Thank You For Letting Me Wake Up Today

Upon talking to a friend about the Jewish things the two of us are doing now that we have graduated college, we got into a discussion about practicing Judaism vs. only believing in it.

Though we had a healthy discussion and subsequent healthy argument, my friend brought up some good points about the issue at hand. At first I believed that my lack of religious Jewish community (non-religious parents, etc.) was keeping me from expanding my Jewish growth process, but in reality, my friend made a point that its not the environment that keeps a person from keeping laws. "You have to really believe in what you do," he said. "Judaism is also about practicing," he continued with the best point he made in our entire conversation, "If you believe in G-d, you might as well be any monotheistic religion, but Judaism is all about practice, belief and tradition. If you understand the reasons why you should do it, it becomes very easy to practice."

Imagine somebody told you you must sweep your driveway three times a day. You wouldn't give a damn about it. But if you were told you get a million dollars after 2 weeks of sweeping, you would do it as if its the most important thing in your life...regardless of what your neighbors say, regardless of your environment.

This analogy given by my friend, though not the best example of why you should practice Judaism in my opinion, made me believe that practicing Judaism is a selfish thing to do...which in a way it could be, though in his opinion, the word selfish is used in a different context and doesn't necessarily have a negative conotation. In his opinion, the most appealing reason to practice the Jewish faith is to get a reward. Perhaps this is selfish, he argued, but it is, at the same time, an appealing reason to do it. There are many instances in the Torah and Tanach where a person get some kind of reward for doing a mitzvah or practicing the faith.

This made me realize, though one could observe that a reason to practice Judaism could be a selfish one, a reward received after doing a good deed or keeping mitzvot does not have to be selfish. Helping someone can make a person feel good inside, that in itself is a great reward. Spiritual fullfillment, that very connection with G-d many religious Jews strive to obtain in their everyday lives (through davening, keeping Kosher, keeping Shabbos, and more) is also a healthy gift for practicing the laws.

We had a lengthy argument, but all in good fun.

A funny story, my friend has another friend (both shall remain nameless) who asks him why he's always smiling for no reason. And when my friend realizes he really has no good answer, he decided to tell his friend, "It's because I did not die today."

"It sounds weird," he tells me, but it's like a joke between us."

Sounds like the reason we say Modeh Ani in the morning. Thank you, G-d for bringing my soul back into my body. Thank you for letting me wake up today.

Shouldn't we all think like that?