Tolerance and acceptance, two words that I have never been terribly happy with. Their base meanings are good but in the last 20 years or so they seemed to have changed into something political which went something to this effect; I will tolerate what you believe to be true and accept you but you, on the other hand, don't have to accept or tolerate me if my views are not politically correct or doesn't meet with your accepted point of view.
In the past , and even still today, I could really care less if I am politically correct but I would like to think that I have become at least a bit more tolerant of opposing views and beliefs and have accepted many things that years ago I wouldn't even have dreamed of. The thing that is actually troubling to me are those who would claim that they are tolerant and accepting of people and opinions and yet what they say or do differs from reality. Let me give you an example.
My wife and I along with our children have recently moved back to New England after a rather troubling and intolerant time in the south west, living amongst people who would not accept us because we were Yankees and because we did not follow Christianity and I had publicly said so. Worse were those that had once called us friends, abandoning us even while claiming the love of their "god" for us.
Fast forward to our time here. Since our arrival here we have been reunited with many of our old friends including those who are of a Christian persuasion and I can tell you it has been wonderful. No one has been floored by our beliefs in Judaism and if any one has been critical it certainly hasn't been said to our faces and it has been a breath of fresh air.In fact even while discussing the things that we saw differently, we were doing it while eating burgers and our kids were playing together. There was no condemnation it was a simple matter of we see things differently and that's OK. This is what I call tolerance and acceptance.
While I have been very critical of Christianity and it's views, I have also come to discover that not all I have been told about Judaism is entirely accurate either.
Most of my contact with the Jewish community has been via the internet and usually with those of the Orthodox community, so imagine my surprise to find out that not all of what I have been told is entirely accurate. I had been told in the past that the only people who would ever be considered Jewish were either those born Jewish or who converted via an Orthodox conversion, that if you ever wanted to live in Israel that this was the only way that you would be accepted. I have puzzled over this for a long time, why would it be that they only way to be considered a real Jew was to convert to the Orthodox? There are Christians that are Israeli citizens as well as Arabs and Palestinians. There are those that are considered secular Jews as well as those from other Jewish communities,it made me quite confused and as a result my wife and I really wasn't sure just where we fit. It kind of reminded me of the Southern Baptists because unless you were one of them they really didn't consider you to be a christian and the only difference I could find between them and my baptist denomination was little more then wording. So while I was interested in conversion to Judaism we were concerned about what really seemed like an intolerant point of view.
Then this past Monday things changed.
Monday my wife and I met with Rabbi Robin at Temple Beth Jacob and it was a blessing. We walked in being nervous ( we have been blasted by Orthodox and Christians prior to this ) not really knowing what to expect and she immediately put us at ease.We were made to feel welcome and we had about an hour and a half of questions and answers. Turns out that they are a Reform Synagogue and that all the things that I had been told via the "friends" I had were from the ultra orthodox point of view and it was only their group who would not accept your conversion, if you so chose , and that many things were open for discussion that I had been told were not and that at least here in New England the various Jewish congregations all get along! Imagine my surprise. We left the meeting with Rabbi Robin feeling like we had finally found a place to be and to learn. Today we went to our first Torah study and again we were welcomed by all even though we are not Jewish as of yet,it was enough that we were there. Now that's tolerance and acceptance.
To all of our friends here in New England, no matter what it is that you believe, thank you for welcoming us back, and to Rabbi Robin thank you for welcoming us into the Synagogue, showing what true tolerance and acceptance is.
Shalom,
Ignacio
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