Many in the public define themselves as 'traditional'. They can go without a kippah, but they will keep kosher. The woman may not dress modestly, but she will light Shabbat candles and refrain from lighting a fire on Shabbat. There are those who go to synagogue on Shabbat night, return to their homes and perform Kiddush, but they will not necessarily keep Shabbat as it is.<\/p>\r\n
These traditional Jews are sometimes criticized precisely by those who define themselves as non-religious, claiming that the traditionalists are dishonest, that they are trying to have the best of both worlds, that they are missing out on both points.<\/p>\r\n
In contrast, observant Jews view this phenomenon positively. They understand the difficulties of fully accepting the burden of Torah and commandments and view traditionalism as an intermediate level that binds Jews to their Judaism and their heritage.<\/p>\r\n
The Prophet's Call<\/strong><\/p>\r\n In this week's Haftarah we read about Elijah the prophet standing before the people of Israel and demanding that they cut things off one way or the other. "How long will you waver between two opinions," he tells the people. "If the Lord God is, follow him; but if Baal is, follow him.".<\/p>\r\n What does this mean? Does Eliyahu advocate an 'all or nothing' formula?<\/p>\r\n Well, there is no basis for comparing Jews who seek to connect with the tradition of Israel with the worshipers of Baal in the days of Elijah. Anyone who directs such a call towards traditional Jews is likely to push them out, falsely claiming that the commandments they observe are worthless.<\/p>\r\n The evil inclination, which is a 'master at its craft,' is very fond of using the slogan 'all or nothing.' To one it will say: "It is impossible to be half-and-half; either you become religious to the end, or you stay as you are." To another it will say: "You want to start living like a Jew? Okay, then to the end! Leave everything and sit in the kollel all day.".<\/p>\r\n He puts on a cloak of righteousness and supposedly attracts people to perfection, with the intention of bringing them to a crisis and a complete downfall.<\/p>\r\n The reality is that "there is no righteous man on earth who does good and does not sin" (Ecclesiastes 7:20). Every Jew, even the most meticulous in observing the commandments, has something to correct and something to repent of. Judaism embraces a person's entire life, all of his actions, words and thoughts, down to the most hidden inner feelings. The slogan 'all or nothing' is simply unrealistic. There is no 'all' and no 'nothing'. No one has reached the peak of perfection, and no one is in the nature of 'nothing'.<\/p>\r\n Hybrid production<\/strong><\/p>\r\n The call of the prophet Elijah should be applied to attempts to bend the religion of Israel to the weaknesses of man. The traditional Jew does not try to create a new Torah for himself, in which there are only the commandments that are convenient for him. He does not try to distort the concept of 'synagogue' and create a kind of hybrid creature between a synagogue, a church (to distinguish it) and a cultural center. This is the omission of the two sections against which the prophet Elijah railed.<\/p>\r\n The traditional Jew does not observe all the commandments of the Torah, but what he observes he strives to observe according to the law, without falsifications or subtleties. He knows that partial observance is his personal problem. This "small" difference changes the whole picture.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u05d0\u05d9\u05df \u05de\u05d9 \u05e9\u05d4\u05d2\u05d9\u05e2 \u05dc\u05e9\u05d9\u05d0 \u05d4\u05e9\u05dc\u05de\u05d5\u05ea, \u05d5\u05d0\u05d9\u05df \u05de\u05d9 \u05e9\u05d4\u05d5\u05d0 \u05d1\u05d1\u05d7\u05d9\u05e0\u05ea '\u05dc\u05d0-\u05db\u05dc\u05d5\u05dd' \u2022 \u05d0\u05d1\u05dc \u05d0\u05ea \u05de\u05d4 \u05e9\u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05d3\u05d9 \u05de\u05e7\u05d9\u05d9\u05dd \u05e2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5 \u05dc\u05e2\u05e9\u05d5\u05ea \u05e0\u05db\u05d5\u05df, \u05d1\u05dc\u05d9 \u05d6\u05d9\u05d5\u05e4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05e2\u05d9\u05d5\u05d5\u05ea\u05d9\u05dd","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":680328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[138],"tags":[54125,9064,47613],"class_list":["post-887642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-138","tag-54125","tag-9064","tag-47613"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n