"Unorthodox Judaism"

I was perusing the web and came across this letter requesting guidance. I found the response quite interesting. I think the person writing the letter is representative of SO MANY of us who were not raised to be strongly observant.

Dear Guad,

I'm in a bind. I like Shabbat. I like Torah -- especially the Kabbalah stuff and Chassidic stories. I feel a strong attachment to the Jewish people. I'm attracted to the whole thing.

So, you'll say, what's my problem. Just do it, right?

But I can't. I can't imagine being orthodox. I mean, look at me. Look at the way I grew up, where I'm coming from, where I'm at now. Can you imagine a non-conformist like me following all the regulations of a strictly kosher, orthodox Jew?

-- Signed, Unorthodox Jew

Answer:

Dear Unorthodox,

Finally, a man of my persuasion! Unorthodox! Yes! The most descriptive term I have heard for real Judaism! The belief that nothing is the way it is supposed to be, that everything in the world has to change, that we have to be different from everybody else. This is what Jews are all about -- the recalcitrant, insurgent, revolutionary kvetchers of history -- and what could be more unorthodox than that?

Didn't Judaism begin with the paradigm of all iconoclasts? Picture Abraham smashing the idols in his father's house, defying King Nimrod and all of social norms. Picture Moses defying Pharaoh, or Rabbi Akiva and the sages defying the massive Roman Empire. Is this something you would describe as 'orthodox' behavior?

To be Jewish is to rebel. Refusing to answer the phone on Shabbat is a rebellion against technocracy. Keeping kosher is a rebellion against consumerism. Getting up early in the morning to wrap in a large, white woolen sheet, twist leather straps and boxes upon your arm and head, join others in mystical incantations and read from an ancient scroll -- is an outright rebellion against anything considered normal in modern day life...

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