Purposeful Creation

Judaism provides a foundation to understand the physical and spiritual world and to use that understanding to perfect ourselves and unite the entire world. The first axiom is that life has meaning and purpose because it was created by a purposeful, spiritual G-d. The word spiritual at its most basic level means anything that can not be physically sensed or measured.

Being absolutely perfect, G-d had no need to create the world, rather he created the world to bestow good upon man. Because G-d defines the essence of good, the ultimate goodness is experiencing and communing with G-d Himself. For anything to be appreciated, some degree of contrast is needed and therefore G-d created the physical world where spirituality can not be measured or accessed with our senses.

Free Will

Man was uniquely created with a physical body, a spiritual soul and free will. Free will empowers us to overcome our physical side and become G-d like givers as opposed to physically centered takers. By continually making proper choices we strengthen our soul and become more spiritual beings. Knowing our spiritual development is due to our own choices and not because of compulsion allows us to truly experience the pleasure of our accomplishments.

From the spiritual perspective, closeness is defined as the similarity of things. When we develop our spiritual side, we become G-d like and unite and partake of His goodness. The reward of spiritual development lasts for eternity since the soul exists after death.

Spiritual Mission of the Jews

In the first 20 generations, the world failed at its spiritual mission until Abraham’s kindness and spiritual awareness resulted in G-d choosing him as the world’s spiritual leader. Isaac and Jacob further developed this spiritual inheritance by excelling in self-discipline and mastering the balance between giving and discipline.

Jacob’s 12 sons and their families were exiled to Egypt for 210 years to remedy certain spiritual deficiencies. This ended with the Exodus and Moses reaching the highest level of spiritual development and prophetically receiving the instructions of the Torah at Sinai.

Developing Our Spirituality

The Torah provides us with instructions to make the free will choices that will maximize our spiritual development and unify body and soul. These mitzvos prevent us from damaging our spiritual selves and teach us the positive acts which further develop and strengthen us spirituality.

Mitzvos such as Shabbos, the Jewish Holidays and prayer enable us to become more aware and appreciative of G-d. Man to man mitzvos such as helping the poor and showing love and respect make us spiritual givers and unite humanity. Self-development mitzvos like eliminating arrogance, envy, and unbridled desire correct our self-centered negative traits.

By freely choosing to follow the mitzvos, a Jew develops his spirituality. When a significant number of Jews develop high levels of spirituality, a process will have begun which will culminate in the entire world uniting in spiritual harmony and experiencing G-d and the world at the highest possible level.

Note: A few friends thought this was a little too philosophical for the average non-observant Jew, so I am back to the drawing board.
Please send in a contribution to this series remembering the goal is to interest somebody to learn more about Judaism.

People who looked at this item also looked at…

• Sartorial Splendor and the Introspection of Elul
• How Does One Determine Appropriate Parental Control?
• Connect to the Yankees By Watching the Game, Connect to Hashem By Learning Torah
• Why Do Observant Jews Generally Vote Republican?
• I’m Having Trouble Shedding My Democratic Values

Related items

• What is Torah Judaism (in 500 words or less) #5
• What is Torah Judaism (in 500 Words or Less) #4
• What is Torah Judaism? (in 500 words or less) – Volume #3
• What is Torah Judaism (in 500 words or less) – #2?
• What is Torah Judaism (in 500 words or less) – #1?

By Rabbi David Aaron

(This was composed primarily from Rabbi Aaron’s book – Living a Joyous Life – The True Spirit to Jewish Practice, which we highly recommend. Check out Rabbi Aaron’s other books or visit his website.)

Judaism clarifies the essential beliefs that inspire and enable us to live a purposeful, passionate, pleasurable life soaring to the greatest heights of vitality, meaning and joy.

The goal of Judaism is to be who we are, godly beings.

When we live according to Torah, we’re connected with a higher perspective on life. We’re seeing the bigger picture and behaving in a manner that expresses and reflects what reality truly is, even if we do not completely perceive it.

When we live the mitzvot, we behave in a way that is harmonious with the way life truly is. And we are rewarded with living according to our true essence.

Torah articulates the universal principles of spiritual and ethical life and empowers us to be who you really are. It frees us to live in harmony with the universe and to be one with G-d.

Through our involvement with the text of Torah we meet G-d the author, and begin to see how, through His words, he speaks through us and reveals Himself to us.

Prayer makes us a vessel to receive G-d’s blessings. It builds our awareness of G-d. The more we acknowledge G-d and the more we invite Him into our world, the more we experience His divine presence in our daily lives.

When we don’t work on Shabbos, we remind ourselves that we’re really working for G-d. Judaism says we are souls, a part of the creator, and therefore we are also creators. But we don’t create for ourselves, we create for G-d. When we realize that, we draw much energy and blessings from G-d.

Judaism gives us powerful and practical ways to connect to God and each other, ways to express our love and to feel love. It provides down-to-earth spiritual strategies for living a more complete, joyful, meaningful, and enlightened life. But we have to put a little soul into it. And when we do, our lives fill with profound purpose and passion and abundant spiritual pleasure.

Money, career accomplishments, vacations and physical pleasures can bring happiness but without spiritual awareness, it is a low level. Judaism helps us struggle with issues like “Am I a good person?” “What more can I do to better the world?” “Is my life meaningful?” “How can I be more connected to G-d?”. Even though such questions might bring discontent and sadness into our lives, the end result makes us much greater people.

The Torah does not give any dispensations from the challenges of life. It does not promise an easy life but a meaningful life. It does not offer an instant solution to sadness but it does offer a soul-ution to sadness and the secret to happiness. Through its’ wisdom and guidance, Torah empowers us to be souls and enables us to make I-contact with the Ultimate I – God.

Judaism offers us the tools so that we can be truly living a joyous life.

Related items

• What is Torah Judaism (in 500 words or less) #6
• What is Torah Judaism (in 500 Words or Less) #4
• What is Torah Judaism? (in 500 words or less) – Volume #3
• What is Torah Judaism (in 500 words or less) – #2?
• What is Torah Judaism (in 500 words or less) – #1?

By Rabbi Micha Berger

1- It is the nature of good to have a recipient

2- We were created to receive good

3- The ultimate good is the Image of G-d

4- Therefore we can’t just receive, Hashem gave us an opportunity to finish the job, to imitate the Creator

5- Thus, we must perfect our relationship with Him, and our relationship with others — to both receive and to give

6- Which in turn requires perfecting ourselves, the sole part of the relationship we can change

7- Halakhah is a tool for doing so

8- Because of the above, halakhah is produced in partnership between G-d and man

9- History is a process from Adam to the messiah

10- Perfecting the world requires cooperation, and thus one can’t be a Jew without being part of the community

Originally posted in the comments in this post

Related items

• What is Torah Judaism (in 500 words or less) #6
• What is Torah Judaism (in 500 words or less) #5
• What is Torah Judaism? (in 500 words or less) – Volume #3
• What is Torah Judaism (in 500 words or less) – #2?
• What is Torah Judaism (in 500 words or less) – #1?

The answer to the question “What Is Judaism?” would be different for a student of comparative religion, a Sephardic resident of an Israeli development town, or someone who grew up in an assimilated Jewish family in America, just to give a few disparate examples. I will address the last one of these, because of course I have the most familiarity with his mindset.

Ethics are of fundamental interest to anyone who cares about anything, but the idea that there are no ethics for the Jew other than those that emanate from the Torah distinguishes Judaism from all that came before and all that comes after.

Judaism is, of course, objectively identifiable as an essential source of guidelines for ethical living. Because of the richness of Judaism’s intellectual tradition, and because that richness has the quality of being both ancient and in constant scholarly and practical agitation, Judaism is probably the best developed system of ethics in the world in both its scope and its depth.

But while all that matters to every searching person, every person of conscience, it is not the heart of Judaism. It is necessary but not sufficient. Rather, the central concept is that while our ethics, as well as our laws regarding how people interact with each other even in non-ethical spheres, are completely open to intellectual probing, challenge and debate, they are absolute. They are based on the Torah given at Mt. Sinai, which we can only understand through the received tradition.

That is why between each chapter of Pirkei Avos we find the recitation, “Moshe received the Torah at Sinai, etc.”: It reminds us that although we are talking about ethics, regarding which everyone feels qualified to opine, ultimately all our hypotheses, speculations and gut feelings bow to the revealed truth of Torah.

One fundamental corollary of this double-barreled premise – that Truth only comes via Torah, which only comes via Mesorah ["received tradition"] – is that the Truth may conflict with our personal sensibilities, which non-Jewish culture teaches should be supreme.

But our idea of what is right and true and good is necessarily flawed. We are imperfect because of our distance from God, which is axiomatic in being creatures of flesh and blood. We cannot know and understand all, and our capacities for reasoning, empathy, objectivity and foresight are only human. Even at our best, we are tainted by a lifetime of interaction with other imperfect creatures and their ideas, most of whom do not acknowledge the Truth of Torah at all.

The bombshell corollary of this core concept is that not only ethics, but actions – all actions – are governed by the Truth of Torah. This not only separates Judaism from most world religions and moral systems, but presents a fundamental challenge to every possible concept of what my posited non-religious American Jew can have thought about his life, why it matters, and what he does with it. This Truth defines our relationship and responsibility to the rest of Creation. Now sit and learn!

People who looked at this item also looked at…

• Led Zeppelin & Frum Culture
• Understanding Hashem’s Plan as Best We Can
• Considerations When Taking on New Chumras
• My Two Cents on BT-Ness
• Born Anew or Born a Jew?

Related items

• What is Torah Judaism (in 500 words or less) #6
• What is Torah Judaism (in 500 words or less) #5
• What is Torah Judaism (in 500 Words or Less) #4
• What is Torah Judaism (in 500 words or less) – #2?
• What is Torah Judaism (in 500 words or less) – #1?

Torah Judaism is actually an ideal that was never really fulfilled by the Jewish people themselves. Ever. But first, what is Torah? The word itself comes from hora’ah–teaching, and it means just that: a code of conduct which applies to every aspect of life. As the verse says, “in all your ways know Him (G-d).”

On a deeper level, Torah is a direct projection of the Divine Mind which makes the rectification of all reality, with Israel the bearers of the Messianic mantle, basically a done deal. What an awesome role, to be called upon to makes ourselves whole, to make the whole universe whole! To link our consciousness with the Divine Mind! Ultimately, the Torah is the means to remedy a cosmic exile, the self-exile of this world from its own real, optimal state. Thus, everything we do can either further this goal or temporarily obstruct it. The way we do everything we do can literally heal the world. It’s our choice, and the Torah is our manual.

So, perhaps the most basic thing that characterizes Torah living is a sense of mission, of grand purpose. There’s a Divine framework to the human condition, to the situation we’re in. There’s a Divine structure to history. We’re plugged in.

So, how does this manual work? The Torah is like a body, and the mitzvot are the limbs. Basically the Torah and its mitzvot are our personal and collective job, nothing less. But please, don’t be discouraged by “Torah living” as most people conceptualize it today. Can you imagine driving a car with half your body paralyzed? Well, no. You can’t. So instead you get a machine you can run. That’s Torah living as most people understand it. But real Torah living– step on board for the glorious ride and strap on your seat belts. It’s a work in progress.

–Micha Lindenberg

People who looked at this item also looked at…

• What is Torah Judaism (in 500 words or less) – #1?
• Seeing Is Not Believing
• The Parental Shidduch Crisis
• Vaccinating Our Children Against Prayer
• The Challenges of Raising a Daughter in Public School

Related items

• What is Torah Judaism (in 500 words or less) #6
• What is Torah Judaism (in 500 words or less) #5
• What is Torah Judaism (in 500 Words or Less) #4
• What is Torah Judaism? (in 500 words or less) – Volume #3
• What is Torah Judaism (in 500 words or less) – #1?

I believe that the ultimate manifestation of Torah Judaism is Chesed, acts of loving-kindness. It’s not the number of times one davens in a day, or the type of kippah he wears, or if her hair is covered completely, not at all, partially, or only sometimes. It’s whether all that davening and all those halachic guidelines and all that learning yields a better person, a better Yid. Does the person smile more, give others the benefit of the doubt more frequently, look for ways to make peace with others (instead of always getting his/her way), help others in time of need (whether it’s a seat on the bus, or picking up a dropped object, or bringing a meal to a new mother/sick friend/random member of the community), encourage children to play with those who seem to have no friends?

If all of that learning and studying and rushing to classes and davening does not make one a better person, then it does not matter to me how many of the mitzvot that person observes, or how stringent; it means they are not taking the Torah’s lessons to heart.

Years ago, I was surrounded by loving, kind, and generous observant Jews, and that spurred me to grow in my own observance. I believed that the Torah guidelines make for a pretty good foundation for life, and I still believe that. We must always keep the big picture in mind.

This is the first in a series of defining Torah Judaism for our non observant co-religionists in 500 words or less.

People who looked at this item also looked at…

• What is Torah Judaism (in 500 words or less) – #2?

Related items

• What is Torah Judaism (in 500 words or less) #6
• What is Torah Judaism (in 500 words or less) #5
• What is Torah Judaism (in 500 Words or Less) #4
• What is Torah Judaism? (in 500 words or less) – Volume #3
• What is Torah Judaism (in 500 words or less) – #2?