"But I feel Jewish.."

In The Light of the Jewish Idea of Rabbi Kahane

by Nachum Shifren

"I don't get it, wherever I go to shul, I just don't feel at ease. I go to the orthodox shul, and I can't deal with the rules and up-tightness. I go to the reform shul, and I'm depressed by the lesbian rabbi. I'm through with synagogues. I'll just let my daughters be good human beings."

Such were the mournful meanderings of a good friend of mine. I explained to him that there are a lot of good Gentiles, many of whom behave much nicer than Jews. Alas, my dear friend still suffers from the "60's hangover" and truly can't get away from his ideas that "nature is spiritual" and we have to be Jews "in our heart."

My generation, the flower children, are all over the land, inebriated by the mayhem of those insane days. So many of them were leaders of cults and other mischief groups. The way back to Judaism for most of us has been painful, and not without a lot of eating ideological crow from past heartfelt beliefs. But at some point, we have to grow up and realize that Hashem gave us a gift, something dearer than life itself, eternity and ecstasy.

How often have I contemplated the phrase: "It is a tree of life for those who cling to it." And I see virtual evidence of it each time I hear the left-wing professors spout out their version of "one world" based on some mantra or another.

This week’s parsha mentions the order of the creation, day by day, "on day one, on day two, etc., but when the Torah mentions the last day of creation, the words "on THE sixth day." Rashi tells us that the article "the" has the Hebrew equivalent of five. We are told that the world was held, suspended as it were, until the Jewish people accepted the five books of the Torah on Mt. Sinai. Otherwise, there was no reason for the Creation to begin with. When one really thinks about our priorities and the daily insanity of our lives and the world around us, this concept takes on quite a profound meaning.

Our saintly Rabbi Kahane would often mention this in his divrei Torah, and impress upon his students the importance of UNDERSTANDING the eternal question faced in every generation: Why be Jewish?