Great Comments

Thanks to everyone who has commented on the blog so far!  I look forward to even more people participating, and we'll really get some discussions going.

Note: To read comments or to leave a comment, click the link under any post that says "1 comments," "2 comments," etc. 

Normally, I will respond to comments in the comments section.  But occasionally, I want to highlight particularly interesting comments in a separate post (like this one).

Responding to my post about the oil spill and Jewish ethics, Linda C. wrote:

If the ethical teachings are relevant and still resonate with issues of our time, which it appears from your passage that they do, they can form the basis for discussion and thought. If they do not serve as a framework, we are disregarding the traditions upon which our present day observance is founded. We ultimately may disagree with the teachings (as have Rabbis and teachers throughout time), but they offer a starting point for discussion.

Linda addresses the difficult issue of what role traditional Jewish texts—particularly Rabbinic legal texts, whose authority we question—should have in our Jewish lives.  She describes them as a "framework" and as a "basis" and "starting point" for discussion.  I agree with her completely.  I might even go one step further—as Reform Jews, we have an obligation to examine our tradition, to seek out texts that "resonate with issues of our time."  That's one of the reasons lifelong learning is so important.  We will never master all of Jewish text or thought, but constant engagement and Jewish growth are values (and obligations) in and of themselves.

And of course, ongoing learning is one of the primary purposes of this new blog...