Vitals...

I'm thinking the best way to do this is to come up with some questions to answer for each commandment to try and figure it out. So, here is my first draft of what I'll be looking into to start each post. Of course, I'll probably ramble on for a bit after I've answered the questions as best I can to really try and figure out what I think about each one.

Here's what I'm thinking for an outline - if there's anything else that you think should be added, please let me know in the comments section! I'd be more than happy to add more to this. I'm sure it will change as I go through.

Type of Commandment:

Commandment:

Where does it come from:

How might you follow this?:

Why might this have been commanded in the first place?:

What are some benefits to following this today?:

What are some drawbacks to following this today?:

I'm getting the list of the 613 from this site, which may or may not be a good place to find it. In all honesty, I just tossed it into Google and that was the first place that it suggested I look.

I also wanted to answer a question that my dad asked me on the weekend about the blog. He mentioned that I said a few times that I'm "half Jewish". I did this for a couple reasons, I guess. One is that it's where I come from. I wasn't raised Jewish and I don't know much about the religion. The bigger reason, though, is that I don't want anyone to mistake me for someone who knows what they're talking about. I am absolutely no expert on this subject, especially when it comes to the religious aspects of Judaism. So please don't think I'm trying to distance myself from being a Jew or anything like that. I'm very happy with who I am, I just want to make sure I'm not portraying myself as a highly Jewishly educated person, because I'm not!

I believe this will be my last procrastinating post! I should get right into the 613 after this one, I think.

As it turns out, looking through the list that I found, this might be a bit tougher than I thought it might be. To be honest, I'm a little nervous about it - so please bear with me and comment away!

In any case, I read something nice in Hope, Not Fear: A Path to Jewish Renaissance today that I would like to share with you.

"The great sage Hillel was once asked by a potential convert to describe the entire Torah while standing on one foot. Hillel's response was, 'That which is hateful to you do not do to your fellow. That is the whole Torah; the rest is explanation; go and learn.'" (page 101)

I should probably start with a few mitzvot talking about Passover - which, as you may be aware, starts this Friday. So stay tuned!

Chag Sameach (I just learned online that this translates to "joyous festival" and is particularly appropriate for Passover)