And...the answer is...???

I've been asked the question so many times that I should have charged admission.

I've asked myself this question, over and over, also. But I always came up with the pretty answer, the one that would allow the maximum affinity, and the minimum of distress to the eager asker of the question.

They all have their own idea about what it is that drew me from a protestant upbringing, coddeled in a catholic-hating xenophobic white society. Why did I leave the fold? Reject the salvation myth? And join with the bearers of an "old" testament? What was it about this small group of people, who have been splashed around the globe like ink? How do they have what it takes to become the sacred practice of a 23 year old boy, from a small island nation?

That, and joined with the fact that I do not believe in the divinity of Jesus from Nazeret, called Christ. It is a crock. "made up". Un-real, not based in fact, a mere human construction. An interrogation and enfolding of the gods of the ancient world, a reaction of the pagan priests to Christianity being chosen as the state religion.

It is the logic of belief. That I reject one idea and it's ilk, for another that have seemed like just sides of a coin. So close to one another, and flung around like a genus of small and insignificant animal.

But the truth is there in Judaism for me. The truth about what it means to live a good and meaningful life.

Judaism speaks of a true and enduring path. Guided by the highest values and principals. There is nothing evil in the reality of religious Judaism. Loving respect for every one of the people on this planet. The truths it calls it's own, I strive to exemplify. It has not always been so - and I have not always strived to be anything - let alone modest. But life has a habit of doing funny things - and we find ourselves making decisions that just work for us, again. And this is the chance of re-formation, re-turn to the path - which I have been able to take advantage of.