Choosing the Garden

I have been fascinated and enthralled by fruit trees lately. Just walking around my neighborhood, I can see peach trees, lemon trees, fig trees. I see palm trees, fruits, and succulents I have never even seen before. Last weekend, I had the joy and pleasure of visiting an actual vineyard in the country, which was a small vineyard, owned by someone I know, and they blessed us with an invitation to spend time on their beautiful property.

Seeing fruit from a tree reminds me that stores are sometimes unnecessary. If I am hungry, I could walk down to the local market and spend some money. Or I could walk out into my back yard and pick a huge bowl of plums from the heavy branches of our fruiting tree. That's real food. I don't lose any money, and I don't have to worry about whether it is locally grown. It's about as local as it gets. Next I probably want chickens. But the point is, our food and sustenance doesn't actually come from a store, it comes from the earth. And providing for ourselves isn't just about money, it's about how we can avail ourselves of the opportunities at hand.

So my friend from New Zealand and I sat in the back yard last night, drinking tea and occasionally eating plums from the tree. She and I met singing in the choir at church. She is getting ready to leave for England with her husband. I am trying to decide if I will go back to the choir or not. And I shared with her my decision to become Jewish. She is Christian, of course, but she is Christian much in the same way that I was, which is in a broad-minded, non-evangelical sense. She was happy for me.

I find it actually very easy to talk about my choice, even among Christians. I anticipate some opposition from my parents, and I am sure that my grandfather will try to evangelize me, but at this point I really don't care. And how do I know what their reaction will be? I could get all worked up about it, and the next thing I know, I will sit down with them, I'll say, hey, guys, guess what, I'm Jewish. And they'll say, ok. Want to go to the beach?

But that doesn't mean I can't back myself up with plenty of solid arguments for my position beforehand. Which of course is not hard, because I have ultimate faith in what I am doing. I believe it's the right thing for me, and, well, I believe in one G-d, so that's about it really. I am following my belief.

I am also following my gut and intuition, and I feel like I can back that up with reasoning.

I was telling my friend last night that it comes down to choice. If I have the freedom to choose one or another religion, I want to choose the one that makes me happiest and makes me feel like I am living a full life in concert with my beliefs. Freedom of choice is really a big thing in Judaism, if not in other beliefs. (Freedom from choice as well, and that's another story.) But, for a religious argument, if you want to say G-d created the world, then you have to believe that He created the whole world, not just Jews or Christians or Muslims or anybody else. All of it. Even the people with no belief. And part of our being created is our freedom. We have the ability to choose what we want or where to go. This is the essence of the story of the Garden of Eden, which I think is often misconstrued or used for emotional manipulation and guilt tactics, talking about "original sin" that we somehow have to perpetually make up for. But what it is really about, to me, is freedom of choice. G-d gave us all these things, including the freedom and the ability to choose what is not right for us - that shiny thing that promises redemption and release but is ultimately a sham. But we can choose that thing. We can listen to the snake. We have that capacity. It's available to us. We will be punished, and we will be unhappy, of course. But G-d made us that way. It's all part of His plan. Possibly, if not probably, to show us the right way. How do I know I am not choosing the apple now? Is this me trying to taste forbidden fruit? And I say, no, because I've done that already. It was a sham. And now I feel like I am choosing the Garden.