´An Orthodox Jew isn´t so much one who keeps Shabbat, kosher, and/or other rules and laws; an Orthodox Jew is one who strives, through halacha and beyond to develop a character that is more God-aware, more God-driven, and more God like. It is a lifelong project, enhanced by all Jewish observants, but cannot be allowed to be lost in the welther of them´.
I openly recognize that I had a hard time going through this book by Rabbi Dr. Gideon Rothstein, whose shiurim a had the chance to attend a couple of times. We´re Missing the Point. What´s Wrong with the Orthodox Jewish Community and How to Fix It was challenging not because of the ideas exposed, but because more than once I had the feeling that the wording is way too complicated than needed. Exposing simple and strong ideas does not necessarily require complex sentences.
The topics outlined are serious enough to start a throughout discussion about new shifts - both philosophical and from the pedagogical point of view - of the everyday practice of the Orthodox Judaism. Both the ways in which schools and synagogues operate require a complete change, which does not mean to add more but to reconnect to the genuine sources of belief. It is a return from the secondary and customary sources to the main framework, often obliterated by the dry everyday practice: ´People can become accustomed to any sequence of actions and make them an end of their own, forgetting the larger framework into which they were supposed to be integrated´.
Although going through this book took me a long time - to be read months - it was worth doing, especially for ideas in the second part of the book. Hopefully one day all those strong voices within the Orthodox Judaism will get together on one voice for a noteworthy change that will correct the current perspective missing so many important points.
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