Judaism has impacted the world with its Bible, especially through the 10 Commandments. Embodied in the 10 Commandments are the universal truths of humanity. Respect for Creator, one another, matters in business and much more. There are people that aren’t practitioners of the three faiths of the book; Judaism, Christianity and Islam, but yet they have some of the very same truths framed within the context of their own use of language and cultural understanding.

I’ve heard humanity compared to that of a rainbow; colorful, rich, diverse and lovely, each in their own way. The process I went through to become Jewish taught me a truth that I think is difficult for most to master. Not that I hold the wisdom of King Solomon inside, nor am I especially profound. It was walking away from the unnatural fear instilled in me through my life’s experiences that taught me that God cares about all of us, we are all his children. You are loved by the Creator of the Universe exactly as you are. We’re all in process, we all have hopes, fears, passions, dreams and we all fall down. Sin is merely the act of missing the mark, but it’s not fatal. Making mistakes is a human thing; what’s to fear in that? It means more chances for growth, for gaining practicality and understanding about one another.

All religion is damaging to the extent it teaches us to fear/hate one another and gives some people a major case of superiority complex. In the universality of Judaism, we see experiences as a whole, not “good” or “bad”, or “evil” but as LIFE. We value all people as having importance and respect each person.

Life is about seeking balance also. I’ve heard it said that it’s better to be content than happy. With happiness you often have the flipside of unhappy and other attendant emotions. Content is the balance of my life, recognizing the flow, smoothing the transitions, having a steady hand. It’s frightening to me that some people use their religion to stir the emotions of their “flock” or “observers” and call it stirring their faith. How about stirring their thinking? Appealing to their intellect? What’s wrong with using your intellect? Certainly some of the world’s misunderstandings stem from emotionalism stirred up on a massive scale – countless innocents die when this happens.

A universal truth taught through Judaism is respect. I pray we can build one another up through mutual respect.