Learning is fundamental
One of the first things Rabbi S asked of me was to take an Introduction to Judaism course offered by the URJ. I had a couple of options available to me, including driving an hour each way to attend a night class or taking an online course. Being terminally online as I am — and before you judge me, aren’t we all? — and because I hate driving at night, I chose the online offering.
It’s a twenty-week course on Sundays, and it’ll start in about ten days. When I signed up, I was asked if I was interested in information on conversion, and by golly, I am!
Here’s something I appreciate about the whole class thing: when you look at the major religions, there are pretty low barriers to entry. Christianity basically says, “show up and you’re one of us.” It’s a measure of Judaism’s devotion to tradition and understanding that you have to take a class, as well as learn from a rabbi, what everything is, why we do it, and be able to convey your learning to a group of men and women who will judge your level of proficiency before you can call yourself a Jew.
And it occurred to me just now that I used the word we. I did it reflexively, and it makes me feel good to say it. Being Jewish means more to me than these entries probably convey, and to be able to say we honestly fills me with gladness.