Good Analogy
I was just talking with one of my co-workers. She used to live in Crown Heights, and she actually really enjoyed watching all the Chasidim on holidays. She was asking me about the structure of Orthodox Judaism - whether Chasidim are considered Orthodox, and what the difference was between Chasidim and Lubavtich, etc.
I gave her the analogy of Christianity - There's Christians, and under that Catholics and Protestants, and under that Baptists and Methodists and Lutherans. And how there are Christians who are very serious and go to church every day, and how there are those who are more casual about it, but are all considered Christian.
She said she understood it finally, and was glad she asked. I told her to feel free to ask more whenever she likes.
posted by Shoshana @ 10:03 AM
3 Comments:
Seems like a good analogy to me. For some reason, most non-Jews think all Orthodox people should, or have to, practice their religion the same way. I have always found it a little difficult to explain all the various differences between ultra-O, modern O, etc.
I don't know if this is your experience, but I know people from Georgia who have said things like "Christians and Catholics do xxx". I had to explain to them than Catholics are Christians.
Sara -
It's interesting that even non-religious Jews think that Orthodox Judaism is monochromatic, mainly because they just don't have so much knowledge. The hard part if relaying the similarities within the differences.
e-kvetcher -
I have had some such experiences, and I think it's because Protestantism is so incredibly dominant in the South, that they generally tend to focus on the differences and not see the fact that they are rooted in the same religion.
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