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Monday, May 21, 2012

Movie Review: Letters to God

Last night, I wanted to watch a movie on my Kindle Fire, and came across "Letters to God."  

The movie is based on a true story.

The story is about a little boy named Tyler who is dying of cancer.  Every day, Tyler writes letters to God.  His faith is sweet and innocent.  He doesn't give up, although those around him want to give up.

What his family is going through is horrible and also, some of the people around him are also facing horrible things.  Faith and prayer is what keeps many of the characters in the movie going.

Tyler even sends a loving letter to a boy that bullies him about his illness because he wants to love others the way God does.  That boy does change his attitude.

Tyler gets others to look at their own lives.  They call out to God and then their lives do change.

I had no idea, when I started watching the movie, that is was a Christian movie.  In fact, many of the "good people" in the movie seemed to be gentile church-goers.  There is nothing wrong with gentile church-goers, that just caught me by surprise.  There seemed to be no Jewish people in the movie.

Although there were no Jewish people in this story, I found myself relating to so much that went on.  There are times when I cry out to G-d.  There are times I don't understand why things happen.  There are also times when it seems like everyone around me is happy, but I feel so alone and seek G-d for answers.

The story is supposed to inspire, but for me, it confirmed that I just don't belong in a "church-like" world.  The God in this movie is a different God than the Jewish God.

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Humanistic Judaism

Humanistic Judaism combines Jewish identity and culture with a human centered approach to life.

Humanistic Jews celebrate Jewish identity and use poetry and prose to express that connection. Humanistic Jews sing Jewish songs in English, Hebrew, and Yiddish.

I wish I could visit a Humanistic Jewish congregation and see what it is like. I'm not sure such an approach to Judaism is for me since from what I've read, Humanistic Jews don't believe in God.

I do believe in God so very much.  I just can't seem to be able to seek God alone, and God seems to be farther and farther away from me lately.  This is also why I haven't written much on this blog in the past month or so.  I need some sort of spiritual recharge...