Am I Me, or Am I What I Do?

As someone trying to be a better person through Judaism, it occurred today to me because of a conversation that Judaism's emphasis on ACTIONS could lead people like me to become self-destructively attached to a feeling of self-worth derived strictly through actions ... but, deep down, don't we all need to believe that, our actions aside, we're good people? Isn't there a relief and a bedrock of assurance in that reality?

Judaism does put a high value on life, and human life in particular, so it's clear LIFE has value. But does that make feel good?

The name of this blog?

It's transliterated Hebrew.

It means "new Jew."

Introduction

Hi, I'm a Southern California Jewish convert.

I have a friend who shipped off to Y'rushalayim for rabbinic school, and she's got this cool blog and she has lots of cool stuff to say. I don't.

But I'm going to use this spot to relatively anonymously whine about crap in my life, like a diary with a thin veneer of respectability.

The deepest cut of all

Somehow I scraped the skin off the knuckle of my right hand's middle finger last night while I was fixing dinner. This happens sometimes. Not the knuckle, but the cutting. I'll look and see I'm bleeding. I don't notice it. I didn't handle anything sharp. It's puzzling.