The Culture of Judaism

by Lisa Weinberger | More from this Blogger

23 Mar 2006 06:00 PM

Judaism is full of many things. For example, spirit, foods, humor; but all of these things together represent an overwhelming amount of culture. Judaism can be represented by the word culture in so many ways from the foods we eat to the family values to our pride in being a Jew. People find our opinions, accents, outlooks to be wide and various, but especially humorous. The culture of Judaism is very loving and accepting. We love to help people, to share stories with friends, strangers, anyone who will listen half the time.

What can we say, "We're Yentas!!!"

As being a young Jewish woman I have always identified with the culture of Judaism more than anything. Many people who come across my path have always identified me as religious, but I have always corrected them by saying I'm cultural.

It is very easy to confuse the two. Observing the culture is about loving people and life, about celebrating the Jewish holidays with friends and family, and the traditions (besides eating Bagels and Lox every Sunday morning) our religion brings. Being religious is the practice of prayer, and attending services, and following the torah's laws.

To attend a function where our culture is exposed you can clearly see we celebrate life. We celebrate each other. We celebrate all people and invite other cultures to partake in ours. To join cultures together, to learn and respect from one another. The Jewish culture is very accepting of all, and at the end, just wants to be fruitful and plentiful with love and joy.

Learn more about Lisa Weinberger

Lisa Weinberger began her career as a teacher and private tutor 15 years ago, and has taught preschoolers to adults. Lisa spent 4 months in Israel teaching English to Israeli students.

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Jaime Egan (2178) 24 Mar 2006 02:30 PM

A great point of view. I would like to think that I am more religious, but I have to say that I am more cultural. Speaking of culture -- have you ever noticed how similar certain traditions are among Jews, Greeks, and Italians?

Lisa Weinberger (1623) 25 Mar 2006 06:25 PM

Yes, our culture focuses on the family and I think this is the reason why Jews, Greeks, and Italians seem to have similar traditions.

WordsAplenty (4029) 26 Mar 2006 01:57 AM

You know, although the two often find themselves at war, it seems as though the Jews and Muslims actually have similar cultures. I suppose because they both originate in the Middle East.

Lisa Weinberger (1623) 27 Mar 2006 04:35 AM

Isn't that interesting? When I was in Israel, I actually went into the Arab quarter in the Old City and spoke to a restaurant owner about how they had an underground coalition trying to make peace between Israeli's and Muslims.

Libby Pelham (12876) 28 Mar 2006 04:08 PM

You know, I never thought about this until I took a class recently with a girl who was a Christian Jew (sorry, cannot remember if that is the correct term or not). I was like "Wait..." and she was talking about how it was a cultural thing, eating kosher, etc. Very interesting - I learned something that day!