Rabbi Aharon Yaakov Greenberg, in his collection of essays on the Torah, «Itturei Torah,» quotes Beit Aharon: «Every Jew (and every person) must know and think that he is unique in the world, and that there has never been anyone exactly like him. If there had been someone like him, there would have been no need for him to come into the world. Every person is new to the world, and his duty is to improve all his ways until all of Israel (and all of the world) has attained perfection.»

Rabbi Dovid Rosenfeld says: “God, in his infinite wisdom, saw to it that no two people are alike. And for that very reason, God doesn’t want us all to serve him in the same way. He’s not interested in 7 billion people who are identical to one another. He made each of us unique. We must discover our own individuality, direct it toward the God who formed us, and transform the world into a place of beauty, harmony, and diversity.”

Rabbi David Golinkin says of the Jewish people: “We’re supposed to be united, but that doesn’t mean we all have to think and act the same way. It’s unity versus uniformity, and uniformity has never been the point,” says Golinkin. “The idea that there is a ‘one size fits all’ Judaism that fits us all, and that therefore we should all do the same thing and act the same way, flies in the face of everything Jewish history teaches us.”

Rabbi Sacks writes: “There was not a single Jewish settlement in the Middle Ages that did not have its own minhagim and piyutim (liturgical customs and poems). In the 18th and 19th centuries, each Hasidic group and yeshiva had its own style, its own nigunim (melodies), its own derech ha-limud (way of studying), its own role models, its own spiritual tonality. The path of Ger was not that of Chabad; that of Volozhyn was not that of Mir.”

Rabbi Yehuda haNasi said: “What is the right path for a person to choose for himself? Whatever brings glory to himself [before God] and grants him glory before others.”

Soren Kierkegaard, Danish thinker and father of religious existentialism, speaking about the great religions, says: “The greatest proof of the decline of these great religions is the prodigiously large number of like-minded followers.” Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo adds: “The more Jews behave the same way and hold identical beliefs, the greater the evidence of the deterioration of their Judaism.”

If everyone decides how they eat, dress, think, speak, and love, why do we have to be the same, not to say identical, in matters of identity and religion? Al Shtei Raglaim seeks to give you the tools to find your own Judaism and answer the questions on your exam about your Jewish identity, without having to copy someone else’s.

By Marcos Gojman.

Bibliography: Articles by the cited authors.

“Al Shtei Raglaim, the Judaism you believe in, the one you practice, and the one you feel.”