Jews - is Judaism more than just a religion to you?

[FinneganVeganAgain]

If you value your Jewish heritage as more than just a religion, please share.

 

[Aravah]

answer: I'm not sure my answer will be what you're looking for. I'm new at this (I'm converting) so the "heritage" and religion go hand-in-hand for me and I'm loving it. Everything is new - from the prayers (just praying at all is new for me), to the food, to the holidays to the Hebrew and it all interlaces together.

 

[SUPERJ]

For me it is both a religion and an ethnicity. It is especially difficult for me during the Christian holidays of Christmas and Easter. It seems that every one that knows me wants to know my Jewish opinions on these Christian holidays.
I also spent some time talking to some World War Two veterans this weekend. It is amazing to here what those guys went through to free the world from the white supremacist and evil Nazi Germans. All those thousands of American GIs that died at the Normandy landing. What they went through, the men that survived that. All I can say is thank you.

 

[It'sThatGuy]

More than and also less than. 8^) Judaism is seen by all Jews (I think) as almost more of a cultural or ethnic heritage than a belief system. The actual beliefs are fairly vague, no 'obligatory doctrines' as you find in Christianity. A lot of us who were brought up Jewish but no longer 'practice' call ourselves 'social Jews'.

The difference between Judaism and Christianity is that Christianity is all about being saved, and you are saved by belief, so you must believe, and that's the most important thing. Judaism is more about moral/ethical principles, how to live the best life you can while you're here, and we'll deal with the next thing when we get there. So Jews tend to be relatively 'agnostic' about doctrinal issues. The culture celebrates alternate views, there is no one 'official' view of things as there is in Christianity.