Why Judaism?

Judaism took a different route (although individual Jews have tried all these strategies). One should try neither to wipe out desire nor to redirect it entirely. Pleasure is permitted, even promoted. But Judaism also asks that it be disciplined and sanctified.

Ritual practice becomes an easy way to locate someone along this denominational spectrum; as a result, ritual practice becomes the shorthand for particular Jewish identity. Ethics and moral standards become less significant than affiliation and belonging, often receiving less public emphasis or attention. This hierarchy of true ideas and binding pr

What is striking about Judaism is not just its emphasis on responsibility but its insistence on elaborate support structures.

In Judaism, theology, dogma, and values are encapsulated in gestures; ultimate truths are expressed in what appear to be external and everyday acts.

when all Jews have access to the entire marketplace of ideas and beliefs, an authentic sense of being Jewish—of Jewishness—requires living as a Jew, doing Jewish in some way.

Modern Orthodox Jews can—and do—live squarely in two worlds: one of traditional Judaism, the other of modern Western society. One can lead the religious life and still be a “modern” man or woman.