Dunking Rachael: December 2008

Friday, December 12, 2008

The December Delima

Three weeks ago I posted the below on two different list serves/blog forum sites which are for persons considering or who have converted to Judaism. I found the answers/responses to be very interesting. Some were quick and harsh, others were maternal and empathitic. All comments were helpful to me.

hello all,
it is that time of year again, and I could use some advice,help resources.I am in my second marriage (just got married in April and formally converted just shortly before the marriage) My only child, 20 year old daughter was raised in a religiously eclectic way. Unitarian Universalist with strong emphasis on both Jewish and Christian ritual. He father, my ex, is Jewish but is anti religion.My conversion has basically caused the cancellation of Christmas for my daughter. this has caused some tensions, last year my then soon to be husband and I got a tree.It was his first, he is a fairly observant conservative Jew. It is important to note that for most of my child's life I had strong Martha Stewart/Rachel Rae energies!...so the decoration thing was something I enjoyed and was a family event. My divorce was the beginning of a transformation of me, that has caused many emotional changes for all of us and my daughter sometimes has felt orphaned because I was not the same...not fair but just the way it is. She has had professional help, but now we are at the center of the change again. Christmas. she wants a tree, has begged for a tree. I feel bad for her, but if left to my own wants, I would not do a tree....I feel split. she has accepted so much, has been there and remained engaged....yet I feel I am betraying my new life if I get it, the tree...HELP

so I came up with the compermise....Katie has a "tree"......

what do you think!

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Shinning Light

I entered the mikveh by choice. Thus my connection to Jewish history, and rituals is deeply felt but also informed by intense study. I have no personal Jewish history, my history is Jewish history. I read the stories of heroic women and men, of times of strife and pain, joys and miracles. I struggle with a feeling of bereavement, why had I not found my true home earlier…why was my path so long? Hashem alone knows that answer…I do not spend much time questioning history that has no human answer, I have too much to learn!
I have become aware that I get briefly tearful when I hear stories of childhood memories of candles and challah, but rebound with joy with the help of the collective warmth of our tradition. Lighting Shabbat candles is more than an obligation, a mitzvoth to be adhered to. Lighting the candle connects me to our history, our stories our covenant. It is both a deeply personal meditative experience while it is also my public declaration…” I am a Jew”

poetry

“The Yoke of Joy”

I watch you pray
Book in hand
Words tumbling out
In an amazing array of surging song and muttered whispers
Wrapped in the cloth of your father’s father
My eyes fill with tears
Centuries of devotion on my love’s lips
As you gently finger the strands reminding you of who you are
My heart sings along Although I can’t yet form the words.

“Sisters/ Brothers” December 2008

Strangers to me, thousands of miles away
The little boy
The picture of the happy couple
My heart tearing at each updated report
Sorrow and anger dancing in me
I feel the pain of my Jewish sisters, my brothers
The wheel turns once again
The covenant is complete
What the mikveh started blood has finished
I will light the candles, remembering not what is known
But knowing what has been given
Today I am a Jew

Beit Din test Question #22 "If you were to join the Jewish people......."

22) If you were to join the Jewish people, what considerations would guide you to that decision? How did your course help you to recognize some meaningful ideas to Judaism? Are there some things you have learned in the course that you find difficult to accept into your life?

I have been a thinker and a seeker for most of my life. I have explored many faiths, been involved in and have a keen interest in philosophy and psychology. I was raised in an Irish/Italian Catholic home. I lived as a Buddhist/Unitarian Universalist for most of my adult life and previously was married for 20 years to a Jewish man who did not practice his faith of origin. At the birth of my child, now 19, I sought to learn as much as I could about Judaism in order to expose this child to the faith of part of her ancestors. So I come to this new point in my life with all my experiences, knowledge and aspirations.

But the question remains how did I come to consider conversion? It is though love that the door of conversion was opened. I fell in love with a Jewish man who participates in his religion, yet he did not require me to convert, pressure me, or in any way attempt to persuade or force me. This exploration of faith was of my choosing, my volition, nurtured by love.

Clearly I am not dogmatically tied to my faith of origin, seeing that the religious expressions which dominated my adult life have been mostly non-theistic. The major change/challenge for me is in the consideration/acceptance of a theistic understanding of existence. Through explorations with my sponsoring Rabbi, reading, (lots of reading!) and the Hillel class I have come to an understanding of the divine, a place of relationship with a theistic point of view that resonates within me.

To help to articulate this I refer to the work of existentialist thinker and Jewish educator Franz Rosenzweig.

“The function of religion, according to Rosenzweig, is not to erect theological systems or establish universal truths, but to lead to experience of God, starting from one's own personal existence. He "commends 'the Pharisees of the Talmud and the saints of the Church' for knowing that 'man's understanding extends only so far as his doing.' Religious observance is, in effect, the doing of one's religious convictions; the two cannot be separated."
“(Time Magizine Monday, Jan. 01, 1951 , http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,814185,00.html)

For Rosenzweig the written word was to be less important than the living exchange, for it is in the doing that the relationship to God will manifest. This idea blends well with my own mindfulness practices. These practices express that it is in the awareness of the moment, the only moment we truly have, where peace and divinity can be experienced.
Through my answers on this exam, my participation in the class and my meetings with my sponsoring Rabbi, I believe I clearly present that I am coming to know, and hopefully I am beginning to understand the meaningful ideas in relationship to Judaism. Clearly there is so much to learn, and experience.

I am most taken by the direct experience of the divine associated with taking on the laws and practices of this ancient faith. I have aspirations to practice in this tradition, but once again they can be best articulated through Rosenzweig:
“Rosenzweig’s approach was subjective also in connection with the mitzvot, Jewish observances. He did think that he would one day become a fully observant Jew, but believed in the gradual approach in which the observances slowly made their impact by “ringing a bell” for him. Typical of this approach is Rosenzweig’s answer to someone who asked him whether he wore tefillin [phylacteries]: “Not yet,” he replied.”
(My Jewish Learning.com http://www.myjewishlearning.com/history_community/Modern/IntellectualTO/Rosenzweig.htm)

Like the bell of mindfulness practice, the mitzvot, the mindfulness practice of Judaism, will take time to incorporated and to resonate within. Like the ringing of the mindfulness bell, or the sounding of the Shofar, the act of doing Judaic practices pierces the daily, the mundane and hopefully will help to awaken me to an even richer and more connective relationship with the Jewish people and the divine.