An earworm af Yiddish

I've been listening to this all day:



You can see a side-by-side translation and transliteration here.

As a Jew, I'm proudly Reform. I might lean more or less traditional here and there, depending on the issue, and depending on what makes sense to me. So why have I had this song about Moshiach in my head all day?

I'm not going to go too far into that today, but it does draw me to a conversation I've had recently with a fellow Blogger on the nature of belief; she attends minyamim religiou--er, regularly, but at the same time counts herself an agnostic. Her explanation is certainly interesting and worth reading, and I think Shnirele Perele ended up in my head because of my thoughts on the matter.

Every year at Pesach, we close the service by saying, "Next year in Jerusalem!" I don't think that most people, at the end of the Seder, really mean it; it has become the traditional closing for the meal, and certainly it hearkens to the hope that next year, HaShem willing, all Jews who want to celebrate Pesach in Jerusalem can do so; even more, it reflects the belief that Moshiach vet komen hayntiks yar--Moshiach will come this very year, so next year the exiles will be gathered in. I like the image of abiding hope that we maintain from year to year: this year, HaShem willing, will be a better year. This year will be the one where all works out. Hope, of course, doesn't require a religious perspective; the Seder can be just as enjoyable as a time when people get together.

While I understand the position taken by many cultural or ethnic Jews, to me I cannot be a Jew without being religious. Being a Jew without HaShem makes no sense to me; our traditions are so steeped in religious observance that the two should not be, really, cannot be separated. That's not to say that religious observance cannot change; in fact, changes in religious observance are part of what has allowed us as Jews to continue over the generations. But it doesn't make sense to me to teach my children to be Jews only to perpetuate the cultural aspects of our identity. It's critical to me that the religious aspect of that identity be integral to the definition.

As the saying goes, though, two Jews, three opinions. I'm glad the conversation can go on.