By Lara Rodin
The week so far had been a whirlwind of excitement: new friends, new experiences, and most importantly new ways of looking at things. After having begun our Shabbat with exciting mind puzzles and team building games, our minds had been stretched nicely before Shabbat afternoon. After a warm and restful day under the sun, Rabbi Zeff ran a session on the variance between ideologies and practice within North American Jewish movements. He used the ideological example of each movement’s belief in the author of the Bible in order to illustrate a very interesting dichotomy between theology and practice within North American Jewish denominations.
Rabbi Zeff posted statements about the Torah’s author throughout the room, and each of us stood near the statement we believe to be most true. We reconvened in a discussion group, and Rabbi Zeff worked with us to figure out which statement belonged to which denomination. At the end of the conversation, Rabbi Zeff told us how surprised he was that for many of us, the statements we stood beside did not correspond with those of the theological beliefs of the summer camps we belonged to. Throughout the conversation and thereafter, it was very interesting and meaningful to note the difference between theology and practice. This dichotomy is often something that I struggle with myself. As an educated and Jewishly involved young adult, I often question the gap between what I believe and how I act, in a religious sense. I find myself constantly questioning, if I believe one way and act another, how do I define myself as a Jew?
The Ideologies of Movements Shabbat afternoon program that Rabbi Zeff ran sparked a sense of deep metaphysical thought in my mind, and raised within me a thirst for not only more knowledge about Jewish practice and theology, but also a thirst for experience. The largest take-away from this program was my desire to see and learn more about the differences between practice and ideology, in both religious and non-religious Jewish settings. What better place to embark on these experiences than in the Holy Land itself? While in Israel, I look forward to coming to know and understand the faith and reasoning behind my own Jewish theology and practice.
