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Progressive Judaism

  |   Institutional, Judaism

Judaism - Our Path

The Religion of Israel is a standard and for the Jew it means to take a positive attitude toward life and the world, because he understands it as plan and a purpose. The Jew trusts in God and accepts His work.

However, the Jew does not close his eyes to evil, nor to the suffering in the world including the suffering he has himself experienced, in turn, in his own body. Despite this, the Jew persists in his trust in the Lord – this is the Jewish godliness, its happiness, its strength and its spiritual treasure.

Hence, being religious means being deeply convinced of the value of life and that God has entrusted to us, in our own lives, the instrument with which we can build the world as His intentions and take it to the planned perfection, into the messianic days.

The teachings of the Jewish doctrine is based on three pillars:
God, Torah, People.

Therefore, we highlight three groups of guidelines to the practices of being a Jew.

The first group aims to establish and strengthen our confidence in God and His world. It is considered a great deal when we can formulate this pronouncement in a new and conscious way, either inside ourselves or before others: “I trust Him!” This is not a dogma, it is much more, it is the concretized resolution to deliver Him our life and existence.

The second group covers all guidelines that demand us the fight for the good and against evil, so that there is the happiness of a mutual trust between us and the world, enabling the victory of the principle of good. This struggle must be waged in all places: inside ourselves, in human society and in the worldwide areas.

The third group is aimed at the Judaism maintenance of which God has served and is serving to communicate His plan to humans and to keep in them the desire to be an instrument of His plan. Therefore, we are commanded to cultivate and always rekindle all that can serve the Judaism maintenance: culture, people and land.

These three groups form the “program” for the Jew, which will give him life meaning and the purpose as human beings, son of his people, as a God’s creature.

Judaism is based on texts. But each text can be interpreted in various ways, at different times, by different people. So, Judaism has never been a single and simple unit, but it is the general name for a wide variety of rites and forms, all based on the three principles: God, Torah, and People. The Ohel Jacob Synagogue follows the interpretations of Progressive Judaism.

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Photo Oliver Minzloff © Dr. Annette Boeckler courtesy
annette 1 - Progressive Judaism
Dr. Annette Mirjam Böckler is a professor of Jewish and Biblical liturgy at Leo Baeck University in London, where she is also a librarian. Writer and translator in Jewish matters (being the translator of the Seder HaTefillot-the first liberal prayer book after the Shoah in Germany), has developed the translation of the German edition of the comments of the Torah from W. Gunther Plaut.