Judaism

Peace In and Between Communities

Statistics tell us that there are approximately 15 million Jews in the world. With a world population of 6 billion, that means that Jewish people of all ages and levels of observance come to .25% of the world population. Get your calculator out if you want to see for yourself. 6,000,000,000/15,000,000=.0025 or .25%

That means that 99.75% of the world is not Jewish. Imagine for a second if someone told you that you had a 99.75% chance of winning the lotto. That would seem like it was a guarantee. If someone told you the odds were .25% that something you wanted would not happen, you would view that as statistically insignificant and expect to get what you wanted.

All together, the number of Jews in the world today make up a statistically insignificant percentage - it is as if we are not here. Yet we are - and on the front pages of the newspapers.

Of those 15 million people, 90% are not Orthodox. The number of Orthodox Jews in the world is approximately 1.5 million. That means that the number of traditionally Torah observant people is .025% and the number of non-tradionally Orthodox people in the world (including other Jewish people who are not observant or not Orthodox) is 99.975% making even smaller the numerical significance of those identifying themselves as Orthodox.

Within the 1.5 million Jews who identify themselves as Orthodox, there are everything from chassidic, to Yeshivish, to Modern Orthodox, and within those classifications even further classifications. Each compartmentalized segment becomes statistically smaller and smaller.

Every time we define and group and re-group ourselves, we make ourselves more and more insignificant. That is the statistical reality.

Yet we know that every Jew is a Jew, whethe observant or not. In the Creator's eyes, we are all connected as One People (see explanation of this in Tragedy in Mumbai).

Jewish people need each other the same way that a liver cell needs a brain cell, and a lung needs a heart. We are one body, with many different parts. When we have ideological differences, let it remain in that arena and do not make it personal, falling into the trap of personal feuds or disputes (see Machlokes Page at Jewish People Unite

When we, as communities, build connection amongst ourselves by removing the negativity of ideological disputes, we become unified as One People even if we do not share the same ideologies. The unity comes from understanding the differences even if we don't approve or agree. Rabbi Frand on the Destructive Power of Machlokes

When our differences are based on ideologies and not on negativity, with help from above, perhaps we will merit receiving the redemption, and the Moshiach, who will answer our questions and lead us in ideology to serve the Creator according to His Will.

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