By Ashlee Frankford

Different households and different cities everywhere in the world celebrate and have a different meaning of what Jewish and Judaism is. Even though everyone in the Jewish religion believes in one G-D, that doesn't mean that they can't have their own relationship and see G-D differently from another person. There are many different Jews in the world who see being Jewish in different ways. Some of these are Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox. Jewish people can be any of these types, yet they are still human beings and are a part of the world we live in today.

To start, being Jewish can mean many different things to you. Being Jewish can bring happiness and remind you of all of the old traditions in the religion of Judaism. However, it can also at times be sad or disappointing being a Jew. As a Jew you do not get to celebrate the same things that some off your friends may celebrate. Although many people in the Jewish religion do not celebrate both Christian holidays as well as Jewish holidays, some may. Although, this is one of the ways of being Jewish. Even if you only have one parent that is Jewish, you may have another that this Christian or Catholic. This would mean that you would celebrate both religions' holidays. Instead of just celebrating Jewish holidays, you would also celebrate Christian ones and go to church as well as a synagogue.

There are many different types of paths you can follow in the Jewish religion. The first is Reform. Reform Jews see the Torah as a living thing and that Judaism must change to the way the world is today. Reform Jews also believe that all humans are and were born in the image of G-D. Lastly, Reform Jews have a drive to make meaningful and thoughtful choices about how we execute our visions into our actions. Oftentimes, they don't keep kosher and work on Fridays and Saturdays. Even if this isn't your family's beliefs of being Jewish, there are still other ones such as Conservative Jews and Orthodox Jews.

The next type of Jew is the Conservative type. Conservative Judaism is a way of combining both a positive attitude toward culture and having acceptance of sacred texts for the past of Judaism and commitment to Jewish observance. An example of this would be having Shabbat every Friday night. When you follow Conservative Judaism, oftentimes the Jewish Law is based on the use of the Jewish community aws a whole. Conservative Judaism believes that G-D is real and that G-D's is well known to humans. Additionally, those that are of the Jewish Conservative types, may believe that the Torah and Talmud are of a very important past. Many times, uninformed people will think that being a Conservative Jew is just like being Reform. However, this is not true. When you are a Conservative Jew you have to follow more strict guidelines of Judaism as Jewish law is more intense and structured. Lastly, as a Conservative Jew, you have to keep kosher, which means that you do not eat meat and dairy with8in a certain time frame from one antoher and cannot use the same utensils for either. You also have to have intermarriage which means not marrying someone outside off the Jewish religion. There is still one more type of Judaism even if this type does not relate to you.

The last type of Jew is the Orthodox Jews. These Jews are more committed to their religion and are even more strict about following the Jewish law and the laws of being a Jew in the everyday world. The first thing that Orthodox Jews do is they have daily worship where they talk to G-D about anything they would like. The next thing is they are more strict about keep9ing kosher and dietary laws and restrictions. Having a regular and very meaningful study of the Torah i9s a big part of being an Orthodox Jew. Men in Orthodox Judaism often wear tefillin on their arms and heads. They also wear kippahs everywhere. In shul as well, even if this may have been changed over the years at different synagogues, oftentimes men and women sit on opposite sides of the room. Lastly, many Orthodox Jews tend not to work on Friday evenings or Saturdays because of Shabbat. You can be Jewish I any way you want.

Just because everyone who is Jewish doesn't do the same things, that doesn't make them any more or less Jewish than you. Everyone is Jewish and celebrates Judaism in their own way. The three main groups of Judaism are Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox. However, each form can be interpreted to how you see it and how your community and synagogue sees it. Even though everyone sees Judaism in their own way, it doesn't mean there are still some th9ihngs that Jews do as a whole. An example of thi9s would be a tallit at a Bar or Bat Mitzvah and having men and boys wear kippah sometimes everywhere but always in Shul. People can be Jewish in many ways just like how you and I are different.