5737

Greeting and Blessing:

Your letter reached me with some delay. Though your letter, frankly, seems strange, it was apparently meant to be taken seriously, hence my reply.

You write that as a Jew thirty-eight years of age, you have doubts as to whether to remain a Jew. The reasons which you cite for your contemplation of the idea of renouncing Judaism are, to say the least, irrelevant.

Let’s begin by saying that you cannot measure your Jewishness in terms of your age, for in addition to your thirty eight years, your roots go back through all of the generations of your Jewish ancestry, and you are a link in a chain of countless generations, past and future. Indeed, it is generally recognized - even by those who have no regard for religion - that heredity is an important factor that affects the very essence of a person.¹

Now for the reasons you mention that have caused you to become disenchanted with Judaism - because certain Jewish individuals, or groups, or societies, apparently or actually, do not live up to the tenets of Judaism - surely such an argument is untenable, since a Jew’s duty and privilege to live Jewishly stems from the fact that this is the divinely - ordained way of life for each and every Jew, and not because certain other Jews do or do not live Jewishly. The conduct of others can in no way justify your entertaining even for one moment any idea of rejecting your whole heritage of countless generations, and with it your personal fulfillment, with all that it means for your own self, your progeny, your environment, etc.

As for what authentic Judaism is and what the Torah and mitzvot are - there is a vast literature of books written by great Jewish luminaries, great not only in their knowledge of Judaism, but also in terms of philosophy and the exact sciences. Many of these classics are also available in English translation. There is little one can add to them, since they deal with all kinds of questions and doubts that have ever troubled the uninitiated and the skeptics.

With all due respect, the only explanation I can find for your letter is the one indicated in your own account, namely, that while you have spent six years in travelling around the world teaching in various universities, and apparently studying other religions, you do not mention how many years you have spent in the study of Torah, Talmud and commentaries, and the classical texts of Jewish philosophy by authors who dedicated their lives to the study and practice of Judaism.

Since late is better than never, the purpose of the above paragraph is not to be critical of bygones, but to suggest, hopefully and confidently, that you ought to consecrate at least as many years to the study-in-depth of Judaism as you have given to the study of other religions and sciences; and to study it under the guidance of teachers who are themselves dedicated to the teachings and practices of living Judaism in their personal daily lives and conduct. If you do this without prejudice and preconceptions - and this, after all, is the only true scientific approach and method - we are certain that you will find all your doubts about Judaism and your own place in it dispelled. In the final analysis, it is a matter of one’s own will and determination; as our Sages declared, “Nothing stands in the way of the will.”²

With blessing,