How to tell where the real story is

Once upon a time long ago my people rejected the polytheistic view of the surrounding tribes and became attached to the belief in a single God.

They passed down this belief from generation to generation, more or less understanding what it meant, until today about 3, 000 years later. This is where I become part of the story, because this tradition was impressed upon me too in turn. Not just when I stayed home and when I went out, but also when I lay down and when I got up.

I went to Weitzman Primary School where I learned the stories of the Torah.  I matriculated from Herzlia High School, where I learned to read and write Hebrew.

I got drunk on four cups of wine and sang with my cousins on Seder night. I wore a blue shirt and a red toggle and had the time of my life at Habonim Machaneh in Onrust, in the sun and the dust.

I ate Friday night supper with my parents, my grandparents and my brother and sisters.  There were always prayers and three courses including dessert and Coke.  We sometimes sang Grace after meals.

I sat upstairs in Marais Road Shul and looked at the clothes of the other girls, and tried to catch the eyes of the boys downstairs. 

No one told me to, but I believed in a Jewish God in the sky. I believed He had a special relationship with his Chosen people. I believed that the whole Torah was written by God and given at Sinai. I believed Hebrew was the language God spoke in. I believed the land of Israel was Holy.  I believed good Jews keep more mitzvoth.

And then and then and then…

Then this year I read Viktor Frankel, Richard Elliot Friedman, Rumi, Sidney Banks, Menachem Kellner and Arthur Green.  And I listened to Jonathan Wittenberg, Terry Rubinstein, and Simon Cooper.

And a lot of what I believed fell away.

This is what was left:  that there is one, undivided God. That God is so undivided he can’t be in some places and not in others.   I don’t believe his name is God or anything else either.

I like this belief. When I see it (and I don’t always truly see it) I feel connected to a force in me that is also in everything and everyone else.  It all follows from there.



Apparently, in this case, a recipe for pizza dough follows:

1 packet instant dry yeast
600gm flour
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
450 ml warm water from the tap ie not too hot
Mix and knead. Cover and leave to rise. Then roll out,
add toppings and cook on high till done.