Judaism AJ Jacobs wrote The year of Living Biblically: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible. He describes it in this way on his website: “The Year of Living Biblically is about my quest to live the ultimate biblical life. To follow every single rule in the Bible as literally as possible. I obey the famous ones: – The Ten Commandments – Love thy neighbor – Be fruitful and multiply But also, the hundreds of oft-ignored ones. – Do not wear clothes of mixed fibers. – Do not shave your beard – Stone adulterers Why? Well, I grew up in a very secular home (I’m officially Jewish but I’m Jewish in the same way the Olive Garden is an Italian restaurant). I’d always assumed religion would just wither away and we’d live in a neo-Enlightenment world. I was, of course, spectacularly wrong. So was I missing something essential to being a human? Or was half the world deluded? I decided to dive in headfirst. To try to experience the Bible myself and find out what’s good in it, and what’s maybe not so relevant to the 21st century. The resulting year was fascinating, entertaining and informative. It was equal parts irreverent and reverent. It was filled with surprising insights almost every day. (I know it’s not biblical to boast, so apologies for that).” And so on. Read some of what he has written about his experience and discuss the challenge of living ‘literally’ in a time and culture foreign to much of what was written so long ago. How do Orthodox Jews and Reform Jews address this problem and understand their faith in light of this kind of challenge? Christians and Muslims look to an afterlife which will include a judgment and a paradise. Jewish people have a different understanding of afterlife, and prioritize living well today and creating a good life here and now. What is it that Jews believe about living life now and what happens after we die? How did such ideas develop, given that the other religions of the Middle East seem to have developed a different understanding focused on what happens next? What does it mean to be a “chosen people”? This is at the heart of much of the regard that Jews have for Israel, both the land and the country. Consider what it means to be “chosen,” and research the understanding of that in different areas of Judaism. How is Israel the “chosen” land? You might also consider: How can this concept generate hostility? In what way could you explain this concept so as to clarify the matter for those who might feel offended? Does the hostile response reflect cultural understanding or personal understanding? (It might also interest you to remember that the earliest immigrants to American shores saw themselves as a “chosen people,” and this language has recently entered some of