I need to give physical expression to my feelings for Torah.
I must wrap tefillin immediately.
Thank you for being a part of my online faith community.
The prayer circle starts now!
Joe emails:
Do you know that the body of the guy in Hancock Park who died in Lake Piru was found after 10 rabbis got on a boat in the lake, placed some flat bread with a candle in the lake and then said some prayers. Hours later the body was found some close distance to where the candle was placed. The amount of ritual in Judaism is a good subject for psychoanalysis. The idea that you wipe your rear a certain way, put your shoes on a certain way, sleep a certain way, have sex in a certain way is radically different than any other "faith" – it is a training program and only the most radical parts of the ritual reconnect a Jew to any faith. The idea that taking the wine from the havdalah ceremony and wiping it on one’s eyes as a sort of amulet for financial well-being is faith. The normal rituals are simply about discipline and code.
