Sunday, February 20, 2011

I would like to comment on why Mrs. Krause called herself "Modern Orthodox." The way she understood modern orthodoxy was in a very philosophical type of way: keeping Hashem's mitzvot while incorporating the secular studies that will enhance our religion. That means only the good...and non of the bad. She spoke about how she tried to find the perfect balance of religious and secular culture. I think for her community she did find a balance that is probably very hard to maintain. She even said that most of her friends don't send their children to college but she does and for her that is somewhere close to the border of good secular studies and bad. In our community, however, I think the border is somewhere else. I don't think it should be where it is (such as watching certain TV shows that, the more I think about it, are very inappropriate), but I do think it goes beyond what Mrs. Krause considers her line. After her speech I started thinking about where our line should be. Should I really be watching this show or listening to this music? Changing is hard but, as Mrs. Kraft puts it, it's better to realize you're doing something wrong, even if you feel like you can't stop right now, rather than turn your back and completely deny that what you're doing it wrong. Coming to that realization might make you feel guilty for continuing it but truthfully you coming closer to Hashem. No one is perfect but everyone has the potential to observe all 613 mitzvot (or the ones that pertain to her) and no one should ever feel like they are incapable of doing everything Hashem commanded us to do.

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