Recently I was talking to a Native American.  She is part of the Selitz tribe.  She reminded me a little bit of a typical American Jew.  She told me about a few “superstitions” that she was taught growing up, like a person should not look out a window at night because of evil spirits.  However, she said that it was ok to walk outside at night, and she did not understand why looking is a problem, while going out would be ok.  To me, it seems that if looking was a problem, then going out would definitely be a problem.  When I mentioned this to her, she said she had no idea why it was the way it was, but that was what she had been taught.

Here in American, your typical Jew knows not to eat pork, but has no idea why.  She knows to put a mazuzah on the door post, but not why.  He knows about he should wear  a yarmulke. but not why.  He knows to say kaddish on the anniversary of a death, but not why.

Getting back to my conversation with the woman from the Selitz tribe, she mentioned to me that the tribe is not one tribe, but is really a number of local tribes, merged together.  She said this can create some problems because the tribe she grew up in considers owls to be messengers of death, while the tribe of her husband does not.  This might not seem like a big deal, except that her mother-in-law had owl pictures on her walls, and gave this woman’s children stationary with owls on it.  She finally had to explain to her mother-in-law that this was not appropriate.  Fortunately, her mother-in-law understood and no longer gave her children owl gifts.

This got me thinking about something in the Torah that has always been difficult for me to understand:  why does the Torah make such a big deal about keeping us separate from the other nations – so much so, that we are required to commit genocide on any of the 7 nations that live in the land if they do not leave?  Also our rabbis have told us not to drink wine touched by non-Jews in order to keep us from drinking and getting too close to the other nations.  I know a number of Jews find this offensive.

As I said, my conversation with the Selitz woman got me thinking.  In her tribe, there is much confusion about their spiritual tradition (for example: what is an owl?).  And the reason for this confusion is because all the tribes that now make up the Selitz nation, have gotten too close to each other.  They have shared their ways to the point that they don’t know what belongs to who and why each is different.  This is leading to them not being able to teach and pass on their tradition because they don’t know what to teach and pass on.

The Jewish people have kept separate from the other nations for 3300 years.  And it has allowed us to remain a people with a specific tradition.  We have not mixed our tradition with the traditions of the world (at least not too much), and this has allowed us to be able to keep and pass on our tradition.

As I contemplate my conversation with this Native American woman, I am starting to see the wisdom in our Torah in its strong stance about us staying away from the other nations and their ways.  And I also can start to see the wisdom of our sages who tell us not to drink with the gentiles, for it will lead to us mixing with them, and the resultant mixing of traditions will lead to us losing who we are and what our tradition is.

Have a good Shabbat everyone.  Many blessings.

About the Author

Shmuel Shalom Cohen spent 10 years studying Torah in Jerusalem. Six years ago, he started Conscious Torah to help Jews connect to their tradition in ways they didn’t think possible. Shmuel also started, and is the executive directory of Jewish Events Willamette-valley, a non-profit whose mission is to build Jewish community, pride, and learning. In his free time, Shmuel likes walks in nature, playing music, writing poetry, and time with good friends.