Love For Judaism

     Our tiyul to the Israel Museum was amazing. We saw ancient Dead Sea Scrolls, the model of the second temple in Jerusalem, and the breathtaking אוהב sculpture. Students from our class created characters from each of the four sects we learned about: Sadducees, Pharisees, Zealots, and Essennes. It really helped me understand the actual stories and ways of life. One group that really caught my attention was the Zealots. The way they gave up their lives to themselves and each other rather than letting the Romans have the satisfaction of killing them. They burned all their buildings to prevent the Romans from enjoying what they had, but they left a sufficient amount of supply to show how good they had it. This shows their resilience in fighting for Judaism and for what they believe to be true. Although this was what the Zealots decided upon, it's knoe that two women and five children escaped from there even with the eight Roman camps surrounding them. I really enjoyed learning about these four sects on the talk to you later and it was interesting to know that the Pharisees were the surviving sect, being Rabbis and scholars.

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.

Gadna in 10 Seconds

     First, we hiked in Masada, learned from our jewish history teachers, and swam in the Dead Sea. It was so cool to float in the water and cover each other in the Dead Sea mud. When we were supposed to go to Gadna on Sunday, there was a big flood in the desert that blocked up all the roads that caused us to leave a day late. When we finally arrived at Gadna, we adjusted to our new living circumstances and began learning how to run in ten seconds. That day I also relieved a blue string to show that I helped הסמל in leading our groups and in giving our all everyday. The first two days were mostly just running in short periods, gun lessons, and a hike. The hike was eye opening to everyone in Gadna (NFTY People). We stayed silent the entire time we walked which showed the amount of respect we had for each other and those above us. The second to last day was my favorite because we got to shoot an M16 and we had a competition between all of our groups for running, push-ups, wall sits, drinking water, carrying stretchers, and crawling.

     Although it gave me scrapes and bruises, the competition was my favorite experience so far. It taught us more teamwork than any sport team I've ever been on, more responsibility than school has ever forced, and more motive than any reward could provide. It taught me that a smart person knows their limits and that a wise person knows they have none. We found power we didn't know we had, pain we didn't know we could endure, and togetherness we forgot we needed. The last day we had a ceremony in which I returned my blue string. I was really pleased with my experience in Gadna and although it was very tiring I've already begun to miss it.

Iran's Nuclear Power

     A large issue for Israel, and a lot of the world, is Iran's nuclear power and whether or not they should be allowed to have it. From my eyes, it seems quite risky to allow them to hold a nuclear weapon seeing as they have threatened to use it in the past. Nuclear power would not only give Iran power that is unnecessary, but it will also cause headache for other countries around the world, like the United States of America. Currently, Iran states that they will not use the nuclear weapon, but if that is true, then why do they need one? Some people might believe that prohibiting Iran's possession of a nuclear weapon is like taking away their freedom of speech, however others tend to disagree. Giving Iran nuclear power sends a message to the rest of the world that it's acceptable to threaten surrounding countries with nuclear weapons, on the other hand it looks as though we should not allow Iran to hold that power in any case. It seems quite foolish to think that Iran would ever use the nuclear weapon on Israel being that it would basically be comiting suicide.

Tels of Judaism

     Today we went to Jerusalem and explored the old city. We saw the tels of Jewish civilizations and how advanced their housing and war defense systems were, even without our modern day technology. For us to find the oldest civilizations, we have to destroy the layers at the top of the tel. In certain scenarios, major conflicts are raised, for example with the 2nd Temple (Bayt Hamigdash). It's questioned whether it's logical to destroy the 2nd temple to find the remains of the 1st Temple. Is it worth it to destroy for something to find something even cooler that may or may not be there? I think this relates to what it means to be jewish and to how religious you are.

     Some people may believe that being reformed is just better than nothing, but for me it's not a settle, it's a choice. In order to follow a commandment in our modern wall, sometimes we first have to break another that no longer makes sense to practice. Although some commandments are higher than others, that doesn't mean that some have less moral importance. I think it's important to recognize that they were there at some point for a specific purpose and that they all have a lesson to learn if not a rational rule to follow. From my eyes, orthodox believe that it's not worth the risk to destroy the first layer in order to get to the second layer that may or may not exist. It seems as though reformed Jews take that risk however, they're not always right and that can sometimes leave them further behind than where they started.

Iran Hosts Holocaust Cartoon Contest

    Iran recently hosted a holocaust cartoon contest. This brings up major conflict in questioning if this is an acceptable contest and if it's morally correct. So why is it such a big deal to some and not to those presenting it? It bothers me a lot to think that this is actually happening. People could always argue that it's the freedom of speech and that it should be allowed considering the other cartoons made representing Muhammad and other cartoons along those subjects. One major difference is that we don't strongly care if you mock our religious leaders or prophets, but mocking our dead family is incomparable.

    If it's considered racist to disagree with this contest then call me racist, but we're not going to burst into your office shooting you and your colleagues dead with AK47s or rocket propelled grenades. It's straight up murder! So at what point is it no longer morally and legally correct to promote murder (which I needn't mention, is also against the law)? At what point is it unacceptable to break one law and consider it another? At what point is it okay for there to be piles of dead Jews with Iran being a flamingo with its head stuck in the ground? That's the fundamental difference. 

The Story of Noah

     In the Tanakh, the story of Noah is told two different ways. This raises the question, what really happened and did it in fact happen at all? The answer could either be simple or complex depending on ones religious beliefs. Someone could simply say that they are two different stories that were fiction, written in a book along with a combination of other fiction and nonfiction stories. However, a more complex answer would state that the story of Noah was lost in translation when being recorded in the Tanakh. I personally, do consider myself to be a religious person in the sense that I believe in God and that the Tanakh, which is said to be written of Gods word, is exactly that. For the less religious, it may seem like a book of short stories pasted together with tales that have morals and nothing more. Thinking more on the topic, it seems ridiculous to assume that a very large group of people would just drop their lives and agree to study and devote their life to something that they have no idea is true. It would require a large enough group of people that say one thing to convince another group to trust in such a commuting religion.

     If you believe that the Tanakh is just a book of tales that can be tossed out the window and replaced with a history book, because it doesn't have the evidence and has gaps, then isn't that the same thing? In my eyes, if the Tanakh is just a book for the Jewish religion, then doesn't that rule also apply to a history book considering it's based on the birth and death of Jesus? If the Tanaka should not be read because of the evidential gaps, then why should history books be read if they're not 100% correct? According to history books, about 1/3 of the information is not substantially correct! Just as science continues to be proved as wrong and mostly guesses, why should we believe what's in those books? Because it's considered a fact, or because it's been believed for many many years? Isn't that enough reason to practice something? Tradition! Even then, without the substantial evidence, the Tanaka represents the world that Jews live in and the word of God. If that's what we have faith in and if you have faith in the same type of thing for a different religion, then why should the word of your /my God be questioned.