Truth

"Judaism is not about being Jewish, it's a Way to be more deeply human."

-Rabbi Irwin Kula

"Art is a human activity having for its purpose the transmission to others of the highest and best feelings to which men have risen."

-Leo Tolstoy

This weekend I stayed at my friend Caroline's for Shabbat. Caroline and I met at Camp Hillel, a Modern Orthodox sleep-away camp, and though we express our Judaism in very different ways, we have been dear friends for nearly ten years.

During a conversation about our observance levels, Caroline said to me that she often feels regretful for not being more observant than she is. When she told me this, I said "--but Caroline, you are the most observant person I know! You only wear skirts below the knee and shirts to the elbow, you observe Shabbat in every sense, pray at least once a day, keep the strictest version of kashrut, and the list goes on! You observe the halachot (traditional jewish rituals/legal practices) that make your life meaningful to you. It's not about doing everything."

"I guess," Caroline said.

Dissatisfied with Caroline's answer I channeled my father and said, "What I mean is that the point of halacha is to increase your consciousness toward all your daily activities, to heighten your awareness of what's going on in the world around you, and to thereby enhance your quality of life, halachot are tools we can use to help us live more humanly."

"No," Caroline responded. "It's not always about making life meaningful, sometimes it's about observing a law, whether you understand it or not, simply because it's written in the torah and the torah is the truth."

I understood that Caroline meant that at times the meaning of the halachot rest in surrendering, not searching for the immediate utilitarian purpose, an experience that in and of itself helps us live more humanly and ethically. However, to me, there is much more to living truthfully than following halachot, as deeply humbling and affirming as that can be.

***

I am definitely "religious." To me, being religious means being profoundly in touch with the spiritual, practical, ethical, or cultural components of one's religion.

My father is a Rabbi - in fact he's a seventh generation clergyman - religion essentially runs in my genes. My parents traditionally observe halachot like kashrut and the sabbath, and culturally speaking we're as Jewish as can be: we live on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, go to Miami for Passover, love and visit Israel even though we sometimes disagree with Israeli political decisions, and schedule all activities around food, (more about that another time)... To top that off, my sister and I studied at yeshiva (Orthodox Jewish day school) through 8th grade, went to high school at a pluralistic Jewish day school, and reinforced our Jewishness by attending synagogue on sabbaths and holidays.

At S.A.R., my yeshiva, I learned fundamental Jewish values that will stick with me for a lifetime: respect, gratitude, inclusivity, devotion, and a love for learning - to name a few.

At Heschel, my Jewish high school, I learned to aggressively challenge tradition while remaining deeply proud of my Jewish heritage; I learned the importance of innovation and social activism, and I found that Judaism is not so dissimilar from other religions and thus bridges are better than boundaries.

At synogogue, I found role models in strong, high powered women who are leaders of the egalitarian movement. I also learned the importance of community and the true meaning of Bill Withers' song "Lean on Me" - in fact, my community is the tightest knit I've seen.

And in my own home I learned to integrate into my daily life all of the values I described above, and I learned the incomparable value of family.

Though some would say I am no longer halachicly observant, I do still honor all of the profoundly Jewish values I've just described.

Take social consciousness, respect, and gratitude as examples. I live those values daily through my own version kashrut. When I am in the supermarket, though I do not look for the hashkacha (rabbinical seal of kashrut), I do look at every ingredient in everything I buy to ensure my health and the health of those I am cooking for. I try to buy grass fed, hormone free meats, and organic, local produce, in an effort to respect the animals, the planet, and myself. I make an effort to eat slowly, consume food in moderation, and think about how blessed I am to have enough to eat and to have a choice of what I eat each time I sit down for a meal.

As for inclusivity, family, and community, I live those values through the ways I practice shabbat. I may use electricity, transportation, and money on the sabbath, but regardless every Friday night, I make sure to eat with family and friends. Moreover, though I have not lived with my parents in four years, I've never forgotten to call them for my blessing. (It is customary for parents to bless their children at the beginning of the sabbath.)

Regarding devotion, learning, and challenging, though I don't actively study the bible, I do read about what's happening in the world on a daily basis, I don't blindly accept what I'm told, and I put my all into any task I set out to accomplish.

***

My Bubbi Charlotte, Z"L (of blessed memory), used to always say that if you are astutely aware of the world around you, bring a sense of consciousness to everything you do, and embrace peoples' differences, you will see that everything and everyone is a piece of art.

Following with this thought, my Poppi recently taught me that the hebrew word for artist is AMN and the hebrew word for art is AMaNüt; the roots of those two words are the same as the roots of the words AMeN, which is said after a blessing and means truth, and AMüNa, which means faith.

***

To both me and Caroline, life's about bringing people together by accepting and working to understand others ("Love thy neighbor as thyself"), living ethically and bringing passion to everything we do (gemilut chasadim and avodah), and expressing ourselves in ways that beautify and help the world (tikkun olam).

Whether you consider that torah or art, we can all agree that by living out these values, we are living faithfully, we are living the truth.