Essentials

These are the following books on my summer reading list:

The Essential Talmud by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz
Crossing the Narrow Bridge by Chaim Kramer
The Israel-Arab Reader by Walter Laqueur and Barry Rubin
Everyman's Talmud by Abraham Cohen
From Time Immemorial by Joan Peters

I'm concurrently reading The Essential Talmud and From Time Immemorial. This is in addition to reading the weekly Torah portion and commentaries ranging from those at Orthodox sites to those at Conservative sites. I'm also trying to learn Hebrew. Sounds like a lot. In reality, it energizes me. And yet, at times, I feel as though I'm not really focusing on the direction I aught to be going.

I've been thinking a lot more about the first rabbi that guided me on my journey home to Judaism. She is a Reform rabbi and she saw something I wasn't willing to concede to myself. She suggested perhaps I would prefer to go Orthodox. But I'm still hesitant about it. I suppose it is fear.

Would I be discouraged from studying like I do now? How would I like being behind that curtain, hidden away? And what about clothing?

Like Miriam in her post at A Simple Jew, Question & Answer With Miriam Woelke, I'm a jeans and pants woman.

Like her, for now, I'm content. I like being able to participate as an equal in my congregation's Torah study. I like making aliya. There is something so intrinsic when I stand there and make the blessings and then hear the Torah being read. There is something intrinsic in wrapping myself in the talit as I pray Sacharit. And I do not want to give those up. These are essential to me.