To Jew or not To Jew

     In ancient times, Jews struggled to keep their religion prominent in their lives while being surrounded by Roman, Greek, Hellinistic, or Christian cultures. They sometimes felt obligated to lose certain aspects of Judaism in order to fit in or to please the rest of society. For example it was a conflict to decide weather a Jew should go to the Roman gymnasium and participate in the Roman society or to go to a Yashiva to study and keep that Jewish root. This relates to the modern world we live in today and still faces us with those challenging descisions. For example, there is a big party at your friends house on Shabbat. The conflict is presented whether to prioritize Judaism above all and Keep Shabbat, or to let the media influence you and go to the party desiring to fit in or become liked by the society around you. This is just one example of conflicts in the modern world, and there are many more. We can succome this by remembering our God and by believing that being a righteous person is more important than being exactly the same as everyone else in society. It mainly comes down to your faith in God and what you believe needs to be followed from the Jewish Laws and which ones are more important than others.