Charge! I mean Retreat!

[theyellowhobbit]

So, the retreat was interesting. I had some issues with Shabbat, and I feel really bad, because Reform Judaism isn't enough for me. I don't want to tell that to Reform Jews, because then they might think I'm saying Reform Judaism isn't enough in general for being a good Jew. I don't think they're bad Jews. I just think that Orthodoxy is a more pure form of Judaism. It involves making a hard decision that I think I'm going to make. I still have a ways to go, though.

I do know now that there is no way I can go back to how I was before. I am not a Reform Jew. There. I've said it. It's a big thing to say, considering how I fell in love with NFTY and the whole Reform Youth Movement. I guess I've grown out of it. Besides, it's a community that only works when you're actually there. The rest of your life, you're in the secular world. And Reform synagogues aren't like NFTY.

Yay! Now I have the oh-so fun task of telling my parents that I'm not Reform anymore, and that I'm not gonna be a Rabbi. That'll be an amusing conversation to say the least.

If I become Orthodox by the end of the semester, that will be an even more interesting dialogue with the parental units. I'm not sure what to say to them now, let alone in that scenario.

In theory they should understand... But in practice, I don't know.

Comments

[twopoints.livejournal.com]

meehee. it sounds like you're trying to come out to your parents.
"mom...dad...i..uh...i'm..........................orthodox."
i really think they won't mind. i think if i became orthodox my parents would just cheer.
don't feel bad. NFTY has helped you connect with judaism, and now you are ready to explore it in a different way. all the power to ya.
you go, girl.

[sen-ichi-rei.livejournal.com]

I don't feel bad, I just dson't think my parents will be so thrilled. Shomer shabbasness alone will give them sone issues. For example, we only hve one shul that's in walking distance. It's my Reform shul, which I never liked to begin with, and now I don't feel comfortable davening in. [besides the fact that they don't even have Saturday morning services] I also don't feel comfortable not davening on Shabbat or doing it alone, even though technically women can get away with it. I also don't feel comfortable driving to shul. This means that I can't spend shabbats at my own house. But I don't have many Jewish friends in RI, and I don't have any Orthodox/Conservative friends anywhere closer than Boston. And I am not going to Ariela's house every shabbat because after a while she'd probably end up killing me or something. Actually, I wouldn't go to the same person's house every week no matter who it was. So during break when I'm not in Israel, I have no shabbat. Or a very sad shabbat where all I can do is read in my room all day.

Another thing is Kashrut. My house is not Kosher. This will be a little easier, because all I have to do is not eat meat at home, or ask my mom to buy kosher meat. Still, this affects my choices of restaurants, and I can only go to ones that have good vegitarian dishes [no more outback steakhouse] because I'm not going to eat meat in restaurants, unless they're kosher restaurants. [Speaking of which, I need to find people who want to go to Norman's with me when I'm in Israel. It's so good!] I guess they can go out wityhout me, though it's usually because of me that we go out to eat on Sunday nights. Jon would always rather stay home.

So what it comes down to is that when I'm not in Israel, I'm going to have a meatless shabbatless summer. And id I stay home, I'll have to make sure the refrigerator light is taped, and that we have food that doesn't need to be heated. At least I have 1 friend who lives within walking distance of me. Otherwise, I suppose I could have friends come over for a shabbat, but what we ca do is limited. Board games for all! [ooh I know, I could have a bunch of people over and have a giant shabbat risk tournament. Actually, this sounds like a pretty good idea. I'd just have to wake up way earlier and daven on my own, and daven during our lunch break and do a little maariv and havdallah when they leave. Speaking of which, I don't have a havdallah set]

So as you can see, things get complicated even if you're only considering 2 of the 613 commandments. What will I do when they want to take me on a family vacation, and I don't really want to go to hawaii with pants and long leeve shirts? It goes on and on.

My parents are gonna think I'm crazy