How Judaism Finds Inspiration in the Everyday

How do you balance Judaism’s everyday rituals and commandments with feelings of religious inspiration?

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This video is the second in a 4-part series called Rooted: Jewish Values Run Deep, which explores the productive tensions between Jewish values, what we learn from these tensions, and how they enrich Judaism. These questions serve as a starting point for both personal reflection and community conversation — so each video is accompanied by a guide that can help facilitate and deepen these dialogues.

Community Building Questions

  • ‘Keva’ (regular ritual) is based in consistency while ‘kavanah’ (inspiration) is more based in an elevated experience. Are you more ‘keva’ or ‘kavanah’ when it comes to how you view your Jewish practice?
  • Can you be both ‘keva’ and ‘kavanah?’
  • Share a Jewish ritual or Jewish family tradition that you remember from growing up. Do you still do this?  How has your experience of this changed over the years? Why do you still do it or why did you stop?

Breaking Barriers Questions

  • Is Shabbat the cure to modern-day workaholism?
  • How does Judaism regulate our modern-day culture of constant busyness? Does it work? When and how?
  • How can the broader Jewish community come together when the practice of rituals and religious observance varies between communities and denominations?  What practices might serve as “bridges?”
  • Should Jewish unity be a goal?  In what ways?
  • Do you need to put in”the work”– learning about Judaism, connecting to community, etc — before you can get the spiritual “reward?”

We would love to hear your reactions to these questions and activities. Please use the comment feature on the bottom of this page to join the conversation.

For more videos in this series, click here. 

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