I was curious to see how you practice Judaism? I was raised conservative, more towards Orthodox, or as my husband calls it Conservadox (nice made up word).
My husband was raised Modern Orthodox with a view point that everyone is equal and now, he practices as a Conservative Jew (without the influence from me).
I would be interested to know your customs: Are you Shomer Shabbas? Do you walk to temple on Shabbat and holidays? Do you keep a Kosher home?
I keep shabbos, kosher, mikvah. I cover my hair, dress tznius, have a lot of kids, have my kids in a Jewish school, go to a modern Orthodox shul (used to teach in a Chabad school and go to a Chabad shul when we lived in New Orleans- that is pretty much all the Orthodox there was there). We moved to Memphis before the day before Katrina and it turns out that this community fits us much better.
Thanks Chana for sharing. I am glad you found a community which fits your family better. We will be beginning to look for temples for us to attend for the holidays and some Shabbat services but my husband and I have to find one where we both feel comfortable and that has been the challenge.
We both did like Chabad very much so we will have to start our search soon. We are not living in the Jewish community area of Phoenix, which we are fine with, but still we would like to find a synagogue.
Truthfully, I am not big fan of the Chabad lifestyle. I am not willing to 'put all my eggs in one basket' and only rely on one rabbi for opinions. I do NOT like the almost blind allegiance to the rebbe. When I taught at the Chabad school, other customs and ways of being Jewish were completely ignored and I sometimes felt like I had to 'deprogram' my kids (And we were with them at the worst of the 'Rebbe is Moshiach' stuff). I like them for their outreach and for what they have done to bring people back and strengthen communities. They are definitely not where I am philosophically. Here in Memphis, we go to their programs, but I am glad that I am seeing a larger Jewish world.
I agree with you about Chabad. I feel part of what they do for the Jewish communities is very good but their philosophy is not something I would ever think of considering.
The Chabad Rabbi here has been trying to get us to come to temple and get us more involved with them but he has the wrong couple. My husband and I are set in our ways about how we practice and observe Judaism and at least for myself, I see no reason to change.
I am happy the way I was raised as a Conservative Jew and feel how I observe and what I have done for the Jewish community is more than anyone could imagine. When the Rabbi gets me on the phone, my husband says to be nice and I am, but after a while, I'm sorry, niceness can only go so far.
So I explained to him that I am very happy and see no need to change my ways. That seemed to calm the phone calls down to pratical none.
How do practice Judaism?
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