In case anyone was wondering....

I realize that my blog is sometimes dichotomous; this week I had a post about an obscure Jewish holiday followed by another post professing my love for Southern Football Player. I know these things don't exactly match. In real life, I have often been asked if I consider myself religious, and I wondered if anyone out there in the blogosphere wondered if we are "religious". In a strict sense, no, we are not religious Jews. I mean, I have posted about bacon-wrapped, cheese-filled dates for goodness sake!

Our family is Reform. For many Reform Jews, I know that their religious practice is defined by what they don't do. For our family, the list of "don't's" is actually quite extensive. We don't keep kosher (though we did for a long time). We don't wear religious garb. We don't strictly observe the Sabbath or even go to services that often. For these reasons I know many would assume that we also don't build a sukkah, conduct a Tu B'Shevat Seder, or celebrate Shavuot. But you know we do....

My religious views are more about the "do's" than the "don'ts." We do choose to go to a diverse, egalitarian congregation. We do feel obligated to do social justice work as an extension of our belief in Tikkun Olam, the repair of the world. We do choose to use our Judaism as a framework for understanding the world around us. We do choose to celebrate all Jewish holidays (even miniscule ones) because they are available to us as a way to heighten our joy and teach our children about our belief system. We DO think it is okay if you don't do any of these, but are still Jewish. Our biggest belief is we DO believe in accepting all people for what they believe. I just want to share all of these moments so that I will remember them and in case you are curious about how someone else lives and practices their religion. I also want other Jewish people who may have a long list of don'ts to know that all these holidays are for you too. I'd love to see how you celebrate life's moments!