Centralized Judaism… something like herding cats?

Before coming to Patheos, I thought I was pretty well informed about other religions. I have been to every imaginable church and was even given a Christian study bible by a friend… when I was enrolled in a Christian bible study class. (It was really awesome! They were studying the minor prophets and I had never read that part of the TaNaCH.)

And then I met my friends at Patheos. We are a diverse group here… Mormons, Methodist, Protestants, Buddhists, Native Americans… we even created our own religion… Briantology. As I got to know my Christian friends and learned more about how their faiths are structured, I was fascinated… and slightly jealous. I had been raised in the (somewhat thorny) bosom of the Reform movement and was turned off. I found comfort and passion within Chabad and while I still say I affiliate Chabad, I find that I do fall somewhere outside the bounds of traditional movements. Which is fine with me. As my father always says, “Once you call yourself a movement, you stop moving.”

But my issue is this… where do Jews go for centralized information?

Anyone?

Okay, I know what you are saying… Chabad.org or MyJewishLearning.com… Both great resources but everyone has their own place to be and there really isn’t a centralized place for Jews of ALL denominations to meet and learn about the other. Some movements or sects believe anything but themselves is ridiculous, too “orthodox” or old fashioned, or not “Jewish enough…”

That is what is ridiculous to me. Without putting in doors and windows, how do we plan to be klal yisroel (all of Israel), a shared community?

So that is what I hope Patheos is. A window into our faith across the board and a door to exploring different people and ideas. But we have to get the word out. Without a main blog (like the Mormons) or centralized leader (aka Catholic), how do we spread the word of what is happening here? And I know many people are reticent to try to websites. I tell Patheos that everyday… I have always been cautious about websites claiming to have Jewish information because we are usually maligned or it is a conversion attempt, or it is wrong.

But that is not the case here.

So come, Jews, come one and all… Let’s make our Klal Yisroel here, at Patheos. And I love feedback. Am I missing a topic? A group? An interesting idea? Cool, email me! [email protected]

B’hatzlacha,

Talia