From the little bit that I’ve seen up close, there’s nothing easy about being an observant Jew. I think most Gentiles equate Jewish observance with keeping Kosher, but there is quite a bit more to it than that. As Jewish tradition has evolved over the ages the are often so many things that are required of those that make an earnest attempt to follow The Law in its entirety that it must loom large in the thoughts of the devoted much of the time, and I suppose that’s partly the point. I saw a sight this morning as my daughter and I were on the way to breakfast that reminded me of that.
Within a five miles of my house in the suburbs of Atlanta there are a couple of synagogues and two Jewish community centers, and to my knowledge none of them are affiliated with one another. Considering how small the Jewish population is as a percentage of the world’s people I guess you could therefore say that we have a reasonably large number of Jews here in East Cobb County. It’s not uncommon on a Saturday to see the Conservative and and even the occasional Orthodox individual or group walking on the sidewalks of some of the major thoroughfares here in this part of town.
This morning the weather here was not pleasant – grey, damp, cold and threatening to rain or sleet. It was probably in the high 20′s and there was an occasional chilling breeze. Despite that, on the sidewalk as we neared our destination was a Jewish man walking in a black overcoat and no head cover other than his yarmulke. He had to be freezing. I don’t know where he was coming from or walking to, but there was surely a big distance between points A and B. The area we were in had no residences in any direction for at least a couple of miles. This was no walk around the block.
It may sound funny, but the sight warmed my heart a little. As a man raised in the Christian tradition, one of the things I struggle with most is the belief that what you have faith in – or what you profess to have faith in – is the key measure of your devotion. It’s so easy to be insincere and profess your faith while actually having none, or at least living as though you don’t. Most Christians would tell you that a sincere faith calls you to live in a way that betters the world somehow – through acts of care for others as an example. Still, I think we have a greater emphasis on proselytizing than we do on setting an example. The consummate and the casual Christian are indistinguishable from 100 yards regardless of the consistency between what their faith and tradition professes and how they live. Not so with the Jew. The days of any significant number of converts to Judaism ended with the conversion of the Rome to Christendom, but at least a few of them still walk among us setting a quiet example for all to see.
How much more convenient and comfortable and safe it would have been for the man we saw this morning to drive his car on that errand. Such a choice would have done everything to make his trip easier and faster and not a thing to harm another soul. But he walked. He walked because on the Sabbath – between sundown on Friday and sundown on Saturday – he’s not supposed to drive, and that’s that. Never mind that it’s cold outside. Never mind that there are plenty of people out there hostile enough toward Jews that making yourself so visible will always carry some risk. It’s what he’s supposed to do by his own way of seeing things, and he was doing it.
It was a simple, small reminder that we humans do have much capacity for honesty and humility, and that’s an encouraging thing isn’t it?
