The campus minister for Reformed University Fellowship asked me recently which aspects of Jewish life were most crucial to my identity. How much was religious/spiritual and how much was peoplehood/cultural?
Indeed, I far more often connect to my Jewish identity through peoplehood than through spirituality. But the instances of spirituality carry far more weight. So in a way, the two sort of balance each other out, the way a pound of feathers balances out pound of lead.
It strikes me that this is a perfect model for Shabbat. Six days we live in our mundane, day-to-day lives (which, incidentally, still carry much valuable work). But one day a week is special, is holy, carries more weight. This is the image of the seven-pronged menorah.
This isn’t to say that experiences of Jewish peoplehood (or Jewish ethics, or Jewish memory) are less valuable than experiences of Jewish spirituality. Rather, it recognizes value in both. And their mutual value only further validates their individual worth. It’s like a great poem—that a single poem can at the same time hold seemingly contradictory meanings and neither one be less true. This is genius.
It further strikes me that this is the reason I want to be a rabbi. I’m a good people-person. I’m relatable, fun, easy-going, likeable. I’m able to connect with people on a six-days-a-week level, on the everyday stuff. And then, if they want, I’m ready to talk about that one-day-a-week stuff, that intimate stuff, that holy stuff.
So I guess I couldn’t say that any one aspect of my Jewish identity is more important than any other. It takes the one to make the other.
Indeed, I far more often connect to my Jewish identity through peoplehood than through spirituality. But the instances of spirituality carry far more weight. So in a way, the two sort of balance each other out, the way a pound of feathers balances out pound of lead.
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| Orah, Horah, from Salvador Dali's Aliyah, the Rebirth of Israel |
This isn’t to say that experiences of Jewish peoplehood (or Jewish ethics, or Jewish memory) are less valuable than experiences of Jewish spirituality. Rather, it recognizes value in both. And their mutual value only further validates their individual worth. It’s like a great poem—that a single poem can at the same time hold seemingly contradictory meanings and neither one be less true. This is genius.
It further strikes me that this is the reason I want to be a rabbi. I’m a good people-person. I’m relatable, fun, easy-going, likeable. I’m able to connect with people on a six-days-a-week level, on the everyday stuff. And then, if they want, I’m ready to talk about that one-day-a-week stuff, that intimate stuff, that holy stuff.
So I guess I couldn’t say that any one aspect of my Jewish identity is more important than any other. It takes the one to make the other.
"the way a pound of feathers balances out a pound of lead"
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