Wednesday, February 16, 2011

How To Make Judaism Enjoyable

I searched How To Make Judaism Enjoyable in Google.

This is what came up in order in the top ten. You will see that it has nothing to do with making Judaism enjoyable for the average practitioner.

1) Halachically Certified Scooters Make Shabbat and Yom Tovim Enjoyable for the Mobility Impaired http://israeljewishnews.blogspot.com/2010/03/halachically-certified-scooters-make.html

2) Make Fun of Jews! Help Name My Trivia Team! http://benfolds.org/forum/54921

3) Why do people always make fun of Jews..? http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090213182939AAlmiLm

4) http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/168945 some dude who is probably a little kid asking why for some people it's not a big deal to use ethnic specific curse words on their own ethnicities.

5) Papercutting is easy to learn and fun to do! Amazing Jewish art ... www.jewishcraftcuts.com/ Because when you are over five years old, all you want to do is papercut? O.o

6) Jewish Diabetes - Make Holidays and Shabbos enjoyable for everyone! www.jewishdiabetes.org/article.asp?sivug_r=17&sivug_m=95 Not a very big help for the non-diabetic population.

7) 8) 9) for the sake of cutting the bull shit the next 3 links is on jewish gift baskets. gee. i didn't know that EVERY DAY of the year is either purim or hannuka.

10) All About Jewish Theatre - A hugely enjoyable journey 'Into the ... www.jewish-theatre.com/visitor/article_display.aspx?...3129 Orthodox Judaism and theatre goes together like Osama bin Laden and Meir Kahane.

Now, one could say that the purpose of Judaism is not necessarily to make life more fun but to bring more meaning and self control into one's life. I will now proceed to analyze. I won't do a google search on Judaism and self control because everyone knows orthodox rabbis are the experts on coming up with bull shit rules to make life miserable and judge people (down) by.

I will now do a Google search on "how to make Judaism meaningful" and let us see what comes up

1) Kid Stuff to Make Judaism Meaningful and Fun http://www.jwi.org/Page.aspx?pid=668 By little they mean tiny. Not much help if you are over three years old.

2) How Do Moms Make it Work? http://www.jewishboston.com/803-cjp-families-with-young-children-initiative/blogs/214-how-do-moms-make-it-work How mothers "cope."

3) B'nai Mitzvah and Jewish weddings http://www.bnaimitzvahguide.com/jewish.weddings.traditions.php

4) How Do I Become an Empowered Jew? http://www.myjewishlearning.com/blog/daily-life-practice/how-do-i-become-an-empowered-jew/ All it does is suggest pray and learn. Haven't heard that one before (sarcasm).

5) Who is a Jew? - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_is_a_Jew%3

6) “Being” Jewish http://buildingjewishbridges.org/?cat=43 Lame defense of kasharut

7) Judaism 101: Divorce www.jewfaq.org/divorce.htm What is this? How to have a meaningful jewish divorce? XD lol get laid asap. XD

8) Ask the Rabbi - Getting a Get - About Judaism judaism.about.com/library/3_askrabbi.../bl_simmons_get.htm

9) The new Jewish wedding - Google Books Result books.google.com/books?isbn=0743202554..

10) How to Go About Converting to Judaism | eHow.com www.ehow.com › ... >


As you can see, not much in the way of how to make judaism meaningful for the ordinary individual.

I have essentially exposed a huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge information deficit in Jewish society that the jewish establishment might want to take note of if they aren't the retards I think they are. XD

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't think it's fair to judge a religion on a Google search. Not to mention it's random.

SJ said...

I'm not judging Judaism based on a Google search, I am merely pointing out a reason why Judaism has a less than stellar retention rate.

Also I am random sometimes. XD And once in a while I may still post on Jewish stuff.

Anonymous said...

Google search "how to make christianity more enjoyable" top 10:

1.Conblogeration: Making fun of Christianity so you don't have to

2. New 'Jesus' Cartoon Making Fun of Christianity? - US - CBN News ...

3. Who here likes making fun of Christianity and religion in general

4. The Prolonged Suicide of Evangelical Christianity: A Brief

5. Why is anything enjoyable a sin according to Christianity?

6. Theatrical Christianity

7.The Prolonged Suicide of Evangelical Christianity: A Brief ... (yep, a duplicate!)

8.The Critic - Google Books Result

9. Amazon.com: Customer Reviews: A History of Christianity in the ...

10. ThirdWay - Oct 1993 - Google Books Result

Have I "essentially exposed a huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge information deficit in [Christian] society that the [Christian] establishment might want to take note of if they aren't the retards I think they are." ?

Harldy...and neither did you.

SJ said...

I'm just giving a tip on why orthodox jews have an OTD crisis I think it's valid as companies use Google to promote their products. So why not religion?

Anonymous said...

Ummmm....because religion isn't a company (or shouldn't be). Who would run the websites? Who would make sure the 'right' sites show up on Google?

I would wager the OTD crisis has nothing to do with what can be found lacking doing a Google search but rather what is found lacking in a person's religious experience.

I didn't walk away from Christianity because of a lack of Google options on what makes it enjoyable as I left before Google was on the scene. I left because I found the *religion lacking*. There's a huge difference.

SJ said...

I'm not saying that religion should be companies but they are similar in the sense that nowadays religion are viewed as products.

If religion isn't seen as serving the individual at hand then it will be discarded as both you and I did. I agree that people leave because of something lacking in the religious experience. Totally.

And no, I'm not suggesting lack of google options is why people leave. XD A theme of mine in the past before I met you has been that there's not enough information dispensing in Judaism it's either follow or leave.

Anonymous said...

But religion isn't a product...I am not out here/there trying to sell the "miracle works" of my Gods and neither should anyone else. By seeing religion, which is built on faith, as a product to sell to the masses the relationship to one's Deity is cheapened.

I cannot speak for Judaism as I've never been part of the religion as anything but a "visitor". However, I must ask: what sort of information were/are you seeking? It seems to me that there's plenty out there you just have to know where to begin. Google and the internet can only get you so far.

As for why I left the religion of my childhood: it wasn't that the religion didn't "serve" me...it simply came down to the fact that it lacks the Gods I belong to; I was never meant to be Christian.

In response the original inquiry of how one makes a religion more enjoyable/meaningful: that's up to the individual to figure it out for themselves.

SJ said...

By calling religion a product, I mean that people have the right to go in and out of it like consumers, exactly as you and I have done.

I'm not talking about a Peter Popoff kind of thing.

Hmm. What sort of information was I seeking? Well, Judaism demands a heavy amount of your attention and enrgy and I'd like to know I'd be rewarded for it in some fashion.

As much as I believe that God exists from what I understand in what I read, but from what I see and have experienced he does seem pretty darn slow in helpin people out.

Also in terms of non-metaphysical benefits what does Judaism have to offer that the outside world doesn't?

It's just a nagging feeling inside me that as long as Judaism exists it's making demands off me (me being born Jewish of course) hence my questioning.

In any case, the jewish establishment should be rather disturbed that a blog like mine comes up first in the google searches of "how to make judaism enjoyable" and "how to make judaism meaningful."

It might actually allay their OTD and assimilation issues if the jewish establishment gets their shit together and answers these questions. XD

Anonymous said...

We are able to go in and out of religions not because we are consumers but because of that beautiful thing called Free Will.

By saying that we treat religion like a product and we are consumers I get the horrible vision of "trendy" religions to join for the moment. Scary.

I don't know what to say about the rest... I don't follow my Gods because of some real-time tangible reward; instant gratification isn't me. So I've got nothing for you beyond saying that following your God or my Gods shouldn't be about rewards and perks but something that goes much much deeper within the Soul.

Why are you so focused on Orthodox? Do you feel Reform and Conservative have the same issues?

SJ said...

>> We are able to go in and out of religions not because we are consumers but because of that beautiful thing called Free Will.

right. free will to be consumers.


>> By saying that we treat religion like a product and we are consumers I get the horrible vision of "trendy" religions to join for the moment. Scary.

That's not what I mean.

>> I don't know what to say about the rest... I don't follow my Gods because of some real-time tangible reward; instant gratification isn't me.

I'm not talking about driving around in a lexus. More basic needs.

And yes, with the kind of things Judaism makes you do, a nice bank account would be appreciated. XD

>> So I've got nothing for you beyond saying that following your God or my Gods shouldn't be about rewards and perks

I can understand an ascetic kind of a position even if I disagree with it.

>> but something that goes much much deeper within the Soul.

This I don't understand.

SJ said...

>> Why are you so focused on Orthodox? Do you feel Reform and Conservative have the same issues?

I can comment on reform and conservative another time.

Anonymous said...

>> but something that goes much much deeper within the Soul.

>>This I don't understand.

Ah. Well then, there is the problem you are having. Religion, true faith, true belief is a thing that comes from and transforms the deepest parts of ourself within our Souls. It's something that one experiences when the God(s) is/are allowed into the heart and life of the follower.

Sometimes a lot is asked of us and it seems like a lot of work for very little surface reward...however, there's a reason we are asked to do things and we won't experience the full blessings until we just do it.