Kingdom of Priests
To me, the most concise instructions for being a Jew in this world are to be a “kingdom of priests” and “light unto the nations.”
What that looks like in my life, apparently, is embroidering a little tapestry of favorite Bible stories and showing it to people when they need it.
I’m not speaking literally about the embroidery; I mean that I have my own drash on the stories, but it’s grounded in traditional language and approaches that were not part of the download of Tanakh taken on by the wider world.
This feels to me like Jews’ job now.
I kinda think the other shoe is yet to drop as far as the Jewish contribution to humankind.
The story got real big. Most people know it, in some form. That is pretty remarkable. But HOW they know it isn’t how we know it, and it’s hard to explain, but it changes everything.
If we can show the world that yes, the Bible is holy, but it’s also A BOOK… and here’s how to live with both of those things being true… well, that’s how you get a 5,000-year-long culture.