18 Reasons To Be Jewish

A while back, we discussed some of the reasons why someone might want to be Jewish...either to convert, or as someone finding new inspiration in the faith of their ancestors. I was thinking about what I found inspiring about Judaism and made a list. Originally, it was going to be a Top 10 list, but when I found that I easily had more reasons, I decided to go with 18 reasons, as that is the Jewish number for life. I decided not to prioritize them as they all seemed like equally valid reasons, but to simply keep them in the order I thought of them. Here they are:

1) Judaism is the only faith that was revealed a people in its entirety rather than to an individual prophet, who then interpreted it to the masses. Judaism requires no intermediary between the individual believer and God.

2) Judaism invented the concept of a day of rest and therefore the weekend.

3) Judaism places the practice of good deeds over any particular creed and doesn't teach that it is the only true path to God.

4) Judaism is an evolving tradition with ancient concepts that still inspire us today (Ex. The Tree of Life and sefirot easily relate to modern concepts of quantum physics).

5) Judaism has a long tradition of lively debate rather than blind faith and doesn't ask you to suspend human reasoning to believe. In Genesis, we even see Abraham challenge God about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, if even only a few righteous individuals could be found.

6) Judaism teaches how to make the mundane moments of life sacred through proper awareness (This is called raising the sparks in Kabbalah and is also the real reason for the kosher dietary laws).

7) Judaism teaches the dignity and worth of all human beings and has always strongly advocated for human rights and individual freedoms as far back as the Exodus.

8) Judaism teaches the concept of Tikkun, or the repair of the world to create "Heaven on Earth."

9) Judaism has no concept of eternal damnation and teaches that redemption is possible for all who are sincere. The Noachide Laws state that all righteous individuals are rewarded in the afterlife regardless of the faith they practiced.

10) Judaism is a faith that promotes personal responsibility and has no concept of Original Sin. We are not responsible for the acts of our fathers and our children are not burdened by our misdeeds.

11) Judaism was the faith to develop a system of laws applicable to everyone no matter their rank, or status. This was the first true concept of justice.

12) Judaism was the first faith to conceive of and promote monotheism.

13) Judaism was the first faith and culture to conceive of representative government, as we discussed in my previous post about Jethro.

14) Judaism is a faith and culture that values and promotes education which has helped its practitioners to thrive despite centuries of persecution and injustice.

15) Judaism's calendar is one of sacred time that keeps it's believers in touch with the seasons and natural rhythms of the universe.

16) Judaism was the first faith to substitute prayer in place of sacrifice and was the only one to never promote, or condone human sacrifice.

17) Judaism is an Eastern Religion that moved west centuries ago with strong traditions of mysticism, contemplation and meditation that are more easily understood and related to by Western Society.

18) Judaism is a Covenant, or contract-based religion that recognizes humanity as being co-creators with God. Only the individual can complete and redeem creation.

These are the first 18 reasons I thought of for being Jewish. I'm sure with more thought I could think of more and you probably have already thought of some that I missed. This demonstrates how much Judaism has to offer that is overlooked by those born into it and never considered by those searching for a religion with a meaningful context for them. Some of these very reasons are the ones that inspired Jews in the past to protect their faith with their life, if necessary.

Talk to you soon. Until next time....

Shmuel