In my heart and soul, I do just that. I had the good fortune to tell my Rabbi before he passed away that he brought me to my Judaism in such joy that I wanted to shout from the highest mountaintop, “I *LOVE* being Jewish”! I am not “religious” yet Judaism pulses through my veins and is at the core of my being. It always has been but the Judaism of my youth was more a struggle, mentally and emotionally, than it was fulfilling. I cringed whenever I heard the words “chosen people”. But the Rabbi of my adulthood brought a new perspective saying, “Chosen for what?”. I guess that’s what we all have to figure out. G*d for me is not the man in the throne in the sky as the images of my childhood suggested. G*d is the weed in the garden on Shabbat that you instinctively reach down to pull but then remember that all is perfect as is, if only we would leave it be.

I am religious, consider myself modern orthodox and live in Israel for the past 20 years. My grandparents and uncles are Satmar Chassidim.

My most religious sister married out of the faith and the way I personally and my family dealt with that made me over the years search for a lot of answers. My blog was actually started as a by product because years later I believe that what I learnt with dealing with the situation with my sister made me a better parent to my older children and kept me from pushing them away and putting their backs against the walls trying to force my beliefs on them. It made me realize that we learn something new from every day and we need to stay open minded.

What I have personally learned:
*Judaism is first and foremost about love and accepting people for what they are. If you forgot the love, you are in my opinion missing what is important about religion.
*Forcing your opinion on others means that even if they do what you want them to do, their opinion is still the same as it was when they weren’t doing what you wanted. You have gained nothing.
That does not mean you can’t have meaningful discussions with people and tell them what you think the beauty is in your religion and the things you love. It also does not mean that you can’t point out in a loving way if you think someone is doing something they shouldn’t be and may not be aware of it. There are ways to talk about it.
*You bring more people closer to your ideals by living by your life as a good example than by preaching to them or arguing with them. If you have great joy for your religion and joy in general, people will be attracted to you, want to be around you and will want to hear your secret to how you got that way. Focus on your life and not on others.
*Everyone has a connection to G-d. You can speak with him directly anytime of the day.
*Rabbis in all their greatness, are human.

A book that may be interesting to some of you because there is a part that deals with religion is The Evolution Angel by Dr. Todd Michael.

The most important point is to remember that all people are born equal, but not everyone’s accomplishments in life will be equal. I think if you remember that the core of every religion especially Judaism is love, you will be a person whose accomplishments in life are truly meaningful.

I was born with a Jewish soul that was present at Mt. Sinai, and therefore I am Jewish. Practicing Judaism brings me closer to God; it works for me, but no one way of doing things works for everyone.

Anyone who isn’t Jewish is not responsible for following all the laws of the Torah, because they are not descendants of those who agreed to follow them. As a result, they are only responsible for following the covenant God made with Noah (the Noahide laws). So as long as they follow those laws, that’s a good thing and they will have a place in the world-to-come. Thus there is no need for us to try to convert them to Judaism.

Saying someone is a Christian is neither a slander nor an insult. It may or may not be true, but there is certainly nothing defamatory about it.