Will you Choose Judaism?

Rabbi Lea Mühlstein explores the question of why one would choose Judaism, particularly at a crossroads in life. She discusses the tension between Judaism's particular and universal voices, citing Rabbi John Rayner, and explains how Judaism's specificity is what allows it to contribute to the world. The sermon emphasizes that Judaism is not something one has, but something one does, requiring active choice and participation to continue. Rabbi Mühlstein encourages the graduates to see themselves as partners in creating a better world and to consider how Judaism can be a language to help build it.

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What is Kolot: Voices from The Ark Synagogue?

Welcome to Kolot, the podcast of The Ark Synagogue, a bold, experiential and caring Progressive Jewish community in Northwood, London.

Through sermons, reflections and conversations from across our community, Kolot explores Jewish life, learning and values in the world we live in today. Rooted in tradition and open to new perspectives, these episodes bring together voices that inspire thought, connection and belonging.

Whether you are Jewish, exploring Judaism, or simply looking for meaningful reflection, you are warmly welcome.

To learn more about The Ark Synagogue, visit arksynagogue.org.

This Shabbat is a special moment in the life of our community and for our cheder. And of course, it is an especially important moment for our Kabbalat Torah class – not just because today marks your graduation from cheder but because you are being asked a question that sits at the heart of Jewish life:

Will you choose Judaism — now that it is yours to choose?

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Until now, Judaism has mostly been given to you: by your parents, by your teachers, by this community.

You showed up. You learned. You questioned (sometimes enthusiastically, sometimes less so).

But this Shabbat is different. This Shabbat, we are saying: You are no longer just participants. You are young leaders. You are no longer only carried by the community — you are now part of what carries it.

And so the question shifts. From “What is Judaism?” to something far more personal, and far more demanding:

“Why would I choose it?”

Rabbi John Rayner — one of the great thinkers of Liberal Judaism — wrestled with exactly this question.

He often wrote about the fact that Judaism lives in a tension. A tension between being particular — something that belongs to us, this people, this story — and being universal — something that speaks to the whole of humanity.

And he said something very simple, and very radical:

If Judaism loses its particular voice, it stops being Jewish. And if it loses its universal voice, it stops speaking to the world.

In other words — Judaism only makes sense if it is both yours and bigger than you.

Let me try to translate that into something closer to your world.

Think about the stories that shape you. The films you watch. The music you love. The people you follow. Take someone like Taylor Swift — or Dua Lipa —— or Malala Yousafzai. They don’t just exist as individuals. They carry a voice. A story. A set of values.

And the reason people connect to them is not because they are vague and universal. It’s because they are specific. Their voice is rooted somewhere real. And precisely because of that it reaches far beyond itself.

Judaism works in exactly the same way.

It is not a generic spirituality. It is not just “be a good person.” It is a particular language of living.

Shabbat. Hebrew. Argument. Memory. A people that argues with God and with each other — and somehow stays in relationship.

And yet — the reason it matters is not just for us.

Rayner puts it like this: The purpose of Judaism is not just to exist — but to contribute something to the world.

A vision of justice. A commitment to human dignity. A stubborn insistence that the world can be better than it is.

But here is the uncomfortable part. None of that happens automatically.

Judaism is not something you have. It is something you do. There is nothing inevitable about Judaism continuing. It depends on people choosing it, again and again.

Which means — it depends on you.

The poet Marge Piercy writes:

“The discipline of blessing is to taste each moment…
the bitter, the sour, the sweet…”

Judaism, at its best, is exactly that. It teaches you to pay attention, to mark time, to notice. To say a blessing — not because everything is perfect — but because life is happening, and you are part of it.

And if Rayner gives us the idea of Judaism, Piercy gives us the practice:

Judaism is how you train your attention so that you don’t sleepwalk through your own life.

And let me bring you one more voice, from a contemporary orthodox Jewish feminist scholar: Tamar Ross.

She writes that Torah is not finished. That every generation adds its voice.

Which means something extraordinary: You are not just receiving Judaism this Shabbat. You are part of writing it.

And that brings me back to where we began.

Why choose Judaism?

Not because you have to. Not because your parents did it for you. Not even because it is “true” in some abstract sense.

But because it asks something of you that very little else does. It asks you to always live as if your actions truly matter. To see yourself as part of a story bigger than your own life. To take responsibility — not just for yourself, but for the world.

There is a moment in Bereishit — right at the beginning — when God looks at creation and calls it tov me’od — very good.

And one of the ways our tradition understands that moment is that the world only becomes “very good” when human beings are in it — when there are people who can choose, act and take responsibility.

In other words: The world is not finished. It is waiting for partners.

This Shabbat, we are saying to you: You are those partners.

Not in some abstract, cosmic way but here, in this community: in how you show up; in what you care about; in the kind of Jew you decide to be.

So I won’t end by telling you what to choose. Judaism has never been very good at forcing agreement. We prefer argument.

Instead, I will leave you with a question, the only one that really matters:

What kind of world do you want to help create and is Judaism a language that can help you build it?

If the answer is yes — even sometimes, even imperfectly — then this community is yours.

And we are excited to find out what Judaism you will bring into it.

Shabbat Shalom!

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