Why I Am A Jew

As I take issue with much of what R' Dr. Sacks writes and preaches - I take issue with this as well. Of course much of what he said is true but there were a number of things that bothered me.

He said that he respects what other religions have to teach and this statement was accompanied by a drawing of a christian cross and muslim crescent. What do we like about those two religions [and the others] that don't already exist in Judaism? I abhor this religious "openness" making room for other religions when there is no source for this in the Torah. A goy doesn't have to convert nor is he encouraged to but he is also not allowed to serve idols which is what Christianity preaches. Yoshke, the Trinity, immaculate conception etc. etc. are all anathema to any believing Jew. As for Islam - I don't have to tell you what it teaches.

He also says that there is nothing special about the Jew but about Judaism. This goes counter to all of the books of Chasidus and Kabbala which teach about the unique Jewish soul. Not only is Judaism special but so are Jews. בנים אתם לה' א-להיכם. אהבתי אתכם אמר השם. And many other psukim and maamarei chazal וחדלו לספור כי אין מספר.  [We discussed this not long ago and I hope ברצות השם דרכינו to return to the topic at a later date. ועוד חזון למועד.]

He also says that we never stopped wrestling with G-d. We don't wrestle with G-d. That is how he interprets the story of Yaakov and the angel but that has [to the best of my knowledge] no source in our tradition and sounds quite blasphemous.

Lesson: Just because they play pleasant background music and someone with a British accent is talking doesn't mean that what he is saying is necessarily true.