Renew, Reuse, Recycle

Where is there room for renewal in Judaism for you? Sorry, Josh, but this was the wrong question to ask me. Considering I am a Jew from a Reform background, with two parents who believe in Reform Judaism and go to a Reform temple with a Reform rabbi, and in exactly one week I will be performing an exclusively Reform ceremony with all of my Reform friends, I think there's tons of improvement that could be implemented in my branch / denomination of Judaism.

They could stop Confirmation, for example. It's what I'm freaking out about, because it's happening in 7 days... I mean, I will always be a Jew. Confirmation's point is to show that you will be a Jew forever and ever, etc. I WILL ALWAYS BE A JEW. I don't need some silly ceremony involving white robes and wheat to tell me that. I don't focus on that kind of Judaism, so I don't pledge to be a good Reform Jew for the rest of my life. Also, half the kids in my confirmation class, including me, are only doing this ridiculous waste of time and money and resources because after a fight with their parents, they were still ordered to do this stupid thing. That's not a heartfelt oath, and it's almost better that we were honest with the G-dawg and didn't commit to Reform Judaism if we didn't want to.

The Reform service has definite need of improvement. All that English. All the responsive reading. The way that the kids in the back yell and scream and no one says anything because, well, we're reform, it's not a problem. The way that some people say "a service a month! What a commitment!" The way some people deface the books, because, well, we're Reform, we don't care about that stuff anyway. The way people wear crosses for earring because, well, it looks all punk, and well, we're Reform Jews, we don't care about that stuff. The way non-Jews can go onto the bimah and give the Torah blessing just because they're married to a Jew and raised Jewish kids (I'm all for intermarriage and I don't think they should be discriminated against, but aliyah [sp]? Seriously?). There's room for improvement there.

Then there's Reform Judaism in general: The shield we can hide behind. Do you know how many times I have heard "Oh, well... we're Reform." I hear it when talking about why people aren't kosher, why they don't go to shul, why they don't ever eat Jewfood - brisket or gefilte fish or any of the mile-long list of desserts. I hear it when people don't have a bar mitzvah, or when my aunt, a non-Jew, had an aliyah [sp] at my evil cousin's bar mitzvah. I hear it too much. It has become unacceptable.

Again, I'll try to add more opinionated views to this post if I can, but I'm at work so that could be hard.