Recently a visit to Kolbo netted me a bag full of books, including Surprised by God: How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love Religion, by Danya Ruttenberg. I was initially drawn to the book by its intriguing blurb and the cover photograph of a young woman fearlessly wearing her Kippah as she headed down a busy street, conspicuously facing oncoming traffic. Her back is to the reader, leaving an impression of taking the first step of a thousand-mile journey. Her rebelliousness made me smile. I wasn’t quite sure where she was going but, for a couple of a hundred pages at least, was willing to be led.
I was also drawn by the book’s subtitle: "How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Religion." This so echoed my own skittishness regarding organized religion, which I used to see (*as the author also mentions, I believe) as a gateway drug to spirit-breaking soul-surrendering fundamentalist abdication of common sense and reason. Go to Shabbat services and come out a fundamentalist zombie. Sit in on Torah study and come out embracing religious intolerance and justified racism, Creationism, and stoning of women and wayward children.
That this book would touch upon this fear, amongst others, speaks to a candid authorial fearlessness that for me kept the pages turning. With an easy if not graceful, catching-up-with-your-BBF, tone she writes how various life incidences - including the painful death of a close family member - shook her down to her foundation and in turn opened her up to universal aspects and needs of humanity that were larger than she. The conduit between these two planes of consciousness, was her discarded, although not entirely forgotten, Judaism
That these incidences gave her more than a moment’s pause, especially in trying to figure out just where they were all leading her, and what her close friends might say, think and ultimately act, resonates with me. Although not a convert to Judaism, Rabbi Ruttenberg’s spiritual journey from hardened teenage cynic to emotionally crushed daughter and tentative follower through to rabbinical awakening, parallels and intersects some of my experiences of conversion. Whether it was coming out as queer, trans or as a fledgling Jew, I have always wondered just where my paths of (re)discovery were taking me, and just what and who I would have to leave behind along the way. I too had (and continue to have) feelings of stepping into an ancient current much larger than myself and that the only way to let said slipstream carry me away to where I needed to go was to let go of my overinflated Self.
What I also enjoyed were her insights about the nature of religion that needs to relate to a greater Cosmos however we may describe it. Drawing upon a number of sources from different world religions she plumbs some very heady depths...not in search of Truth (whatever that might be) but of her own truth, her place in the Universe.
For the convert, for the spiritual, for the philosopher or for the reader of sojourns that head down the road less taken, I could not recommend this book more.
Showing posts with label Ruttenberg. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ruttenberg. Show all posts
Monday, December 27, 2010
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Q & A
12, Tivet, 5771:
Why an online journal?
When I first told my rabbi that I intended to convert she suggested I keep a journal. I began with all good intent and energy, but soon a new semester and new job sapped most of both. Now that I have started an Introduction to Judaism course the same suggestion was made to the class (not coincidentally, by the same rabbi.) I thought, GPA and paycheck be damned, it was time to make a committment to myself along this Jewish journey of mine. I could let it pass by unobserved, focusing merely on my mikveh, or I could appreciate everything I was seeing/tasting/smelling/thinking along the way.
Why write online? To open myself up to discussions, an exhcange - and no doubt a crash at times - of thoughts. How else does anything in this universe grow except through friction? (Yeah, I know - "That's what she said.")
Why "Sarah, Ruth & I..."?
Some of my fave Jewish role models - Sarah, the first female Jewish convert, and how hard must that have been? You don't take many larger leaps of faith than being the first at anything (especially when it6 deals with spirituality.) And Ruth so passionately believed in her conversion that it became its own Book in the Jewish canon.
What stream of Judaism are you following?
Reform Judaism. Have really connected with its message of social justice being intertwined with spirituality. (Something I wish my Paganism had been more in tune with.) Love its ongoing discussion regarding religion (so unlike Christianity, which I was dragged up on.) Also love that it accepts me as I am - not as "handicapped", a "mistake" or just freakish, as some other religions have. (In case I hadn't mentioned it, I identify as a queer woman of transsexual experience).
Where do you go to Temple?Temple Israel, Boston - a welcoming community that greeted me so warmly from my very first Shabbat. (I currently go there for my Shabbat, Torah Study, Introduction to Judaism Class and Riverway Project Shabbats). The clergy and congregation have gone out of their way to remind me that the gates here are always open. They are resoundingly and unapologetically Pro-Israel (although they do feel free to question and act upon the country's less than liberal human rights record), left of center, and embrace the LGBT community (as in couples, families and singles.).http://www.tisrael.org/ Riverway Project Ohel Tzedek: Tent of Justice http://www.tisrael.org/gblt.asp
General Misc.:
Reading:
Just finished "Surprised by God" by Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg and couldn't recommend it more. Although she is a culture Jew and needed no formal conversion, I found many similarities between her journey and my own. In fact, my copy of the book is embarassingly annotated.Surprised by God: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Religion
For my class I am reading "Living a Jewish Life," a very accessible book by Anita Damant, and "Settings of Silver" by Stephen Wylen.
Other books read and recommended:
"The Sabbath" - by Abraham Joshua Heschel The Sabbath
"Seasons of Our Joy" - Arthur Waskow Seasons of Our Joy
"Choosing a Jewish Life" also byAnita Damant
"On Both Sides of The Fence"by Vladka Meed
"Maus: A Survivor's Tale" Volumes 1 & 2 by Art SpiegelmanMaus I & II
"Chronicles of The Holocaust"
Music:
As I post this I am listening to cuts from The Josjh Nelson Project. I had the absolute joy of listening to them live at Temple Israel, Boston's Soul Food/Riverway Project. http://joshnelsonproject.com/
Fave Local Jewish Organizations/Store
Keshet - Keshet ("Rainbow")
Kolbo - Kolbo
Why an online journal?
When I first told my rabbi that I intended to convert she suggested I keep a journal. I began with all good intent and energy, but soon a new semester and new job sapped most of both. Now that I have started an Introduction to Judaism course the same suggestion was made to the class (not coincidentally, by the same rabbi.) I thought, GPA and paycheck be damned, it was time to make a committment to myself along this Jewish journey of mine. I could let it pass by unobserved, focusing merely on my mikveh, or I could appreciate everything I was seeing/tasting/smelling/thinking along the way.
Why write online? To open myself up to discussions, an exhcange - and no doubt a crash at times - of thoughts. How else does anything in this universe grow except through friction? (Yeah, I know - "That's what she said.")
Why "Sarah, Ruth & I..."?
Some of my fave Jewish role models - Sarah, the first female Jewish convert, and how hard must that have been? You don't take many larger leaps of faith than being the first at anything (especially when it6 deals with spirituality.) And Ruth so passionately believed in her conversion that it became its own Book in the Jewish canon.
What stream of Judaism are you following?
Reform Judaism. Have really connected with its message of social justice being intertwined with spirituality. (Something I wish my Paganism had been more in tune with.) Love its ongoing discussion regarding religion (so unlike Christianity, which I was dragged up on.) Also love that it accepts me as I am - not as "handicapped", a "mistake" or just freakish, as some other religions have. (In case I hadn't mentioned it, I identify as a queer woman of transsexual experience).
Where do you go to Temple?Temple Israel, Boston - a welcoming community that greeted me so warmly from my very first Shabbat. (I currently go there for my Shabbat, Torah Study, Introduction to Judaism Class and Riverway Project Shabbats). The clergy and congregation have gone out of their way to remind me that the gates here are always open. They are resoundingly and unapologetically Pro-Israel (although they do feel free to question and act upon the country's less than liberal human rights record), left of center, and embrace the LGBT community (as in couples, families and singles.).http://www.tisrael.org/ Riverway Project Ohel Tzedek: Tent of Justice http://www.tisrael.org/gblt.asp
General Misc.:
Reading:
Just finished "Surprised by God" by Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg and couldn't recommend it more. Although she is a culture Jew and needed no formal conversion, I found many similarities between her journey and my own. In fact, my copy of the book is embarassingly annotated.Surprised by God: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Religion
For my class I am reading "Living a Jewish Life," a very accessible book by Anita Damant, and "Settings of Silver" by Stephen Wylen.
Other books read and recommended:
"The Sabbath" - by Abraham Joshua Heschel The Sabbath
"Seasons of Our Joy" - Arthur Waskow Seasons of Our Joy
"Choosing a Jewish Life" also byAnita Damant
"On Both Sides of The Fence"by Vladka Meed
"Maus: A Survivor's Tale" Volumes 1 & 2 by Art SpiegelmanMaus I & II
"Chronicles of The Holocaust"
Music:
As I post this I am listening to cuts from The Josjh Nelson Project. I had the absolute joy of listening to them live at Temple Israel, Boston's Soul Food/Riverway Project. http://joshnelsonproject.com/
Fave Local Jewish Organizations/Store
Keshet - Keshet ("Rainbow")
Kolbo - Kolbo
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