{"id":35927,"date":"2017-04-16T11:31:44","date_gmt":"2017-04-16T17:31:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=35927"},"modified":"2017-04-16T11:31:44","modified_gmt":"2017-04-16T17:31:44","slug":"off-the-pulpit-becoming-who-you-are","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/off-the-pulpit-becoming-who-you-are\/","title":{"rendered":"Off the Pulpit: Becoming Who You Are"},"content":{"rendered":"

By RABBI DAVID WOLPE<\/p>\n

\n

\"Wolpe_edt\"

If that is so, what do we do with the many teachings that are inheritances? Surely most of Judaism is what we learn from others, not what we arrive at ourselves.<\/p>\n

First we must distinguish between commandments, which need not originate with oneself, and practices which are outgrowths of those commandments. Rabbi Bunim spoke of special practices that each individual can cultivate for himself. But also, Judaism teaches us that observance seeps inward: we begin by doing something because we learned it and end by doing it because it has become part of our life-pattern. As we grow into Torah, our authenticity takes the shape of the tradition, each with its own individual variation. Judaism is cast in the shape of the human soul; who we are and what we learn fuse into a Jewish lifestyle.<\/p>\n

(Rabbi David Wolpe is the spiritual leader of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles.)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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