Day Four

It was suggested to me last night that I take a look at the book "The Year of Living Biblically." The premise of the book is that the author - a Jew by birth, not practice - attempted to follow the Torah - "as literally as possible."

Now, let's step back a moment, shall we!? Back in 2003/2004-ish I use to attend a weekly Torah study group at the home of an Orthdox Rabbi. From time-to-time, I also shared in the Shabbos with the Rabbi's family as well. During one of our discussions I attended we talked about the Mitzvot, or Jewish written laws, and how there were many of them. So, when I heard about the book and how the author at first started make a list of them and stopped somewhere around 100 or so I chuckled. "Yeah, I remember an Orthdox Rabbi once telling me that there were so many Mitzvot there is no way people could follow all of them," I commented with light-hearted tone. At the time I was given that information I didn't know how many, so I looked it up. There are 613 Mitzvot Jews are suppose to follow. That's a lot! As I researched all this I came up with this site - Judaism 101. (I know it looks a little cheesy but I like the way it brakes out all the categories.)

So, my friend and I were talking about the book and they were saying the writing wasn't so great, but it was keeping their attention. Then they went on to say this is not a hard-core serious book, but more light-hearted and sarcastically funny. Which then made me wonder if it would be better to listen to via audiobook as there is one thing I have realized over the years. . . it's hard to translate sarcasm into writing.

This all brings me to my acquisition of said book. Apparently my library likes this book enough to have two copies in print and audio. My plan? I have acquired one of the copies of this book and it's mine for the next month. After I read the book I will then listen to the audiobook. (See if my sarcasm theory has merit.)

As for my motivation to read the book, I've always found the practice of any religion fascinating. This interest started for me back in college when one of my then good friends tried to impose one of their religious beliefs on me while in turn justifying their reasons for not practicing one of their religion's strongly held beliefs. This is the first of many times my religious beliefs would be tested. What intrigued me more was the fact that they were acting in a hypocritical manner while telling me I was a bad person for not following things that weren't even part of the belief system I grew up with. How does that work again?

Nonetheless, it was what it was and has been a catalyst for many in-depth discussions about religion. Primarily, my observation of the pick-and-choose nature of it. That's part of the reason I'm really looking forward to reading this book. It's just yet another insight to how someone decides what is important enough to follow and what "laws" can be ignored to suit their lifestyle. I will be sure to update you on my journey through this book as I make my way.

Until later . . .