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Chapter 1: What does it mean to be Jewish?
What does it mean to be Jewish? Wow. That's a good question. What it means to be Jewish, I mean, I think is, it's actually interesting because I'll shift the question a little bit, okay? The Hebrew word Jewish is not really, I mean, I go to the Hebrew. That's the essence. To be a Jew, the Hebrew term for Jew, do you know what it is, by the way? Okay. It's Yehudi.
And Yehudi means somebody who is Jewish. deeply grateful, who acknowledges God's presence. So it's somebody who really tries to be a conduit for God's presence. Like ultimately to be a Jew means, and this is where Abraham and Sarah come in, it's in a world that may be filled with false idols.
to try to embrace a life in which we are bringing ethical monotheism and righteousness in the world, to serve as God's partner in the world, to have a very strict discipline. That's what was given at Sinai. But ultimately, I believe that that discipline is there to keep us focused on our mission.
And our mission is to be refreshed in our purpose and be aligned in how I'm impacting the world around me. So for example, I'll give you, we're very disciplined when it comes to Sabbath, at least in the observant world. So for 25 hours, I just put my phone away and I'm fully present with the people in front of me.
It's an oasis in time for me to re-fortify myself in my mission, to lose, not lose faith in making the world a better place. So I don't see, for example, the Sabbath as burdensome. It's an opportunity to open up my soul to dreaming again, to thinking again, to focusing on the relationships that matter, to filling up my gas tank.
We have a lot of laws around as a Jew, keeping kosher and making blessings. Again, I don't see that as a burden. That reminds me that I don't live to eat. I eat to live. And I'm not proselytizing, but it's leading a life which is bringing God's heaven on earth. And it's being a role model ultimately to really inspire others to see the face of God in another human being.
I don't believe that you should be isolating at all. We should be elevating. Not by saying anybody needs to be Jewish. You don't. But let's all try to lead a life in which we really feel God's presence. We seize those moments. We don't judge people based upon the color of their skin or their faith, but to truly see the face of God in another human being.
And to me, that's a lot of what it means to be Jewish. Beautiful.
Okay, I said one, I said last question, but whatever, now I have a follow-up. Yeah. Because I see this online a lot, sort of people misconstrue this idea that the Jews are the chosen people. And because of some of the, let's say, conspiratorial things that happen online, they see chosen people as superior.
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Chapter 2: What role do ethical monotheism and righteousness play in Judaism?
But I know that's not correct. So could you please just kind of explain that and what that means that the Jews are the chosen people?
Yeah, so what it means is it's going back to the book of Exodus and in the book of Exodus, when God in his preamble to the 10 commandments, he basically says, I took you out of Egypt to be for me, the Hebrew term is a nation and a people that's a model for other nations. That's what it means.
It means chosenness isn't better than, it means just with a unique responsibility to be a bearer of God's light, not through only our teachings, but through our actions. Actions of integrity, of generosity, of love, of growth, of forgiveness, of, you know, just in the model of Abraham and Sarah, of an open tent, you know?
I think about this one simple idea that, you know, the Bible doesn't waste words, but God spends a chapter talking about the hospitality of Abraham and Sarah, that they welcomed into their tent idolaters, I mean, if somebody is a Republican, how would they invite a Democrat these days into their home?
I mean, it means I'm open and I feed people and I just really try to help see God and elevate God in other people. So to me, chosenness is just a role. That doesn't mean better than, but it just means that we were chosen for this purpose to hopefully create a world again when everyone knows the name of God, not just in abstract. Anyone can say, I believe in God.
But if somebody says, I believe in God, but I don't see the God in somebody else, they're not really believing in God because everyone's created in God's image. We're living in a country that is too often diminished by lack of faith. We find what divides us, not what unites us. But to be a spiritually minded person means that I'm not going to dig for the dirt.
I'm going to mine for the gold and every other human being.
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