Still working on my first post about the Torah itself. ::sigh:: In the meantime, saw this and knew I had to reblog it.

Some of you are going to look at the fact that this includes genital integrity as something I’m passionate about. As this is a phrase you’ll usually here from anti-circumcision activists (or intactivists), you may be boggling a little right now.

“But you’re Jewish- don’t you believe in circumcision?”

As a matter of fact, I do not.

On the “how can you be Jewish and against circumcision- how did that even happen?” side of things, it’s worth mentioning that I am a convert. I was not raised Jewish. I don’t have a cultural identification with the practice of circumcision, and my mother, as I mentioned previously, is herself anti-circumcision, and raised me accordingly. I have no fewer than five intact brothers. The father of my daughter was also intact. To me, this has always been the natural and expected state of things.

On the “but why would you convert to Judaism if you’re against circumcision” side, that gets a little more complex.

There are a lot of reasons I can give you here- that I don’t have a son and don’t plan to have a son, and it’s not an issue for me; that I’m the moderate sort of intactivist who doesn’t argue with other people’s right to choose it, even if I disagree; that I know you don’t have to be circumcised to be Jewish (you have to have a Jewish parent or be a convert); that there are plenty of Jews who have been intact throughout history for a variety of reasons.

But here’s the basic truth.

Chosen people doesn’t mean “handpicked by G-d to be the favorite.” It means that when G-d went through the world, offering the covenant to the nations, the Hebrews were the ones who said yes. The covenant is like in nature to a marriage, and just like in marriage, G-d and the Jews aren’t always going to agree on everything.

And that’s okay.

If G-d wanted a subservient people who unquestioningly did everything they were told, unwavering, no matter what, those people wouldn’t be humans, a creature endowed with freewill. Xe’d have stopped at angels.

The actual Hebrew translation of the word “Israel” means “to wrestle with G-d.” We’re supposed to question, to struggle, to grapple, to fight. We’re supposed to find our own way. Our mitzvot are a guide to finding our way, but there are going to be times where each of us is going to get lost, take a shortcut, or say, “No thanks, I think I’ll take the scenic route.”

 That above all is what attracted me to Judaism in the first place- the thing that told me this was what I always felt like, even if I never had a name for that feeling. The thing that told me, “This is the covenant I want, these are my people and this is my G-d.”

And while I recognize that circumcision is a commandment…on this one, I think I’ll take the scenic route.

Hi. :-)

 I am converting with the Reform movement, and have only been taking conversion classes for a few months, but I studied on my own for the better part of a year before that. I got my start with websites like Jewfaq.org (which is largely an Orthodox resource) and with books like The Complete Book Of Jewish Observance by Leo Trepp, which is written from a Conservative perspective. I’ve even read some Karaite and Reconstructionist literature. A lot of my personal beliefs are somewhat all over the place, but Reform works best for me.

The first person I told was my friend D, who is a Jew by birth and she was very supportive and very enthusiastic. After her, I told my friend V (my best, closest and oldest friend in real life), who was also supportive. Then my sister (who was engaged to an Israeli at the time and pregnant with his baby), who really only cared if this meant I’d support her on the issue of circumcision. ;-) (My sister is pro-circumcision, my mother is against it.)

Most people I know after that that I told were always very nice, but not very interested in hearing much about it, which is part of the reason for the blog. The only person who’s really been uncomfortable is my mother, who is still working on coming around.

ETA: Oh, actually, I take that back. My friend J handled the news very poorly, and his first response was, “There are so many anti-Jewish jokes I could be making right now.” Which led to a very uncomfortable conversation where I had to tell him that just because Jon Stewart does it, doesn’t mean he can.

Before I start on the actual Torah itself (which I’m actually very nervous about, because I really didn’t think anyone other than one or two of my real-life friends would end up following me on here, and now there are ten of you, nine of which I’ve never met before!), there is one subject about how G-d is referred to in Torah, and how I will be referring to G-d here, that I do want to address.

Recently, my mother- who is Wiccan and has been for most of my life- wanted to talk to me about my conversion, because, like most parents, she is a little uneasy with the fact that I’m rejecting the faith I was raised in to pursue another. And while I could answer most of her questions, one issue she touched upon is one that tends to be surprisingly contentious among religionists/theists (there is a difference between those two things). Namely, the gender of G-d.

Is G-d a man?

My mother felt that the G-d of the Jews is, in fact, a cis male, and that it’s to Judaism’s detriment. Quote: “But just a male god? With no female aspect?”

I don’t believe that. Nor do I believe, as Kevin Smith suggested in “Dogma” (which is actually one of my favorite movies on the subject of faith, believe it or not), that G-d is a woman.

Jewfaq.org explains it better than I ever could, so, quoting from its page, The Role Of Women:

In Judaism, unlike traditional Christianity, G-d has never been viewed as exclusively male or masculine. Judaism has always maintained that G-d has both masculine and feminine qualities. As one Chasidic rabbi explained it to me, G-d has no body, no genitalia, therefore the very idea that G-d is male or female is patently absurd. We refer to G-d using masculine terms simply for convenience’s sake, because Hebrew has no neutral gender; G-d is no more male than a table is.

Both man and woman were created in the image of G-d. According to most Jewish scholars, “man” was created in Gen. 1:27 with dual gender, and was later separated into male and female. 

 G-d is both, and neither. This is even self-evident in the scripture itself; in Genesis, G-d self-describes with a plural: we. Us. It’s debatable whether this is because that portion of Genesis is set down from when the Jews were a polytheistic people (which, at one time, we were), or because G-d is both one and many.

Personally, I think that in context with the rest of the text of Torah, it’s actually both- that there are other gods (or else why would we be commanded not to worship the others in Aseret haDibrot? [More commonly known as the Ten Commandments])  and that the G-d of the Jews transcends simple categorization.

Referring to G-d with male pronouns is an activity of humans, very few of whom are able to grapple with the idea of a personage that does not fit into one slot or the other on a binary. This is one of our faults.

So in this blog, I’m going to avoid using pronouns to describe G-d (save where that’s done in scripture I’m quoting). If I absolutely must use one, I’m somewhat inclined to use Xe- one of the pronouns used by people who don’t conform to a binary, either. I might use the grammatically debatable but technically scripture-compliant singular They. I’ll probably alternate usage. And, apologizing in advance, I’ll probably occasionally slip and use He, because I’m not perfect and I screw up sometimes and I’ve heard G-d referred to as He for most of my life.

I apologize if any of the above is offensive to you, but…well, I really didn’t think when I started this that I’d be talking to more than one or two people and the occasional passersby.

Selah.

Hi, Liat. :-) I’m Heather. Thanks, both for the introduction and the welcome. It’s sincerely appreciated.

I’m a Jewish girl.

Not formally, at least not yet- I am a convert-in-progress. But I am a Jewish girl in that it affects the foods I eat, the things I do, the days on which I do them, the things I think about, the way I think about them, the words I write and the way I write them. It reflects what I believe, and what I don’t.

That said, the first thing you have to understand about this blog is: this is not for you.

That is not to say that you are unwelcome. You are absolutely welcome here. What it is to say is two-fold:

1. Your welcome is not limitless.

I have enabled Ask Me Anything on here; you are welcome to ask me questions, and I will attempt to answer them. However:

• I will not answer questions about Israel. Period. For the harmless questions (like “What are fun things to do in Jerusalem?”, for example), I’m not qualified to answer because I’ve never been to Israel. The other category of questions, like “Do you approve of what’s going on in Gaza and the West Bank?”, “Do you know what kind of stuff is going on there?”, “Did you know the IDF routinely shoots Palestinian children?”, etc., etc., etc., I am not going to answer because I have no desire to. Being a Jew does not make me a representative of the State of Israel. Israel being a Jewish state does not make it representative of me. I am flat-out not interested in answering for any action of the State of Israel that you may approve or disapprove of. It may happen that someday, I’ll feel like posting some of my thoughts and feelings on Israel, but don’t hold your breath for that, because  that is not why I’m here.
• I will not answer questions about the Shoah (Holocaust). I am not your personal Google. If you have a question about the Shoah, ask there. 
• I will not answer questions asking for the Jewish perspective on any political topic. We’re not a hivemind; my perspective is my perspective, not the Jewish perspective, and practically any Jew will tell you the same thing. 
• I will not be answering any questions that ask for my opinion on Islam, Christianity, Sikhi, Wicca, etc., etc., or persons that practice same. This is not a religious gossip blog. 

2. No, really, it’s not for you

I’m not here to proselytize. I’m not here to convert. I’m not here to explain to you why Atheism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhi, Wicca, Buddhism, Scientology or anything else is the “wrong” religion. I don’t believe there can be such a thing as a wrong religion. If your beliefs bring you peace and comfort and help you act the way you feel is responsible in the world, good. Enjoy them. Hold tight to them and never let go. And ignore the people who try to convince you that you’re making a big mistake by not choosing their faith. Okay?

This blog is about my beliefs and my journey as I convert to Judaism. It’s about the works I’m reading, and the conclusions I’m drawing. That’s all.

Lastly, a disclaimer: I am not a rabbi. My conclusions on Torah, Talmud and Mishnah are not authoritative. Nor are they definitive- that is, if your interpretation is different, mine is not up here to say that yours is wrong.

Shalom aleichem. Enjoy your visit.