Am I Jewish, Rabbi?
"Is my mother Jewish or my father Jewish?
What do you mean?
I'm half-Jewish. My dad is...so yeah.
Why do you ask, by the way?"
Oy. If only he could imagine.
My exposure to such letdowns has only just begun. Sure, I’ve heard stories…People did try to prepare me…But none compare to how I felt when I was shocked with the realization… No, ______ was not Jewish.
It all began on a Friday night here at the Rabbi’s house. It must have been pretty late. Most of the students (20) had gone home. Approximately 4 remained. Guys. They’d stuck around to have a few extra “L’chaim”s with the Rabbi.
With one guy, in particular, I’d had a connection. We’d chatted about Judaism and I’d felt his fire. His passion for Judaism. It always excites me when someone shares that enthusiasm with me. I felt honored that he’d come over to me to say, “Shabbat shalom” and to point out that he really had come. He’d made me smile.
As the last of the straggling guests stumbled none the too soberly out the front door, I turned to the Rabbi, smacked the table, and with a gleeful grin proclaimed, “Rabbi, I’ll bet you that ______ will be frum, or at least frummer by the end of the year." (a more religious Jew)
Yet, instead of sharing my excitement with me, the Rabbi sighed. Deeply. His eyes showed pain. Pain at the inevitable news that I’d made it his task to be the bearer of.
My heart sank. I knew. He didn’t even have to say it.
This boy was not Jewish…
Why am I so bothered by it? Troubled by it constantly?
Because I’d seen his passion for Judaism! Maybe not his Judaism. But Judaism.
And now I know why.
The bright eyes are mirrors of his soul. The soul that is bereft of an evil inclination that a Jew would have, thereby making his service to G-d that much simpler. So that he desires. And is not restrained, as Jews are! He performs Mitzvot to the best of his knowledge. And with infectious joy.
Yet this boy remains a goy.
posted by yoniQua at 9:56 AM
19 Comments:
trying to figure out if this is a personal let down or a religious one.
if you get
my
drift
i was hung up on his excitement for judaism.. that was the letdown. like, oh, "so it isnt much of a reality" kind of feeling.
and yeah i do catch your drift.
im not personally let down bc im not personally getting involved... only religiously. strictly.
im here for a reason.
yoniqua - what is ur last name - i hope i am not intruding too much into ur business...
anon u can email me
He can always convert. It does happen.
Is it the Lubavicher position that non-Jews don't have the evil inclination?
ill try to find out
according to tanya, non-jews are incapable of doing anything just for the goodness of the action iteslf. since they lack a g-dly soul, all impluses and actions come from their animal soul. the animal soul's only interest is of itself. so even though a non-jew may seemingly be doing something very kind, there's always a personal agenda behind it, no matter how subconscicous that may be. when i first learned this with a rabbi i really held issue with it. but then i started thinking about how even though as jews, we have the ability to go things only for the sake of goodness with no hidden personal agenda behind it, that is really the case. even doing a good deed to help someone else, a lot of people like doing it because it makes that feel good inside.
sorry typo in the pervious post....it should have read near the end that is rarely the case opposed to really the case
(Yoniqua, forgive me for continuing this thread while you have much more important things to think about. My thoughts and prayers are with you and everyone touched by that tragedy.)
"a lot of people like doing it because it makes that feel good inside." That's true for both Jew and non-Jew, but the idea that a Jew CAN rise above that to do something just because it is good while a non-Jew cannot.. I don't know that I can believe that. The idea that something about a Jew gives them the ability to be superior to non-Jews is abhorent to me. How is it any better than what the nazis thought about us? I don't understand. Am I missing something here?
ahuva - i think "wanderer" explained it pretty well. also, theres no need to apologize for continuing this thread. im happy to see that it interests you.
what makes a jew different from a non-jew? his souls. he has a G-dly soul and an animal soul. Every person and creation, innanimate ones as well, all have a life force. whether theyre considered souls or not, they still have G-dliness in them. G-dliness is infused in different forms within different creations. that is what DIFFERENTIATES a living human being from a non-living being. and a Jew from a non-Jew? A Jew has an extra G-dly soul. That's it. no ones saying "superiority", no ones saying, "im better than you".
i know you said u are converting, and i think you should try to understand this so that you do not become disillusioned and therefore disappointed. A convert always had that G-dly soul. Did you know that? By converting, the only thing that happens, is that the G-dly soul is REVEALED. The whole yr thing that the Rabbis have instituted is just to prove to them thatyou are sincere. there comes a time in the converting process when the (Orthodox) Rabbanim realize that yes, this person is serious, and therefore is Jewish, so let's go through with this. A Jew is a Jew.
The difference is standards. You have different standards for your son than for someone else's son. Jews are G-d's CHOSEN NATION. We are His "Son". G-d therefore expects a whole lot more from us.
And we should warrant ourselves deserving of that privilege.
I love being a Jew, have I mentioned that?
Actually, both of my parents are halachically Jewish. I'm just becoming more religious (I was raised Reform). :)
I'm fine with the whole "G-d expects more from His chosen nation" concept. The idea that G-d demands more from Jews in no way lessens non-Jews. But when most people (maybe I should say most non-yeshivish/chassidish people) hear "non-Jews only have an animal-soul" they hear "non-Jews are closer to animals than Jews" or "I (the Jew) am better than you." Does that make any sense?
dear ahuva,
i understand your discontent. for a long time i was very bothered and unsettled with this concept of 'the choosen nation' and that only jews have a g-dly soul. being choosen doesn't mean being better. sometimes i think about the whole thing and just laugh. i think choosen for what? to do all these things, that well, are sometimes just a pain in the ass, inconvient? i think spare me. but that, i also know deep down i wouldn't have it any other way. no one is saying better, we're just saying different missions for different people. i highly suggest an essay written by areya kaplan entitled "If I were G-d".
cheers
and lots of luck in the journey
Wanderer, do you by any chance know which of his books contains that essay?
I agree that "chosen" doesn't mean better, but can anyone explain to be how to interpret this quote is a way that does not sound like it's bashing non-Jews:
"according to tanya, non-jews are incapable of doing anything just for the goodness of the action iteslf."
ahuva,
here's a link to the book...
http://www.judaism.com/display.asp?nt=aRaSaT&etn=BAGAI
and i guess your question leaves me with a couple questions for you, is there anything wrong with visiting sick people in hospital because you feel like it's a nice thing to do? is there anything wrong with giving money to the poor because you want to and think it's a good cause? is there anything wrong with treating other people nicely because you think that all people should be treated humanly and you treat others how you with to be treated? the idea that i was trying to illistrate...i'm not a very good a spelling so you'll have to forgive me...with that concept from tanya way that these are the reasons a non-jew and a jew might have for doing things. and if you want to know my personal feeling there's nothing wrong with doing things for the reason above. the idea is that at some point, a jew is supposed to do things just because g-d said so and not for personal reasons such as he felt it was the right thing to do.
It sounds like you're starting to mix ideas here. Maybe we're just dealing with a language issue?
I'm looking at this from a secular philosophy viewpoint.
Doing "anything just for the goodness of the action iteslf." = altruism.
"the animal soul's only interest is of itself" = self-interest
Pretty much anyone will say that altruism is higher/better/superior to acting out of self-interest.
You shift from this in your latest comment. Your questions: "is there anything wrong with giving money to the poor because you want to and think it's a good cause" etc. describe altruism-- doing something because it is good/right, not because it will necessarily benefit you (self-interest). In your latest comment, you say that both Jews and non-Jews are capable of altruism. That seems to be a big change from (paraphrase) "non-Jews just have an animal soul which always acts out of self interest."
"A Jew does things just because G-d said so" seems to me to be another issue entirely. A Jew then isn't acting BECAUSE of altruism, a Jew is acting because G-d said so (which will end up being the same thing in many cases, but we're not doing it because of "the goodness of the action iteslf").
If the Tanya (I've never read it) says that Jews have a second soul which enables us to do things solely because G-d said so, I'd be a bit confused (I've seen non-Jews do things because they believe their god told them to), but not offended since in this case that "second soul" doesn't seem to add anything that's inherently better than the soul possessed by both Jews and non-Jews.
Does that make sense?
And thank you for the link and the good wishes. :)
well all said and done,
i think we've reached a common ground as the point i was trying to make is there is nothing better about the jew just different. the fundamental difference between the two ways of doing things is whom intiates it. altruism is about me-it's about what i think is right, about my personal morals, and although not the purpose, being altruistic tends to leave me with a good feeling too. these are the things that motivate altruistic behavoir. the g-dly soul is supposed to remove the focus from being all about me. gives me an opportunity to do things just because g-d said so having nothing once so ever to do with any personal agenda of my own. i'm sorry if i've blurred this in early posts but i hope it's becoming clearer.
Wanderer,
Thank you. That makes sense to me. I was hoping that it wasn't really gentile-bashing. :)
I know a guy who grew up in a traditional home. He decided on his own to become more religious. When he reached the point where he was completely frum, he found out that his mother wasn't halachically Jewish. BH he converted a few years ago, but there were so many times he would come to shul (everyday) and feel horrible when there were 9 other men there and he couldn't be counted as part of the minyan
guys ive been silently watching this all unfold..
the kind of conversation you two had going here - we have pretty much every day on campus. we sit there at our little table, with an attractive sign, and the two of us of course... and ppl really do want to know. they want to learn, want to figure it out, and we just need to have some of these things cleared in our own minds so that we can properly relat information... BH ya know.. its really amazing.
thanks guys.
and chaya - yeah. that is one type. and its wonderful that he felt that he should convert. wonderful for him. not every person who finds out wants to, some are in complete denial and it causes so much pain... to them.. to us, seeing them suffer...anyway, well thanks for sharing that cuz i can definitely relate now that im working for a community.
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