Update, August 5: Our winner is Wendy W. from Tampa, FL
"I love the optimism of Judaism- that the actions of an individual and the actions of Jewish society as a whole can perfect the world and bring about massive change, resulting in world peace and unlimited joy. Every choice we make gives us the option of living spiritually, and every step we take is on holy ground. It makes me happy just thinking about it."
Much love to everyone on this Tu'B'Av!
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Nine cool Jews and Jewish businesses have donated $175 worth of gifts in celebration of Tu'B'Av, a day on the Jewish calendar that is for Jewish sweethearts. Two lucky people will win the Cool Jew Love Day Gift Box on Tu'B'Av: August 5th.
Click on image to see it larger.
2 ways to win the Cool Jew Love Day Gift Box:(1) Enter to win here by submitting your answer to this question:"What Do You Love About Being Jewish?"
Or
(2) If you are in LA, celebrate at LoveFest 2009, organized by JConnectLA and featuring live performances by Moshav, Rav Shmuel, DJ Eric Rosen and more. One lucky guest will be chosen to win the Cool Jew Love Day Gift Box. Join LoveFest at 8 pm, August 5th, at the Bungalo Club in Los Angeles. For more information, visit jconnectla.com.
(No purchase is required to enter. This contest is open to residents of the U.S. and Canada 18 years old and older.)
Cool Jew Love Day Gift Box contains:
* Ladino chanteuse Sarah Aroeste's Puertas CD ($15)
* Heeb magazine's "Night of the Living Jews" DVD
with the uncut version of "Strip Dreidel" ($12.50)
* Jewcy.com's signature thong ($15)
* Author Lisa Alcalay Klug's book
Cool Jew: The Ultimate Guide for Every Member of the Tribe ($13)
* Naomi Less' Meshuga'at CD, Jewish Chicks Rock
women's tank top and temporary tattoos ($30)
* Mashuga Nuts - kosher dairy sweets - from TornRanch.com ($15)
* Moshav's Higher & Higher: The Best of the Moshav Band CD ($18)
* Jennie Rivlin Roberts' "No Limit Texas Dreidel" game
from ModernTribe.com ($20)
* Threaded Heritage's "Ahava" Love t-shirt ($39)
* Heeb magazine's "Night of the Living Jews" DVD
with the uncut version of "Strip Dreidel" ($12.50)
* Jewcy.com's signature thong ($15)
* Author Lisa Alcalay Klug's book
Cool Jew: The Ultimate Guide for Every Member of the Tribe ($13)
* Naomi Less' Meshuga'at CD, Jewish Chicks Rock
women's tank top and temporary tattoos ($30)
* Mashuga Nuts - kosher dairy sweets - from TornRanch.com ($15)
* Moshav's Higher & Higher: The Best of the Moshav Band CD ($18)
* Jennie Rivlin Roberts' "No Limit Texas Dreidel" game
from ModernTribe.com ($20)
* Threaded Heritage's "Ahava" Love t-shirt ($39)
To enter now, please "Comment" and answer the question:
(Please make sure your email is available through your Blogger profile. If you are commenting anonymously, you must email us with your comment so that we know how to contact you if you win! contact@moderntribe.com)
Check back here or sign up for our Newsletter (sign up box is on top right) to be notified of the winner on August 5.
How we pick the winners -- We use a random number generator and if it matches (a) a real attempt at an answer (which all of them usually are) and (b) We can contact the person (we will go searching for your contact on your blog, Twitter, website), then that is the winner. If either (a) or (b) isn't true, we generate another random number and start over.
"What Do You Love About Being Jewish?"
(Please make sure your email is available through your Blogger profile. If you are commenting anonymously, you must email us with your comment so that we know how to contact you if you win! contact@moderntribe.com)
Check back here or sign up for our Newsletter (sign up box is on top right) to be notified of the winner on August 5.
How we pick the winners -- We use a random number generator and if it matches (a) a real attempt at an answer (which all of them usually are) and (b) We can contact the person (we will go searching for your contact on your blog, Twitter, website), then that is the winner. If either (a) or (b) isn't true, we generate another random number and start over.
31 comments:
I love that we have this wonderful guide for life- the Torah, that we can extract the greatest wisdom from. I love my Jewish neshama (soul)that helps me make the world a better place. I love mitzvot,I feel really good giving tzedaka- helping other Jews less fortunate than I, suporting others in my community by building a Jewish community. I am so blessed to be Jewish. We have so many wonderful aspects that can create Tikun Olam. If we only realize our potential! I love being a Jew!!!
I think the better question is what DON'T I love about being a Jew? Ok the lack of carbs on Pesach...but other than that.
To be part of the most amazing community on earth, celebrating holidays with members of the tribe, and even working with the young'uns of the tribe (I'm a USY adviser) the ruach is AMAZING. And the possibility of winning a rad gift basket just for being Jewish...I must say that's a serious plus as well!
I love that being Jewish means a shared history with amazing and awe inspiring ancestors and a community all over the globe.
Being a part of something greater than myself.
Being Jewish gives me a set of ideals and a shared history of how they have been applied - I love being Jewish.\
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teabird17 [@] yahoo dot com
I love sharing Jewish feelings and celebrations with Jewish family and friends.
coupon
I love the optimism of Judaism- that the actions of an individual and the actions of Jewish society as a whole can perfect the world and bring about massive change, resulting in world peace and unlimited joy. Every choice we make gives us the option of living spiritually, and every step we take is on holy ground. It makes me happy just thinking about it.
I love being part of a community who sticks together no matter what. Our history is so deep and even though we have faced much oppression and many challenges we always come out on top. I am very proud to be a Jew.
I love the deep sense of community and support I feel. I converted in 2007, and I feel such a sense of welcome and belonging - I love it!
I love how being Jewish makes you so conscience of everything that you do. When you eat you need to think about what you will be doing after (meat vs milk), you need to think closely about out of town plans. It really makes you think closely.
So many things to love:
1- I love that each of us made beautifully in God's Image. I love that when we miss the mark, we are granted a whole month to work on ourselves here on Earth to return to out state of beauty, so that when we ask God for forgiveness, we can do so with a clear consciousness. How liberating!
2- I love knowing that from the time I am born until the time I die I can have a relationship with someOne who wants to have a relationship with me, no questions asked. How comforting!
3- I love that there is a community of people who will welcome me with open arms just because of who I am no matter where I am on this planet. How inspiring!
4- I love that there are volumes upon volumes of wisdom from people who have dealt with similar life questions at my fingertips, and how it is my birthright to have access to it to shape how I live an ethical life. How transformative!
5- Lastly, I love the knowledge that how I treat myself, others, and God has an effect on the world, and that I am called to be an example of how to demonstrate positive practices in this regard. (Not to mention, the food, the dancing, Israel, the singing, etc...) How all-encompassing!
I love No Limit Texas Dreidel!
I love the warmth and openness of Judaism. I love sharing the rituals and holidays with my children, who proudly feel a strong Jewish identity. I love how being Jewish embraces others, cultures, people, views.
I just love how, when over the phone this past April 27th, I heard that my grandmother had been rushed to the hospital and 'didn't make it,' I didn't have to hesitate for even a part of one second before knowing what to do. My first thought was "I'm Jewish. Thank G-d I'm Jewish!" I wasn't lost, I didn't wonder, I wasn't confused, wasn't worried about all kinds of questions such as "Where does the soul go?" or "What should I do now?" For at least that first week, every single second was taken up by some prescribed activity. I knew how to mourn in the Jewish way, knew the prayers to say, knew to let my grief be as it was, to show, not to hold it in. Being Jewish is just plain emotionally healthy. I didn't have any feeling that I should not be sad, that I had to just keep on going as usual, the way for instance I had in the past when I was unfortunately not so connected to the tradition into which I was born. I loved hearing at her funeral service, the Rabbi say: "She was a proud Jew and a strong supporter of Israel." I have said these words as a comfort to myself many times in the past almost-three months since she so quickly and unexpectedly departed, as my mother and others can attest. Being Jewish isn't about mystery, or searching. It's about knowing. Everything is so clear and tangible. We're very lucky to be in this, together.
Things I love about being Jewish: brisket and potatoes. Each spring, getting out the scarred wooden bowl in which my great, great grandmother made charoset, and making my charoset in it, with a different recipe than she probably used. (And speaking of Pesach: Hillel sandwiches!) Getting to call someone a "big macher." Lighting candles on Shabbat. All the different tunes you can use to sing "L'cha dodi." My big, black, super curly hair. The night before I got married, I loved sitting up late finishing knitting the buchari kippah my soon-to-be husband was going to wear during our ceremony; now, I love seeing him wear it to services, and I love seeing our baby son wear the one I made him. Being married to a Jewish guy, who references our ketubah when we have a problem to address to help us find a loving way to talk about it. But I think the thing I love most of all about being Jewish is being part of a community, part of a tribe--sharing a history, customs, and values with people stretching all the way back to Abraham; and at the same time, knowing that each one of us understands that history and those customs a little bit differently and expresses them in a unique way. I love meeting people from other streams of Judaism and learning about the things we have in common as well as the things we do differently; I also really value being an American Jew, part of (and in some ways separate from) a whole nother culture at the same time. There are so many opportunities for learning, compassion, and growth.
My Jewish family...enuf said!
That I serve a living G-d, He is my Elohim and continus to be part of our everyday life. I love the community, and our people, or beautiful customs, and raising Jewish children, that are proud of their heritage. I love the fact that I am just as much Latina as I am Jewish (Jewtina) and I love Sephardic cooking. I love our holiday's the most, especially Hanukkah, with empanadas, salsa, buenelos colombianos, and ocho noches con allegria!
I also am a proud Zionist and will go out an protest w/my chaverim and it's like we have known eachother forever!!
Am Israel Chai
L'chaim is what I love about being Jewish. Life!! Finding the joy in life. Not focusing on what might happen after I leave this earth, but what can I do to make this world a better place--TODAY--t'kun olam (sp?)
I love my mother's matzoh balls, my brother-in-law's tsmis..
I love the Torah--it is as relevant today to help me live a good and just life as it was when it was given to us at Mt. Sinai.
I also love charoses, but my sister tries to eat it before the seder even begins!
The thing I love most about being Jewish is simply that I CAN be Jewish. I wasn't born a Jew, but after converting (no, I'm not married or engaged!), I'm as much a member of the tribe as anyone else. Judaism is so much more than a faith; it's about peoplehood, but I got to join. Judaism allows me to belong, no questions asked-- incredible.
Email me at meggie.odell@gmail.com
I love that just this question alone and reading through a couple of answers has made me think about so much stuff that I could write a 10 page response to this question. Maybe 20 pages... Maybe 100 pages :)
The emphasis on thought, the importance of knowledge and questioning and understanding... this is one of the most important things.
But... on the other hand... :)
My Mom's world-class cooking, my Dad's advice, and my Older Sister's "I'm your 3rd parent"-ing. The cool thing is that - around the world - I bet you just about everyone will have the same response as me. ;)
”What Do You Love About Being Jewish?
that's easy - being in love with my fantastic jewish woman who loves me too!!! will you marry me terri g.? how easy was that? (this will be a live performance on tu b'av as she doesn't read this blog yet.
chai4love(at)yahoo.com = gary l.
I love being Jewish because it has liberated me to work towards becoming my best self, to overcome my many short-comings, to strive to be a blessing to others. It has given me a strong structure from which I can drink deeply from the Presence of the Almighty. That powerful Ruach gives me guidance, joy, comfort and a clear knowledge that G-d has a plan for my life. IT IS AWESOME!! What a privilege to be Jewish!
What I love: everything. I wasn't born a Jew (or maybe I was, just to an Irish Catholic family!) but since I was younger I had a magnetic attraction that I couldn't shake. It is still the same today.
I love being Jewish because I feel connected to a rich heritage. The list of influential, intelligent and amazingly talented Jews is incredible to behold. To be a part of this community that shaped mankind and has informed and entertained us is a wonderfull feeling.
What I love about being Jewish is the sense of pride I get knowing that our people have lead the way in everything we do. I love the fact that Jews make up 1/4 of 1% of the population in the world and have done more good for the world than any other people, period. I love the fact the every country around of Israel, is bigger and hates the Jews, yet Israel the Israeli army continues to hold off as much as they do. Such a small country, with Such a strong army. And finally, I love my Rabbi, David Ingber and his beautiful family.
I love that I can walk into any synagogue in the world and find someone who acts a lot like my mom. I also love being part of the nation that brought back Hebrew.
There are so many reasons, is it really possible to answer this in a comment box.
Free food is probably number one, the ability to just hop into shul find a kiddush fight with old ladies over the cholent spoon and then have one of their husbands invite me for lunch.
Chabad - seriously people, even as a nonreligious Jew you can walk in get a free place to stay pretty much anywhere - so what you have to deal with subtle brainwashing aka kiruv - and those chabad women are smoking.
I guess it all comes down to the food and clogged arteries that we get from traditional Jew food - the only healthy Jew food seems to be pickles and seltzer.
The inherent logic in Torah. Once one accepts G-d and Torah everything within precedes logically.
I love that you can find Jewish teachable moments in everyday life, and that even teaching and learning waterskiing can have a Jewish component.
Shabbos Nap! Seriously. I love the Judaism forces me to stop...to unplug (Twitter, FB, email, my beloved BB, etc.)...to enjoy my family...and to sleep! Life is just so darn hectic. And, in my case (as a pulpit rabbi), it is especially important to make that time!
Good luck to everyone ;)
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