Frum Satire | Jewish Comedy

The Rantings of A Frum Yid With A Warped Perspective

Interesting essay about being Jewish

October 9th, 2007 · 6 Comments

The person who wrote this essay wishes to remain anonymous, I felt that the essay rocked and although it is a little serious for my site, many of you have expressed a liking to the fact that I do put up serious stuff once in a while. I encourage anyone who may have something to share to send it in to me and I may be able to put it up. As always funny and controversial stuff is most appreciated. Enjoy!!!

In the same way that our most exacting name for G-d is nothing more than the constant sounds we breath, G-d is ever present, yet can go entirely unnoticed. The question is not is there a G-d to be seen, but rather, how can I see G-d? I know G-d is continuously around me, both literally and figuratively. However, it becomes my choice of when I chose to see G-d. In order to relate to G-d, in order to see G-d, I must wear my G-d glasses, which enable me to see beyond the obvious and into what actually is.

My G-d glasses are old and ancient. They have been worn for thousands of years before me. I have no doubt that they began as a perfect set of lenses with which G-d could be readily seen. A perfect prescription with which to see the a perfect ‘being’. Yet as time passed, and my glasses were handed down, some owners scratched them, some tried to polish away their scratches, and some chose to simply not wear them. They have been handed to me, with the original perfection prescription still detectable through the chips and scratches. And when I put them on, I too, can see that perfection, the divine. But the scratches and the chips are also apparent, and the choice now becomes mine. Do I wear my glasses as they are, do I try to polish them, or do I simply leave them to be?

I have tried to wear them as they were. To pretend that the perfect glasses sat on my nose, viewing the perfect world. But sadly, neither the glasses nor the world they viewed are perfect. So I have begun to polish them, to correct them, to adjust them to my own vision. The tint in the lenses remains the same as my ancestors glasses, but I have begun to repair the scratches and imperfections so that when I put them on, they allow me to see the most of G-d that I can.

I am no master artisan, who can precisely remove all the imperfections. Rather, when I labor away at removing one mark, I am in its place leave another. This is the constant struggle with which I live my life. There are times when life would become easier, and perhaps even more palatable if I could just remove the glasses from my face. But having had that infinitesimal small glimpse at the divine, I understand why my ancestors chose the fate of being able to not only see, but forced to wrestle with the images before them.

My rasion d’etre is to bring into my periphery this image of divine nature. It embodies every overtone and detail of my existence: In essence, my glasses determine how I relate to the world, and in turn, how that world chooses to relate to me. By seeing the world as hidden holiness, I can no longer see commands and imperatives, but rather urgent necessities - portals to adjust the contrast, the brightness and the intensity of the colors. This ability to fine tune my vision comes via mitzvot and halacha. I believe that while certain elements remain universal and unchanging, there are other aspects that deserve, and indeed require, re-examination. Since our own vision changes over time, so too must the prescription in the G-d glasses be available for subtle yet meaningful and significant change.

As I continue to on my journey, I discover that the more I enable myself to see G-d, the more I become a part of the picture instead of part of the viewing audience. My quest is to see the divine, and in turn be seen as a reflection of it.

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6 responses so far ↓

  • 1 AF // Oct 9, 2007 at 3:14 am

    Perhaps it is not that the glasses have been scratched through generations, but that the author’s eyes have been damaged by looking through a different set of glasses, whose prescription was not for his but for different eyes. And now, after his eyes accommodated to a different person’s vision (and maybe even the diseases of vision), he cannot get used to the glasses that were prescribed to the original, his own vision. The longer he wears his new glasses, however, the more his eyes will return to the original vision his ancestors had, without foreign lenses bending and shaping his eyes.

    Otherwise: interesting and in certain parts nice, but I strongly disagree with the influence of certain ideologies on the author’s views. G-d doesn’t change. Neither does His Will. We can bring ourselves to Torah, or try to bring Torah to ourselves. It’s a question of what’s most important, the question of bitul, the question of what is holy and purifying and what needs to be purified. My personal answer? Ein od milvado. So, why worry about something else?

  • 2 Marli // Oct 9, 2007 at 5:18 am

    Sounds like one awesomely creative college application essay. Something like this would (when the other factors are similarly impressive) give a kid an excellent shot at a top 5 school. :) I love it.

  • 3 Hesh // Oct 9, 2007 at 1:18 pm

    I emailed the person so hopefully she will respond to the comments that the post generates. The essay was originally written as part of the application process for Rabbinical school at the University of Judaism a few years back.

  • 4 Av // Oct 9, 2007 at 8:27 pm

    Reminds me of a story where an Israeli Jew goes to India to find G-d and the Dali Lama tells him to open his eyes because G-d had always been in front of him back home in Israel. Which makes me further wonder if the glasses in your post were certified as kosher. Ha!

  • 5 S-L // Oct 10, 2007 at 4:00 am

    I agree with AF, if G-d did change He wouldn’t be G-d. I love the analogy of Glasses being Judaism.

  • 6 Author // Oct 10, 2007 at 2:35 pm

    Sorry for the delay in responding. AF - you make some very interesting and accurate points. The essay was written in response to the question “what is your concept of and relationship to G-d” and I feel like part of the human condition is to see things through OUR eyes. Our natural wiring is to only see the world as changing around us, and it is only with a great deal of training and experience that we start to understand that we, too, change.

    The glasses were defnitely not certified kosher - but they are organic :)

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