What Torah Means... to Jessica Lustbader

Counting the Omer Day 8

Torah. What does it mean to me? Right this second, it represents a giant roll of paper that we read in Temple. But thinking about what it has meant over my lifetime and to the Jewish people in general, I realize its not just a mere roll of paper, but a story; THE story of the Jewish faith.

Ask anyone today and they will say 50 years is a long time. But this “roll of paper” contains the events that happened THOUSANDS of years ago. Putting it that way, the Torah is something of great significance. I couldn’t explain half of the stories and teachings that are contained within the Torah. I know the ones that were taught in religious school, which of course teach valuable life lessons. Could I explain them to someone else, or know the significance of them all- no (but other people can and I think that is an amazing feat!); but I think that knowing some of them is better than none.

The Torah represents all the laws and teachings of Judaism. Does it make me a bad Jew that I can’t explain every detail? I don’t think so. It’s not if we can or can’t recite the words verbatim, it’s the ideas and concepts that are the most important. For most people my age (twenty-somethings), the words of the Torah are not reflected in our daily life, nor do we follow every dietary law and commandment. But the Torah holds all of the ideals that we as Jews can follow if that is our desire. If any Jew (or even non-Jew) wanted to do so, they could study the Torah portions, and learn the ways and teachings of it. Every faith has its holy book- the Bible, the Quran. The Jews have the Torah, and if for nothing else than it being our “holy scripture”, that’s what makes it important to me.

I am proud to be a Jew, and we should all take these days of Omer to think about ways in which we can incorporate the essence of the Torah into our lives. I know that I will, and after doing a little bit of research (I didn’t even know what Omer was) I can now say that I feel slightly closer to the great book that we call the Torah.