Here All Along: Finding Meaning, Spirituality, and a Deeper Connection to Life--in Judaism (After Finally Choosing to Look There)

I’m thinking that religions that have been practiced by millions, even billions of people over thousands of years might also have something to offer, possibly even something more worthwhile than that one person who set up shop a few years ago.

social justice is indeed a core purpose of Jewish existence.

first five books of the Hebrew Bible—known as the “Tanakh”—which Christians refer to as “the Old Testament.”

Judaism, I discovered, demands an appreciation of complexity and scrupulous consideration of opposing views.

I’m hesitant about an approach to spirituality where, instead of picking one religion and putting in the time and effort to engage deeply with it, we learn just a little bit about many traditions and then decide to do this thing from one tradition, and that thing from another, because each of these things speaks to us in some way—because each feels

But religions do not exist solely to provide comfort and affirmation.

As Rabbi Telushkin wrote, “The purpose of Jewish existence is not to eat Jewish foods, or tell Jewish jokes, or use Yiddish*10 words. It is to fight evil and to reduce suffering in the world.”

I learned that just about all of Judaism is rooted in its words, that did not exactly fill me with confidence. I found parts of it to be moving and relatable, but with its bizarre rituals, fallible characters, supernatural occurrences, and not so warm and fuzzy God, the Torah did not strike me as an ideal text upon which to base a major world relig

This story is not a simple morality tale, it is a provocation, an invitation to a conversation—or maybe a debate. That is true of the other stories in the Torah as well. Summarizing Auerbach’s conclusions, novelist Dara Horn notes that when it comes to the Hebrew Bible, “merely to read for the plain meaning of the text is to engage in an interpreti