Three Branches of Judaism

Growing up Jewish you’d basically fall into one of three different branches of the religion. For instance, if you identified with the lower branch, you’d be considered a Reformed Jew. Reform Judaism places a strong emphasis on individual autonomy and adaptation to contemporary values and practices.

It seeks to reconcile Jewish tradition with modernity and often incorporates progressive and inclusive perspectives. One of the characteristics of a Reformed Jew would be: “An Emphasis on individual interpretation.”

“Reform Jews believe that individuals have the autonomy to interpret Jewish texts and teachings for themselves. This allows for a more flexible approach to Jewish law (Halakha) and rituals, adapting them to modern contexts.”

In other words, Reformed Jews didn’t stick to the laws that were laid out in the Torah to the tee. They kinda picked and chose the ones they would abide by.

Next, you have the Conservative Jew. Conservative Judaism upholds the importance of Jewish law (Halakha) as a binding and evolving guide for Jewish life. While it recognizes the need for adaptation to modern circumstances, it places a greater emphasis on the authority of Jewish legal tradition compared to other liberal movements. Basically, they abided more by the laws and the Jewish traditions than a Reform Jew would.

Then you have the Orthodox Jew. Orthodox Jews are the ones that follow everything by the book. And no real Pun intended there. The laws are all spelled out in the Torah (the first 5 books of the bible). In my humble opinion though, even Orthodox Jews don’t abide by all the laws in the Bible/Torah. Have you read all those?  🤣

So, where was our family in the mix? I think we were somewhere in the middle of Conservative and Reform with more of an emphasis on being conservative.

I’m pretty sure that no matter which branch you identified with, Sunday school was part of the mix. There weren’t too many Sundays I missed from what I remember. But my only memory of Sunday school had nothing to do with religion (other than tiny bits and pieces).

Sunday School Football

The only thing I really remember about sunday school was playing the game “football.” now, this wasn’t the football game you’re thinking about. It was played on a long table; like a cafeteria table. The ball was a piece of notebook paper that was folded and concocted into a triangle. You had to fold it together so it wouldn’t come apart when playing. .😇

The object was to outscore your opponent just like in real football. You could score touchdowns and field goals. the edge of both sides of the table were considered the goal line. After The coin toss 😆 it was time to kickoff. You kicked off from your goal line (your table edge). The way you kicked off is you’d tilt the ball up from laying flat on the table. so that one of the three triangle points were touching the table. All kicks whether kickoff or field goal the ball had to be in that position.

Then with your right hand, (assuming you’re right handed) you’d position your middle finger so that it was touching the tip of your thumb creating a circle between your middle finger and the end of your thumb.

Your other fingers would be pointing up. You’re trying to create as much leverage so that you could flick your middle finger forward creating as much torque as possible so that you could kick off and get the ball as far down the table as possible.

After the kickoff, the way you moved the ball down the field was you would use the same technique like on the kickoff except now the ball is laying flat on the table. So, you would flick the end of one of the points on the triangle to move the ball down the table.

It would spin like a top after being flicked. You had four tires to get the ball to the very edge of your opponents side of the table without falling off. that was considered a touchdown. If you flicked it too far and the ball went completely off the table that was considered a turnover and your opponent took over on the spot where you flicked it from.

However, you could also kick a field goal if you knew that you were too far away from scoring a touchdown you could go for three points. The way you’d do that is your opponent would stand at the edge of his side of the table. to make a human goal post you would place both thumbs so that they were touching each other.

And then both pinky fingers would be in a vertical position planted on the table while both thumbs were still in contact with each other. Your other three fingers would pointing at your waist. That was the crossbar. You would position the human crossbar just in front of the table edge (your body would be the netting/backstop). 🤓 Then, you could attempt a field goal by using the same technique when kicking off. 😍 

conclusion

I didn’t like Sunday school for the most part. I went because I had football games to play. 🤣 But Sunday school also gets you ready for your Bar Mitzvah. I’ll have an entire blog post about my Bar Mitzvah fiasco. Stay tuned!