocaust survivor. Nevermind that although the Jews make up 0.2% of the world’s population, roughly 23% of Nobel Prize winners are Jewish or have Jewish ancestry. Nevermind that of the two percent of American Jews, 40% are billionaires and over 45% of the gifts made to charity are made by Jewish Americans. Nevermind that some of the most famous people in the world—academics, actors, directors, etc. alike are Jewish.

But the fact remains that we’re a tiny bunch of people. And some people are paranoid that we’re trying to take over the world? Yes, Jews have their hands in a lot of things, but so do countless other Christians. Why aren’t we freaking out about Christianity taking over? Oh wait, it already did! That’s why we have Christmas off and not any other non-Christian holiday. Certain sectors of Christianity are all about conversion. Jewish people don’t push for conversion. They allow it to happen if that’s what people want, but it’s nowhere on their list of things to accomplish. Logically speaking, if Jews were seriously interested in taking over the world, don’t you think they’d want to up their numbers?

People have been trying to kill us since biblical times. People still want us dead. It isn’t easy being Jewish, just like it isn’t easy being any minority in this world. But we don’t hear anything about people being pissed off that Christians run the world. Because most people are Christian.

So what has enabled the Jew to survive for so many centuries? And what has the Jew given to humanity?

In Rabbi Ken Spiro’s World Perfect: the Jewish Impact on Civilization, he writes that he conducted a series of surveys asking people to list the fundamental values and principles needed to uphold humanity in our world.

Of the 1,500 individuals surveyed—Westerners and Europeans—6 central categories were decided upon:

•     Respect for human life
•     Peace and harmony
•     Justice and equality
•        Education
•        Family
•        Social responsibility

He then wanted to know where these universal values came from. Many of the respondents felt that these ideas originated from the Hellenists—the Greeks and Romans.

Surely Greece and Rome changed the entire world, especially in art, beauty, philosophy, government, and science. But what about values, ethics, and principles?

For the purpose of time, I’m going to run through a quick history lesson.

The Greeks and Romans practiced infanticide. They did this for two reasons: population control and eradicating “burdensome” (aka deformed) members of society.

We know this to be true from Euripides, Ion as well as the archaeological excavations—in the Athenian Agora—containing the remains of 175 babies thrown there to drown.

Even Aristotle himself writes in Politics that “There must be a law that no imperfect or maimed child shall be brought up. And to avoid an excess in population, some children must be exposed. For a limit must be fixed to the population of the state” (VII. 16).

The Romans also engaged in exploitation of the innocent—mutilating unwanted children to make them useful for begging. Unfortunately, this practice still occurs in India today.

Seneca himself remarks on the fact that these children have been done a “service” because they are now made useful through their deformities.

Let us not forget the fact that it was the Romans who first turned murder into an exhibition.

More than 200 stadiums were erected so that Romans could witness the barbaric “sport” of extinguishing human life.

Emperor Augustus, during his reign (29 BC to 14 CE) staged games where 10,000 men fought and 3500 wild beasts were slain.

Did you really think the Coliseum was merely an architectural wonder to be gazed at? No. The stadium seated 50,000 people. Its floor and roof could be raised or lowered; it could be transformed into a desert or a jungle; it could even be filled with water and turned into a lake so that boats could sail in it.

It was the ultimate theatre and its primary purpose was to stage the brutal killing of human and animal life.

We know the positive and negative things that the Greeks and Romans did for this world.

We can easily say that every religion, culture, race, ethnicity contributed in the shaping of the modern world. In terms of the Greeks and Romans, we can certainly thank them for a kind of legal order, but we certainly did not inherit our belief in the sanctity of human life from them.

So what have the Jewish people done? What can be said about the Jews?

John Adams, second president of the United States once said: “I will insist that the Hebrews have done more to civilize men than any other nation … fate had ordained the Jews to be the most essential instrument for civilizing the nations.”

Mark Twain, famous American writer, in an article entitled “Concerning the Jews” in Harper’s Magazine published in 1899, wrote rather poetically:

”...If statistics are right, the Jews constitute but one percent of the human race. It suggests a nebulous dim puff of stardust lost in the blaze of the Milky Way. Properly, the Jew ought hardly to be heard of, but he is heard of, has always been heard of. … The Egyptian, the Babylonian, and the Persian rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded to dream-stuff and passed away; the Greek and the Roman followed; and made a vast noise, and they are gone; other people have sprung up and held their torch high for a time, but it burned out, and they sit in twilight now, or have vanished. The Jew saw them all, beat them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his alert and aggressive mind. All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?”

Friedrich Neitzche, the German philosopher who famously said “God is Dead”, wrote: “The Jews, however, are beyond all doubt the strongest, toughest, and purest race at present living in Europe; they know how to succeed even under the worst conditions (in fact better than under favorable ones) by means of virtues of some sort… It is certain that the Jew, if he desired-or if they were driven to it, as the anti-Semites seem to wish-could now have the ascendancy, nay, literally the supremacy, over Europe; that they are not working or planning for that end is equally sure… The resourcefulness of the modern Jews, both in mind and soul, is extraordinary…”

Leo Tolstoy, a Russian writer and philosopher, wrote in 1908: “What is the Jew?...What kind of unique creature is this whom all the rulers of all the nations of the world have disgraced and crushed and expelled and destroyed; persecuted, burned and drowned, and who, despite their anger and their fury, continues to live and to flourish. … The Jew - is the symbol of eternity. ... He is the one who for so long had guarded the prophetic message and transmitted it to all mankind. A people such as this can never disappear. The Jew is eternal. He is the embodiment of eternity.”

But most strikingly, what did HITLER, and his right-hand men—the man, and group of men, who swore to annihilate the Jewish people from existence—have to say about the Jew?

In Mein Kampf, Hitler wrote that “Conscience is a Jewish invention.”

The man who wished to eradicate us believed that Jews invented conscience. As the inventors of conscience, he considered the Jew to be the upholder and perpetuator of morality and social responsibility.

By destroying the Jew, Hitler believed that he was “freeing men from the restraints of an intelligence that has taken charge; from the dirty and degrading modifications of a chimera called conscience and morality”.

Hitler didn’t want to kill the Jew because of the Jew’s religion. He wanted to kill the Jew because, for Hitler, the Jew was the embodiment of all that was good in the world.

Moreover, Hitler also wrote that:

“If only one country, for whatever reason, tolerates a Jewish family in it, that family will become the germ center for fresh sedition. If one little Jewish boy survives without any Jewish education, with no synagogue and no Hebrew school, it [Judaism] is in his soul. Even if there had never been a synagogue or a Jewish school or an Old Testament, the Jewish spirit would still exist and exert its influence. It has been there from the beginning and there is no Jew, not a single one, who does not personify it.”

(Hitler’s Apocalypse by Robert Wistrich, p. 122.)

Hitler not only wanted to wipe out the Jew in body, but also in spirit.

He may have murdered many of my ancestors. He may be responsible for the millions of Holocaust deniers out there. He may be responsible for the perpetuation of Jewish hatred. And he may even be responsible for the spirit of hatred itself that still exists in this world.

But he isn’t getting my soul. And no matter what I read or hear about people bad-mouthing the Jews, I refuse to reject or ignore my history. I will, as Hitler said, personify the Jewish spirit.

Because at the end of the day, although Hitler set out to destroy the Jew—and anyone else who didn’t fit into his “perfect” world—he was really out to destroy our humanity itself.

I think within every human being there exists the light of inherent goodness, no matter what religion they happen to be.

All that matters is that we do what’s right. Not right by our religious code, but right by a transcendent ethical standard of morality.

The Golden Rule, folks. It really is that simple.

For the next few posts, I intend to delve into the crazy antisemitism that seems to be taking over Europe. I really want to get into the nitty gritty of what people believe about Jews. Because some of it is utterly ridiculous and the bulk of it is actually terrifying.

I have to admit, I'm becoming more and more terrified as I continue to read about it.

MB

United We Stand, Divided We Fall

At the Aish conference two weekends ago, there was a talk entitled BFF: Are there any true friends left?

I wish I had attended it because it might have shed light on my epically challenged ability to maintain healthy friendships for long periods of time.

I’m happy to say there are about 5 friends that I’ve been very close with for at least 2-3 years. Two of them are going on about 5 or 6 years. Personally I think I should get a gold star.

What have I learned about friendship over the course of my life? That it takes, like everything else worth having, a hell of a lot of work. The difference now, though, is that I have a new way of approaching friendship thanks to Judaism. Who knew religion could be so useful?

Roughly three weeks ago, I was sitting in on a class about Love, Dating, and Marriage. I’ve started thinking about the class again, not in connection to romantic relationships, but in connection to meaningful friendships.

It reminded me of an article many people were posting on Facebook about how friendship works like courtship.

http://nymag.com/thecut/2013/10/mine-why-its-smart-to-court-your-friends.html

The article mentions that, similar to romantic relationships, friendships involve someone being pursued and someone doing the pursuing. And, just like in romantic relationships, there is a platonic falling-in-love period when you first get to know the person and you find that you always have something to talk about. And you can’t stop talking to each other or praising each other to other people.

But, just like the feeling of infatuation, that feeling—if not actively sustained over time—can eventually fade and the friendship will ‘cool off’.

Maybe you’ll resort back to just being colleagues or friendly acquaintances if you’re part of a larger group of friends. Whatever the case may be, you need to recognize that friendship is more than just adoring the crap out of each other. It also involves dealing with the yucky things too.

In Judaism, we are asked to “love your neighbour as yourself. I am the LORD” (Leviticus 19:18). At the most basic level, this is the “Golden Rule” of many religions—doing onto others as you would have them do onto you. If you’re awful to other people, you can’t expect them to be nice to you. Whatever effort you put into any relationship is what you get out of it.

The statement “I am the LORD” that follows this command implies the obligation of love. But can love be obligated?

Parents are naturally committed to loving their children. No matter how many times a child makes a mistake or says something mean or disrespectful, the parent will still love their child. It’s in a parent’s nature to love their child.

In our culture, especially Hollywood, we are fixated with the Greek view of love—the idea of being shot with Cupid’s arrow and magically (and instantly) falling in love. It just happens. No effort. And so, because people don’t work at being in love, they – sure enough – fall “out” of love. It is no wonder that many relationships which are based on this kind of love wear out over time.

For Judaism, there is no such thing as falling out of love. We need to continuously work at keeping our “love tanks” full. The tank should never empty but, in fact, increase over time.

With parents and children, parents don’t just “opt out” of loving their kids. If things get rough, they don’t just get another kid. If everyone took the time to really work at their relationships, no one would ever opt out of a relationship. Yes, everyone has their differences, but if you’re dealing with two genuinely good and rational people, opting out should never be an option.

According to Judaism, and in most cases, it is next to impossible to define love; however, Judaism offers two examples of what creates love.

1)      To Give

When you give to someone, really give to someone, you create love. By giving to someone else, you are working at the relationship. You are establishing a connection with the other person. You are demonstrating to them that you have thought about them and are showing how you feel about the other person through your actions.

2)      Focusing on their Virtues

When you focus on someone else’s virtues (and overlook their flaws), you experience emotional pleasure. Moreover, when you begin to identify that person with those virtues, you continue to build on that love. When you begin to notice that certain friends do specific acts of kindness for you on a regular basis—and those acts are specific to that person—you will appreciate them all the more. For example, if you often find that you are usually the one to reach out to others to check up on them but one of your friends is always the one to check up on you, you are going to focus, appreciate, and love that person all the more for that specific virtue because you will continue to identify that trait with them. There are many reasons why your friends provide you with emotional pleasure, but in order to sustain your friendships—meaningful friendships—you must continue to identify them with virtues that are important to you.

If you find yourself rarely receiving emotional pleasure from focusing on the virtues of a friend—or you are unable to see past their flaws—then perhaps it is time to re-evaluate the friendship. If you think the friend is worth it, however, then you’re going to have to put in more effort into trying to find those virtues. If you can’t appreciate the value of any specific one of your friends, then you aren’t doing that person any favours.

You should also remember that if your friends aren’t giving to you or focusing on your virtues, then they aren’t doing you any favours. Friendship, like everything else, is a two-way street.

You should love your friends despite their flaws. After all, it isn’t love that’s blind—it’s infatuation/lust. A new friend may seem really edgy and interesting, but when you start engaging in the acts that create love, the magnifying glass comes out. Love acts like a magnifying glass: when you love someone, you begin to focus on every aspect about that person. Our ability to love our partners or our friends—both good and bad qualities—testifies to our actual love of them.

Like in any relationship, you want to help each other grow. In helping our friends recognize their shortcomings, we can help them become better people. In turn, they do the same for us. If a certain friend makes you feel stuck, as in they are too stubborn to work on their own shortcomings and force everyone around them to accept these faults as inherent instead of encouraging them to move beyond them, then the friend is not only holding his/herself back, but he/she is also holding you back.

You aren’t doing your friend any favours by allowing them to get away with things you wouldn’t let anyone else get away with. You should hold all your friends to the same expectations. If you don’t, you’re cheating certain friends out of a meaningful relationship with you.

A person with a high self-esteem is able to love themselves because their best skill is their “rolodex” of excuses—their ability to justify their own flaws. But if everyone starts making excuses for that person, people start making compromises.

Compromises are great if both parties are putting in the effort to change. If one party makes no effort to change, then friendship becomes null and void.

Something happened in the last week that offered me yet another opportunity to deal with someone who I haven’t been able to get along with. I didn’t handle it well because I felt like everyone dropped the ball. I obsessed over the entire situation for three days, heard everyone’s (who was involved) perspective on the matter, and still felt like I had been greatly let down.

I started writing this post thinking that it would help me deal with my feelings.

I’m not satisfied by how things turned out—mostly since things remain unresolved with the aforementioned party. I tried my best to work things out with other people involved. I’m the kind of person who needs to talk things out. My parents really aren’t talkers, so I suppose that’s why I grew up needing to talk through an issue (usually to death) before I’m even remotely satisfied.

What I learned from the experience is that holding onto something only breeds bad blood. For the last 10 years, I’ve carried the ghosts of people who hurt me—all strung out behind me like Jacob Marley’s back-breaking chain of regret.

The other day, a colleague of mine—now a dear, dear friend—said when she looked at me, she saw this:

She says it looks just like me!

A giant heart with arms and legs. I’m “all” feeling. She told me I tend to invest a lot more into friendships than the people I’m forging the friendship with.

With that in mind, I started this post. When something stupidly dramatic happens with a friend, I can’t have “ALL THE FEELINGS EVER!”

This just leads to more problems and a hell of a lot more pain.

Judaism believes that pain is real, but suffering is a choice. I need to figure out healthier ways to deal with my friendships and stop fixating on things that are completely out of my control.

I need to invest my time and energy into people who are willing to invest the energy back. At the same time, I have to recognize that even though there are people in my life who do not necessarily care as much as I do about every little thing, they still care about me in their own unique way. So when they forget to do something, or make a careless mistake, or encourage me to do something for the betterment of the group (at the expense of my own individual feelings) it isn’t because they don’t care about me. It’s because they can only care so much in general.

It all comes back to prioritizing the things that make you happy. Dwelling on unjust situations that are now over and done with will only continue to cause problems between me and my friends.

If you want to really love your friends, don’t resent them. And don’t go out of your way to say things to hurt them. Because you end up carrying that along too.

When you hurt a friend or a loved one, you’re only hurting yourself. Which is why the Torah says you need to love your neighbour as yourself. And because we’re all God’s creations, hurting someone else is like hurting God.

In reading the teachings of Rabbi Noah Weinberg—the founder of Aish HaTorah—I came across an interesting story about two friends.

There were two Jewish boys who grew up together during the time of the Roman Empire. They moved apart and one ended up being under Roman control, and the other, under Syrian.

During one of their visits, the boy from Rome visiting his friend in Syria was accused of being a spy. He was brought before the Syrian Emperor and sentenced to death.

The boy begged to be allowed to go home to say goodbye to his family before the execution. The Emperor, of course, thought it a ridiculous request given that he had no guarantee that he would return.

The boy said his Syrian friend would be his guarantor and would stand in for him if he did not return.

The Emperor gave him until dawn on the sixtieth day after his departure. If he did not return, the Syrian boy would be executed in the Roman boy’s place. The Syrian boy agreed and the Roman boy returned home.

Of course, he was seriously delayed due to the awful and antiquated transportation system.

He managed, however, to return to Syria by the sixtieth day, but after dawn. He ran as fast as he could to the execution block in order to stop the execution of his friend from taking place.

He demanded to be killed since he had, in fact, returned. His Syrian friend cried, “You can’t kill him! He came too late!”

The two argued over who would be killed.

In absolute wonder, the Emperor turned to both of them and said, “I’ll let both of you free on one condition. That you make me your third friend!”

In Judaism, if we’re united, we have the power of God behind us. Hence why “I am the LORD” follows the commandment to love your neighbour as yourself. For God, unity and friendship is so important that even HE wishes to be part of it. He wants to be ‘the third friend’.

As Rabbi Weinberg says, if united, God is with us. If divided, we’re on our own.

And so: "Give me [Friendship], or give me DEATH!"

MB

Why do Bad Things Happen to Good People? and Steps to Being More Jewish!

N.B. This post has multiple links in it. If you're curious to know more about the information mentioned, click on the links. Let's make this a fun and educational experience!

It’s almost providence that I started this blog right before Tuesday’s class on “Why do bad things happen to good people?”

This topic is, by far, the one I always had the largest issue with when it comes to religion.

For those who don’t know, I’ve been taking evening courses particularly pertaining to issues in Judaism. Tuesday classes are part of a lecture circuit called "Maimonides", funded by "Aish HaTora". I wanted this blog to be more organic so I have not gone backwards to discuss previous lectures as wonderful as they all are. I always want to be moving forward. Besides, I can always integrate them later on.

There are two central points that I would like to discuss in this blog based on Tuesday’s class.

The first is the Jewish view of suffering and the second is a quote from the Bible.

The Jewish view of suffering is that pain is real and that it must be dealt with. Hence why there is a very specific and healthy structure of dealing with death. For example, when someone passes away in the Jewish religion, we sit “Shiva” for one week. During this process, those in mourning sit lower, the mirrors are covered, and we don’t wear laundered clothing. The process, however, does not end there. We then sit "Shloshim"—a month long process—and continue the mourning ritual until a year after the deceased has passed. 

Drinking your pain away is actually an extremely foreign concept to Judaism. You can’t run away from your pain or you’ll only end up hurting yourself more. We know that the most valuable things in life are the things that we work the hardest for. If we want to overcome pain and be happy again, we have to be willing to put in the effort. You have to work at being happy and in love just as much as you have to work at overcoming pain.

I always dealt with my pain in an extremely unhealthy way. I would give into it, let it consume me, and obsess over it until I couldn't feel anything. There is certainly something to be said about purging your emotions and having a good cry. But then there is always the chance of running the risk of indulging in that pain too much. When you’re happy, your endorphins give you a natural high. The same thing can happen in the reverse, but then you’re the one feeding your negative thoughts by over-analyzing them.

When you find yourself in a depressed mood, the last thing you should do is over think your feelings. I did not have the privilege of attending Rabbi Yom Tom’s class entitled Mastering Moods, Thoughts, and Feelings: A Workshop in Abolishing Depression at the conference, but my lovely friend "Erica" graciously compiled a document for me about it and I’m going to share its central message with all of you.

When you’re in a low mood, the last thing you want to do is become analytical. You become trapped in “Analysis Paralysis”—something that happens to me frequently—and any ‘analysis’ you attempt in this state will become corrupted. Time is precious; don’t waste it trying to think your way out of depression. Ride it out until you’re in a better mood before you attempt to process.  

You need to have a Non-Analysis Day (NAD) in order to process your feelings and thoughts. You should also wait until you’re in a better mood before you begin analyzing your emotions. This removes the bias. Often when you’re in a low state, you tend to over-analyze and judge yourself and the world too harshly. You need to give yourself a fighting chance.

How do we ground this in our everyday lives? Sharing time!

Yesterday, right before the class I TA for started, a friend of mine sent me a series of messages that informed me of something that angered me to no end. I was shaking with rage in class, more so at the situation than at her, and I was unable to focus.

After class, I got on the bus, and posted a rather passive aggressive Facebook status:

“Pretty sure I'm being tested. Hilarious God, seriously. What a sense of humour. Love ya.”

It was without a doubt the first time I ever referred to God, let alone acknowledged the existence of God, in a Facebook status.

Within seconds of posting the status, I looked up from my phone only to realize that someone I had attended the conference with had just got on the bus and was about to pass in front of me.

Until the conference, we had never seen each other before and had never run into each other in the years that we’ve both been at Western.

I don’t really believe in coincidences. So, for the purpose of this entry, let’s assume it was an act of God. Remember: God is in the details!

Seeing a person who had been at the conference with me put an immediate stop to my train wreck thoughts. He also helped me get out of my head and realize how silly I was being. Any other time, I would have obsessed over the situation, become even angrier, and stressed myself into a nervous breakdown.

I realized the anger was gone completely after we parted ways. I was in a better mood to process the situation and rationalized that it wasn’t worth being upset over. A 25-year-old dealing with high school drama. Oh, the humanity.

Obviously this situation is small-scale. We’ll see what happens when something really bad happens. But don’t worry—in my life, it’s bound to happen sooner or later, so stay tuned! (I’m being facetious in case anyone was wondering…).

There’s just one more thing I’d like to say before moving on to the second point. About a month ago, while attending the "Shabbaton" – which consisted only of Friday and Saturday evening – Rabbi Mandel recommended that we try out the Happiness exercise.

Step 1 – For one hour, write down everything that’s ever made you happy.

Step 2 – For 5 minutes every day, read over that list and add one more thing to that list for a month.

At the end of that month, if we’ve conducted the exercise, he said he would tell us Step 3.

So on Tuesday evening, I found out what Step 3 was.

The more we focus on the things that make us happy, the more we begin to prioritize that list and see the value in everything we do. Perhaps reading a book makes you happier than watching a television show. Maybe hanging out with your close friends makes you happier than going to bars and dancing with strangers. Whatever makes you the happiest should be the number one priority on your list.

What’s on my list of happiness? I'll share with you one thing. 

When it started snowing a few days ago, my Twitter and Facebook timeline blew up with my friends complaining. We’re talking end of days, people! What is it with you Canadians and your dislike of snow? I get not all of you experience large amounts on a regular basis, but we’re not the Great White North for nothing. Embrace the snow!

Winter happens to be my favourite season. And snow happens to be my favourite thing about winter.

The day after we got back from the conference, it started to snow. I didn’t think much of it until I looked out the window of the dissertation workshop I was in and saw how much snow was falling.

I can’t even describe the sense of peace I feel when it snows.

On the drive home from the conference, I was experiencing an emotional high. I was worried that I would lose it upon my return and wasn’t ready to give that up. I was also worried that what I experienced wasn’t anything spiritual, but perhaps more like a chemical high from all that glorious food.

So when I was looking out the window and feeling that sense of calm, it was like God heard me and made it snow just for me.

God IS in the details (perhaps a new Madi catchphrase…).

I put it to you then: find something in your life that makes you unbelievably happy and try to incorporate it into your everyday life. The results could be drastic.

The second point about the class I would like to discuss is a story involving a quotation from the Bible. Not wanting to butcher the story in any way, I’m quoting it verbatim here:  

Malachi 3:3 says: "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver."

“This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God. One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study. That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver. As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities. The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot then she thought again about the verse that says: "He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver." She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined. The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed. The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, "How do you know when the silver is fully refined?" He smiled at her and answered, "Oh, that's easy - when I see my image in it." If today you are feeling the heat of the fire, remember that God has His eye on you and will keep watching you until He sees His image in you.”

The reason this story spoke to me, besides its poetic nature, is that it immediately reminded me of earlier classes about how human beings are made in the image of God. In all honesty, I thought it was a bit arrogant of God to make us all in His image (again, flippant). But more importantly, I couldn’t understand how humans could be made in God’s image if He’s everywhere and everywhen. At the same time, if God can be everywhere, surely He also has the power to “contain” Himself into one entity which may or may not look like a human being. Why He’d do that, I have no idea, but I have a little more clarity after hearing this story. It’s not about how we look like God, it’s how we have the potential to be like God. As our creator, God—as a silversmith—holds us in the middle of the fire in order to purify us. He does not let go and He does not stop watching over us during this rigorous process. Despite the hardships we endure every day of our lives, we should be grateful for His careful devotion since He brings us closer to Him by continuously refining us in His image.

Hey. If God wants to ‘put me through hell’ so I can be more like Him, I’m honestly all for it.

After all, it’s the most valuable things in life that are the things we work hardest for. What doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger.

After Tuesday’s class, I remained with the Mandels and we came up with my small steps towards my transition process. I decided I would pick a few small things from categories across the board, just to give myself a sense of how much I can withstand.

1)      Kosher:

I grew up thinking that kosher was essentially not mixing milk and meat and not eating pork. I’ll never understand how people can drink a glass of milk with any kind of meat. The act is so foreign to me. What I have been doing, though, is eating cheeseburgers. So, for this specific sub-category, I’m giving up that. This is what I ate when I arrived back home in Thornhill:

Don’t make that face. It didn’t have cheese on it. But in all seriousness, I think the going out to eat is going to slowly come to an end, especially when I’m in London. Let’s face it. I’m poor. Why am I going out to begin with? But while at home in Thornhill, if I’m going out with the boy, then salad it is from here on out. I’ll also ask, in a very nice polite way, if they could wash the lettuce as carefully as possible. I’ve been having nightmares about bugs on lettuce since I was informed that bugs are the reason why eating salad out is not keeping kosher…Ew. Just ew.

In terms of pork, the only kind I ever liked eating was sausage. Given that I’ve become weight-obsessed, I think giving up sausage will be easy. I rarely eat it anyway. Goodbye "Babe"!

What I learned about keeping kosher:

Growing up, I always thought meat (obviously not pork, seafood, or any animal with split hooves or doesn’t chew its cud) could be kosher if a Rabbi blessed it. Whoops. Certain foods are kosher – and have the kosher marking on its packaging – because the ingredients and the process by which the food was made were kosher. Moreover, a Rabbi oversees the process which allows companies to put the kosher brand on their food. What I also didn’t know was that there are non-profit companies that not only hire Rabbis to carry out this task, "but also monitor for false kosher branding".

We take our Kosher seriously.

2)      "Dressing Modestly"

Before I started taking the classes, I was already making a conscious effort to wear dresses instead of jeans or leggings. So I’ve decided no more jeans and leggings (unless I’m in the comfort of my own home) from now on. I’m intent on going to Israel in May, which means I’m going to have to go shopping (ewwww) soon to buy “modest” clothes. A friend of mine gave me a few Facebook groups to check out about this. I'll eventually post about transforming my wardrobe. 

For those who don’t know, dressing modestly involves the following:

   
    ü  Dresses/skirts that cover your knees

    ü  Shirts/sweaters that cover your elbows 

    ü  Not showing your collar bone (not looking forward to summer…)

    ü  Nothing see-through or showing any bra straps

    ü  If you’re married, you must cover your hair

      I’m not sure if this is ever going to actually happen. The thought of covering my elbows for the rest of my life worries me because I’m sensitive to heat. Praying to God for cool summers for the remainder of my life.

3)      Shabbat

I’m not sure how much the secular world knows about Shabbat. But every Friday, we light the candles and eat an elaborate dinner. Why do we celebrate Shabbat? Because God created the world in 7 days and on the 7th day, he rested. So we too much rest. Shabbat is all about appreciating the things we created during the week, enjoying all of life’s pleasures, spending time with your family, and establishing a better spiritual connection with God. For those who don’t know, Shabbat goes from Friday sundown to Saturday sundown. For that period of time, there are certain things we aren’t allowed to do:

ü  We can’t drive.

ü  We can’t turn on a light switch.

ü  We can’t use technology (TV, internet, phones…all those gadgets kids are using these days.)

ü  We’re not allowed to write or erase (this includes tearing through letters. Avoid those sugar packets, people!

ü  We essentially can’t do anything that happened while the Jews built the Temple. But there is a lot of debate over using certain things. For example, at the conference, they programmed the elevator before Shabbat to stop on each floor. As long as no one touched the buttons, we weren’t breaking Shabbat (my bad!). Clarification: we can use timers. If we program something to go ON during Shabbat BEFORE Shabbat, then it is SHABBAT APPROVED! (Anyone want to make a series of SHABBAT APPROVED video diaries with me? Educational and entertaining!)

So what am I going to give up? Most people start with television. But given who my boyfriend is (I seriously challenge you to name a show he does not watch) that may not work out well. I debated on lighting Shabbat candles, but potentially too much of a hassle given how often I go back and forth between here and London. I decided, however, that when I’m in Thornhill, I will start lighting Shabbat candles with my mother again. I’ve missed doing that. Sundown is at 4:51. Wow, winter, seriously?

I think the hardest thing for me would be my phone so I’ll go with the next hardest thing. For my first Shabbat Approved act—no more internet! I’m attempting that tonight which is why I need to get this post finished before sundown. From today at 4:51pm to Saturday 4:51pm I will not go on the internet.

So do me a favour and don’t put anything interesting up on Facebook.

4)     "Shomer Negiah"

A concept essentially foreign to the secular world, it involves not touching any member of the opposite sex. However, if you decide mid-way into your relationship that this is something you want, people say you should continue carrying on as you are otherwise you’re likely to wreck the relationship. So, I’ve decided I’m not touching anyone, male or female, who is not my partner or my family. I’m not a huggy person anyway. No touchy!

That being said, if you’re active in the business world and it is standard to shake hands, even with members of the opposite sex, there are exceptions to this rule. For example, if someone sticks out their hand, it is Jewish custom not to embarrass the other person by refusing to shake their hand. But good etiquette would be to inform them of your custom should they ever try to shake your hand again.

5)      Talking to God and saying the "Shema"

This last one was suggested to me. This was my favourite prayer as a child, especially in Hebrew School. I always felt like I was actually speaking to God when I covered my eyes and addressed Him. I was afraid that if I removed my hand too soon, the connection to God would be violently severed and I would experience a profound shock in my soul. Oh, the imagination of children.

But I said the Shema for the first time on Tuesday morning (sometime after 1am), after I left. First, though, I walked in silence for about 5 minutes. Then, I started speaking out loud (yes, it was painfully awkward) and at first I felt extremely nervous (my heart was racing…crazy) but eventually I got comfortable. And a bit emotional. I haven’t been able to speak to God out loud since, but it’s something I’m going to try to work on. It actually felt extremely cathartic.

As for the Shema, I said it when I got to my house. I’m not quite sure if I’ll ever get the intensity I felt as a child back, but – like everything else – it’s a work in progress. I haven’t even said the prayer since then, which might explain the nightmares (I learned that the Shema protects you from nightmares – so cool!).

That’s pretty much it. I also discovered that my bedroom door has been lacking a "Mezuzah" since, well, always. If you have them, be sure to check them every 7 years! Something I did not know.

I’m going to convince my parents to get one for my bedroom. No wonder why I’ve wandered so far away from God. Yes, there’s that flippancy again, folks.

That's all for now. Shabbat Shalom everyone!