[lbryce]

There's a passage as part of Jewish prayer, "Heaven is God's domain and the Earth is the domain of Man." While the Torah is divine, Mankind, those who practice it, live it, are mere mortals, woefully flawed, burdened by hardships of life, both materially and spiritually.

That you found fulfillment, hospitality and sense of kinship among those you so admire, I say kudos to you but you can never speak for others. The fact is, on the whole the experiences those Jews seeking to worship God in their own way, is one of disenfranchisement not at all embraced, even acknowledged, to say the least.

[Carry_Okie]

The fact is, on the whole the experiences those Jews seeking to worship God in their own way, is one of disenfranchisement not at all embraced, even acknowledged, to say the least.

I think you know that 'seeking to worship God in one's own way,' is an idolatrous idea from the get-go, because it is not seeking to worship God in HIS way. That said,

That you found fulfillment, hospitality and sense of kinship among those you so admire,

This is completely inaccurate. I do admire them for living with integrity, as they believe they are supposed to live; I do not emulate them, primarily because there is so much about the Torah they do not understand, by far most of it having been written by pastoral nomadic people. By the Time Ezra got to it, much of the original understanding had been long lost.