The spiritual views of one modern Jew.

     The presence of a god, or not, is irrelevant in my moral decision making. I do not need a God to tell me that helping those in need is good, or that murder and torture of the innocent is bad. Also, if I am to be a strict adherent of judaism and the old testament, Then I would have to support the stoning of homosexuals as it is an abomination and they shall be put to death. I could find several other sections of Leviticus that would be considered absurd by todays standards. Furthermore, if there is an all-powerful and all-benevolent being that is referred to as God, then I seriously have got a few questions to ask. While innocent men, women, and children are getting maimed, slaughtered, dismembered, disfigured, through the actions of both man and nature, where is this benevolence. While I get the necessity of death, I feel that any god I would choose to believe in or follow, would not be so narcissistic as to require my active belief or showing of devotion. That's not to say I don't believe in god, or even that I do, it is simply stating that I feel my time and energies are better spent doing what I can to help the helpless, to treat people equally and with fairness, to defend the defenseless, to bring hope to the hopeless. Because been a Jew and helpless, discriminated against, defenseless and hopeless, I know how it feels, I know what it's like. Having been a Jew and seeing people who are utterly helpless, who have be denigrated and cast aside or killed because they were different, having seen pulled up to places on a map where there was once a town, but now there is nothing but nature because they were massacred and incapable defending themselves, having seen the look of hopelessness in the eyes of veterans and civilians who have hit rock bottom and know of nowhere else to go. I have come to realize that to me, being a Jew is helping the helpless because I have been there and I have seen others, being a Jew is treating people kindly, fairly and with equality because, as a Jew, I've been on the other side of that coin, being a Jew is defending the defenseless because we all as Jews know what it is like to be defenseless, being a Jew is giving hope to those who have none because, as Jews, we have been through the worst the world has had to offer and yet we still survive and we can use that to give hope to others. That is what being a Jew is to me, not abstaining from eating pork or mixing milk and meat, and while there are many traditions and holidays that go along with being Jewish, and yes they are important because it helps us to remember who we are and where we came from, if forced to choose between helping others who need help, defending, or hope, and celebrating holidays, I will choose to help 10 times out of 10. Why will I? Because, more important than my identity as a Jew, and more important than a belief or non-belief in god, is maintaining ones humanity because once that is lost, nothing else matters. And while many times, or actually most times, my identity as a Jew and my maintenance of my humanity go hand in hand. While you or others may place your faiths in an entity known as God, I choose to place mine in the concept known as Humanity, that abstract idea that separates humans from the rest of the animal kingdom. And you know what, who's to say the concepts of God and Humanity aren't one and the same. My point is I do not know, and I really do not care because at the end of the day, regardless of if there is a God or not, I will still do what I can to help people. And that is why this quote is, in fact, factual in my case.