To The Wandering Jew

I can’t possibly be the first one to express this sentiment, but somehow I haven’t yet heard it from anyone else. I thought I should speak up, because I’m worried if I don’t you might never hear it. I’m writing to the kid who’s grown up and doesn’t want anything to do with religion, to the student who finds it hard to believe old stories in the age of reason, to the outcast, to the independent thinker, to the rebellious spirit, to the disillusioned, disenchanted, to the disappointed. I’m writing this to anyone who has some tie to the Jewish People, but doesn’t see eye to eye with the Orthodox Jew, and maybe doesn’t like religion at all.

I can’t claim to be speaking for the whole Orthodox community. If I was, I’m sure someone more eloquent and thought out than I would have already said something. I know though, that there are those who feel the way I do and I hope to give voice to a sentiment that seems sorely absent in the discourse today.

It’s hard to watch your children grow up. I mean, I know I’m not your dad, but in some ways I represent an older culture, and you, the new generation. Once upon a time there were only Orthodox Jews, (and Sadducees, and Hellenists, and Essenes, and Karaaites, and Christians, and Reformers, but still) now that’s not true. It’s difficult when your children are old enough to decide for themselves which direction they will take in life. Maybe it’s hard to come to terms with the fact that you (or in this case me) weren’t the role model you wish you could havee been.

I guess what I’m saying is: we (those of us who still hold tight to our jewish religion) know that you have grown up and are going to make your own decisions. No amount of Judgement or dogma is going to change that. You have chosen your own way. As hard as it is for those of us who feel we have ‘oh-so-much’ to offer, we respect that God gave you the same free will to forge your destiny as he did us to forge ours. In light of that, then, there are a few things I wish I had the words to tell you before the two of us are too far from each other to anything to say at all.

Firstly: I think we have more in common than it might seem. Yes, we use our words and you use yours, but sometimes I hear us speaking from the same core. I don’t know if there has ever been a generation with a stronger sense of right and wrong. Yes, we might say God, and you might have a different explanation for why it’s so important to be good to other humans. We might be homophobic, and you are marching for their rights. We disagree about the place of women in society (yes, we do, I’m sorry to be the PR disaster whi says it), but to a certain extent, those are all details (here I’ll ask forgiveness from all my Orthodox brothers). The fact that both of us are passionately devoted to fighting for good in a world sometimes so dark binds us together more than any disagreement on particulars could pull us apart. Feel free to disagree, this is just my opinion.

What’s more than an opinion-an undisputable fact-is the second thing I’d like to say. We need you. We need your openness and your heart. We need a fresh set of eyes and more than that. If you have wisdom to offer us, we are blind without it. If we have what to teach you, from our students we learn more than out from our masters. And more than THAT. We don’t begin to know what we’re missing without you. Who could say what the next decade might bring, who’s perspective will be critical to passing these chaotic times in peace. What I’m saying is, disagree, argue as fiercely as you can for what you believe to be right as I hope we will. But if you would ever cut your connection to us, we would be lacking, utterly. A piece of an unhealable whole. If not for your sake-because I do think we still carry something of great value- for our sake, because without you, we are lost.