As I'm sure many of you have realized, I have been truly fascinated during our recent chumash classes. (and frustrated since I'm dying to just know all of the answers already!) What I found so beautiful today was the fact that in Judaism there must be a mix of the "religious" and the "moral." There is no such thing as having one and not the other. It simply cannot happen. I think this is very important for many of us in the class (including me) because sometimes we get so bogged down on the "religious" side of things that we forget about what sometimes seems obvious, the morality. When we look at someone who is dressed modestly we automatically think that she is a "religious" person. However, if she is a nasty person who treats her friends terribly, she cannot be classified as "religious." The following example is regarding the new dress code. Ever since the new dress code system has been put in to effect, there is a noticeable difference in people's skirt length. This is fantastic! However, I also hear people comment on the longer skirts and in some way ridicule the "frum look" or even "frum" people. (By the way, I'm totally including myself in this. I'm guilty of it too!) Some people might say that she is "religious," but she is not because she is not acting in a moral, appropriate way. This reminds me of the Ramban we learned on "Kedoshim Tehiyu." Ramban says that we need to make sure that even if we keep the rules technically, we shouldn't act in a refined way. We should act in an appropriate way in the letter of the law and the spirit of the law.
Another thing I would like to discuss is the overused word: "religious." When classifying or talking about Jewish people, we often use the term "religious." However, we always say it with quotes around it or point out that it is in fact not the right word. I think this is because people classify people who wear a black hat as "religious." However, as I discussed before that shouldn't be the criteria of "religious." There is the moral realm that plays in it as well, and I think we often forget that.
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