Personal Narrative: My Ideal Jew

When defining what an ideal Jew is, many factors can be considered, such as religious observance, relationship to Jewish culture, relationship to Israel and the Hebrew language, and connection to God. My ideal Jew is someone who really supports the community aspect of Judaism, and encouraging others within the community to participate in Jewish culture. An ideal Jew also incorporates certain Jewish values into their lives and allows them to govern their behavior and uses them to improve their relationships with fellow people. Altogether, the ideal Jew is someone who portrays Judaism to non-Jews and Jews alike as something special and unique, something to be admired and that they themselves want to be a part of. Jews should not in any way make …show more content…
I am somewhat observant albeit not very enthusiastically. I go to synagogue pretty much every Shabbat and on all of the holidays, and I keep Shabbat and holidays at home as well. I also keep kosher and whatnot. I incorporate some elements of Jewish culture into my life. Of course, I go to a Jewish day school so I am exposed to and involved in cultural Judaism there. While I am do not consider myself that good at actually speaking Hebrew, I am in the highest Hebrew class and I do aspire to get better at it. I am also in the highest Talmud class at my school and I do enjoy studying it. Furthermore, I appreciate a lot of Jewish values and try to keep them as best I can. I honor my parents and I am self-conscious about speaking Lashon Hara. One of the big values I struggle with is not being jealous of other people’s possessions or situations. I am not particularly enthusiastic about Israel. It really is a beautiful place, and I understand it has a rich history, for the Jews and many other peoples, but I could not see myself moving there in the future. I think, however, that the biggest factor preventing me from being an ideal Jew is my general attitude toward Judaism. I am generally pretty reluctant to be observant and when my parents are not around I abandon most aspects of observance entirely. That really stems from the fact that I do not really buy into the idea of religion, and prefer the rational over the spiritual and emotional. I …show more content…
I would love for them to be ideal Jews but I think to raise a child to be an ideal Jew it is helpful to be an ideal Jew yourself. I want to raise my children as part of a Jewish community and teach them Jewish morals that I find important. In fact I think this aspect of education, not only to one’s own children, but to all children is another core part of being an ideal Jew. My perfect Jew is a Jew who is very involved in a Jewish community and in outreach to people not in the community. It is also someone who sticks to the major values that are a core part of Jewish ethics. Observance of ritual is not as important, and relationship to Israel is not important either. To me Judaism is about bettering ourselves and spreading that to all of the people surrounding