How are you Jewish?

[robocop (actually)]

I always try to separate milk and meat so the milk doesn't go around the rest of the food and make it indigestable.

Sometimes I keep a Jewish commandment because it's just so hard not to... not to be superstitious... to carry your brother's load.

Also, I think it is very universal.

I read the Torah.

 

[Rival]

I'm not, but I'm hoping to convert, G-d willing, starting some time next year.

 

[Rival]

@robocop (actually) My post wasn't meant to be funny. What was it that struck you as being humorous?

 

[robocop (actually)]

@robocop (actually) My post wasn't meant to be funny. What was it that struck you as being humorous?

I thought you meant that you would atone on the next Rosh Hashanah, becoming Jewish again.

 

[Rival]

I thought you meant that you would atone on the next Rosh Hashanah, becoming Jewish again.

No, I'm not Jewish at all.

 

[robocop (actually)]

No, I'm not Jewish at all.

Well then it's a simple misunderstanding. For some reason I just thought you were Jewish. I think I remember you having an avatar once that had a Chassidic Jew.

 

[Starlight]

Well then it's a simple misunderstanding. For some reason I just thought you were Jewish. I think I remember you having an avatar once that had a Chassidic Jew.

She is noahide

 

[robocop (actually)]

She is noahide

OK; got it!

 

[RabbiO]

I always try to separate milk and meat so the milk doesn't go around the rest of the food and make it indigestable.

Sometimes I keep a Jewish commandment because it's just so hard not to... not to be superstitious... to carry your brother's load.

Also, I think it is very universal.

I read the Torah.

Wearing a beret, sipping wine from the Loire Valley while munching on pain au chocolat does not make one French.

 

[Quintessence]

As Judaism is a culture and a religion, I have some of the cultural bit because of my upbringing. First thing I learned to cook was a traditional Jewish thing and I still cook those things regularly today. Grew up learning typical Jewish values - a love of learning, the importance of community. But I wasn't raised in the tradition, and I'm pretty happy where I'm at. It's part of my ancestral heritage - just like Catholicism is - but it is not who I am, perhaps?

 

[RabbiO]

@robocop (actually) - I’m not sure how to take your question or the similarly phrased questions in regard to Christians and Muslims.

I was born a Jew - the son of Jewish parents who were, in turn, born as Jews to their Jewish parents who were, in turn.......

I wake up in the morning as a Jew. I go to sleep at night as a Jew. I live my life in the hours in between as a Jew. I study as a Jew. I teach as a Jew. I pray as a Jew. I celebrate and mourn as a Jew.

 

[exchemist]

I always try to separate milk and meat so the milk doesn't go around the rest of the food and make it indigestable.

Sometimes I keep a Jewish commandment because it's just so hard not to... not to be superstitious... to carry your brother's load.

Also, I think it is very universal.

I read the Torah.

I rather enjoy making an Italian dish of pork cooked in milk (maiale al latte), with lemon, garlic and sage. I find it is not at all indigestible. These religious dietary rules strike me as objectively valueless. Though of course tradition has a great cultural value.

 

[robocop (actually)]

Wearing a beret, sipping wine from the Loire Valley while munching on pain au chocolat does not make one French.

I didn't mean to imply that I actually thought I was Jewish.

 

[robocop (actually)]

I rather enjoy making an Italian dish of pork cooked in milk (maiale al latte), with lemon, garlic and sage. I find it is not at all indigestible. These religious dietary rules strike me as objectively valueless. Though of course tradition has a great cultural value.

My understanding is that the point of being Kosher is to separate yourself from other people.

 

[exchemist]

Wearing a beret, sipping wine from the Loire Valley while munching on pain au chocolat does not make one French.

Dead right. No French person I know would dream of drinking wine with any breakfast pastry, let alone a kind with chocolate in it!

 

[exchemist]

My understanding is that the point of being Kosher is to separate yourself from other people.

Well I think I'd say to distinguish yourself from others, rather than to separate. I don't think the intention is to erect any barriers.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

I rather enjoy making an Italian dish of pork cooked in milk (maiale al latte), with lemon, garlic and sage. I find it is not at all indigestible. These religious dietary rules strike me as objectively valueless.

What seems "relatively valueless" - not to mention dismissive and arrogant - is insinuating such a post in a discussion such as this.

 

[IndigoChild5559]

I always try to separate milk and meat so the milk doesn't go around the rest of the food and make it indigestable.

Sometimes I keep a Jewish commandment because it's just so hard not to... not to be superstitious... to carry your brother's load.

Also, I think it is very universal.

I read the Torah.

I'm halakhically Jewish -- even if I broke every commandment, I would still be a Jew (I'd just be a very evil Jew).

But in general, I aspire to keep the 613 commandments, at least those that apply to me, and those that are possible to keep. Shabbat, Holy Days, and the Dietary rules are a big part of it. A lot of Judaism is simply "loving your neighbor as yourself." The book I have entitled, "To be a Jew," starts off with a chapter on Kindness.

 

[IndigoChild5559]

Well I think I'd say to distinguish yourself from others, rather than to separate. I don't think the intention is to erect any barriers.

Actually I was taught that this was the most likely reason. Shared food is the foundation of social interaction, and from social interaction comes intermarriage. Intermarriage brings idolatry with it. Think of Joe Jew going down to the local pizza place and meeting Betty Baptist. They are attracted to each other, and end up marrying. Next thing Joe knows, he has a christmas tree in his living room.

 

[exchemist]

Actually I was taught that this was the most likely reason. Shared food is the foundation of social interaction, and from social interaction comes intermarriage. Intermarriage brings idolatry with it. Think of Joe Jew going down to the local pizza place and meeting Betty Baptist. They are attracted to each other, and end up marrying. Next thing Joe knows, he has a christmas tree in his living room.

What a shame. It seems to me there is no harm in Joe Jew having a Christmas tree in his living room. Joe Jew does not have to give up his religion, so there's no reason for any perceived idolatry to be involved. He just needs to be tolerant towards his wife's religion. I think it could be fun to live in a household in which two sets of religious feasts were celebrated. But a lot less fun, of course, if you had to cut out a lot of good things to eat for religious reasons.