We've been officially up and running for a week and it's amazing to see the amount of positive feedback we're getting. Thanks to everyone who has taken an interest in our project. Keep up the involvement!
Okee dokes folks, I know you've been waiting on your tippy toes for the answer to our very first question and I am proud to say, here it is. Our very first answers, to go along with our very first question, come from the collaborative effort of a father/daughter tag-team (with a dash of Morah Eliana's allegorical wittiness) . To get her creative juices flowing, Raizel got her dad on the phone, in class, to give us all a few ideas on what it means to be frum:
Think of Judaism like ice cream. It can be as simple as chocolate and vanilla. Everyone knows you can only like one.
You have to choose your flavor.
You have to choose your side.
Being "frum" can be like that. You can say, "I'm either this or that," "this" being the right way and "that" being wrong. G-d gave us the Torah, He laid out the law in chocolate and vanilla, and that's all there is to it.
End of story.
Case closed.
But that's not how I see frumkeit. I see chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, mint chocolate chip, black raspberry fudge, coffee, pralines and so many more. Everyone has the flavor that speaks to them. I can't tell you which one is the best, but I can tell you, being frum begins with understanding how flavorful Judaism is.
But don't get the idea that Judasim is a pick and choose religion. No, no, no. Like any good religion, Judaism has it's basics. I think this is where most of us get stuck. Why am I not allowed to turn on lights on the seventh day of the week? Why is it that I can't eat those unmarked potato chips? What is so incredibly attractive about my knees that they must be covered? Why so many rules? Why so many "chocolate" and vanilla" rules when I'm supposed to make a personal connection? It's annoying. Frustrating. Upsetting.
Lonesome.
It can be so lonesome when G-d, who apparently put me on this earth to build a relationship with Him, has put all these hoops in front of me. Besides for having all these nitty-gritty rules in front of me, I have other challenges, thank you very much. Life challenges. Challenges I didn't pick. Challenges I never told G-d I could handle. These rules and challenges are supposed to bring me closer to Him. I know He is always with me. I know He has a plan, but that doesn't make the hoops any easier to jump.
That is why I believe that being frum begins with acceptance. I accept my lot. I accept my challenges. I accept that I am a Jew. It is a gift; one that I can never get rid of no matter how I dress, or where I go Friday night or who I hang out with. Even when I fall, even when I mess up, G-d won't kick me to the curb. Even when I give up on myself, He's with me, ready to take me to infinity and beyond.
I guess what I'm really trying to say is that being frum begins with believing in ourselves. It means believing that each one of us is here for a purpose. Each one of us is here to do more than get good report cards, look beautiful and appear perfect. None of us is perfect. G-d doesn't expect us to be perfect-- He expects us to try. He wants us to enjoy life. He wants us to experience each moment of it with real and true joy. It takes work to achieve that. It requires us to rewire our thinking. It's not all about what I want and what I need. I am not the center the center of the universe...and that's why I have no right to give up on myself. Life isn't simple, so there is no reason I should look at myself in such a simple way.
That is why I choose to look at being a frum Jew like ice cream. There are the basics-- the chocolate and the vanilla, but there is so much more in between. There are so many flavors to discover; so many facets, outlooks, lessons, halachos and minhagim. Who knows if I'll ever get to all of them. For now, I'm taking it one scoop at a time.
