Day 7 of Judaism - Ritual, Relationship and Reason

Ritual
Ritual is obviously very important to the Jewish Religion. Thinking of Judaism for me brings to mind a people set apart by tradition and ritual:

• The bris, circumcizing their sons and a celebration on the child's 8th day of life
• The bar-mitzvah and bah-mitzvah, coming-of-age parties for children turning 13.
• Pesach, or Passover - the acknowledgment of God's hand in liberation from Egypt.
• Shabbat, time set apart every single week to worship God

Hundreds of other little (and big) things are unique to the Jewish tradition... sacrificial rituals, the Ten Commandments, the Ark of the Covenant, Chanukah (Hanakkuh), dreidels and matzah balls, Mezuzahs, tefillin, the songs, reading the Torah in Hebrew...

Day 1 of Judaism - Finding your missing piece

Welcome to Judaism! As promised, this week I have started back on my religious journey. First stop, Judaism. First topic, soul mates.

As always, my own life and circumstances color everything in my writing. For the past months, I have been asking myself “Is there such a thing as a soul mate? And do you only have one in your lifetime? What if you miss him/her? What if they die an untimely death at eight and now you’re cursed to spend the rest of your life soulmateless?” It’s a grim prospect to me. And of course, I go to the worst possible scenario:

"What if my soulmate was on a boat like on Deadliest Catch and he was trapped between one of the pods and the side, and then his leg got cut off, and right now he's in a hospital somewhere on the East Coast recovering from this injury, but that hospital is about to get blown away by the HURRICANE?!? WHAT THEN!"