Being close to G-d is more than wearing a keepah and reading Torah. It’s more than lighting the candles and kissing a mezuzah when entering a room. Not to be disrespectful, but we can put a keepah on a dog, and the dog isn’t any closer to G-d. People study Torah, and are negligent and abusive to family. Some students of the Torah encourage war and hate against their neighbors.

Why is this?

People forget G-d.

The keepah lacks meaning unless there is meaning given to it. It’s a cloth, sewn nicely to rest on top someone’s head. That’s all it is if G-d is forgotten. It has the potential to remind us of our sacred connection with G-d. But if “sacred connection� are just words that lacks meaning, or even encourage traits in ourselves that are anti-G-d, then G-d has been forgotten.

The problem with the abusive scholar is that he too has forgotten G-d. The scholar—fails to see the everyday: The here, the now, and the people. Sometimes other religious obligation becomes the distraction. The prayer, the ceremony or even studying Torah is prioritized,

and functions as Peter Berger says, as the “legitimation�. It becomes OK that these people should die or that he’s mean to his son because of his theology and his religious obligation.

The study of the Torah and wearing a keepah are both powerful theologically, and can help us bring G-d into our lives. They can also distract. The struggle is to reaffirm religious priority and help bring G-d further into our lives through these practices.

Post By Ross

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