Table of Contents
Preface to the Second Edition viiHow to Read This Book ixAcknowledgments xi
1. Am I Allowed to Ask? 1Does It Make God Mad If We Ask Questions? 1
2. Who Believes in God Anymore? 6Why Should I Believe in God? Why Should Anyone? 6
3. Do I Have to Go to Services? What Good Is Praying? 12Does God Listen? Does God Answer? 12If I Pray for Something, Will I Get It? 16Do I Have to Go to a Synagogue to Pray? 19
4. Talking Snakes and Splitting Seas … Is Any of That Stuff in the Bible True? 22If God Talked to Everyone in the Bible, Why Doesn't God Talk to Anyone Today? 265. Why Does God Let Terrible Things Happen? 30How Can Anyone Believe in God after the Holocaust? 34
6. What Is God Anyway? 39What's That about God Being a Shepherd … Are We Supposed to Be Sheep? 44
7. What's the Meaning of Life? Is That a Dumb Question? 49
8. No Cheeseburgers? No Going to the Mall on Saturday? Why Does Religion Need So Many Rules? 55
9. 2 T*Xt Or Not 2 T*Xt? 64What’s Wrong with Texting? What Harm Can It Do? 64
10. What Do You See When You Look at Me? 71Can I Get a Tattoo or a Piercing and Still Be Jewish? 75
11. Why Are There So Many Different Religions? Aren’t They All the Same? 79What Is Christian Religion About? Is It ReallyThat Different from Our Religion? 82Can a Person Be Half-Jewish, Half-Christian? 87Why Won’t Mom Let Us Have a Christmas Tree? 88What about Islam? Can I Be Friends with Muslims? 90
12. Why Do People Hate Jews? 94
13. If We Live Here, Why Is Israel So Important? 99
14. Orthodox, Conservative, Reconstructionist, Reform—Why Can’t I Just Be Jewish? 104
15. What Happens to Us After We Die? 111Do Jews Believe in Heaven and Hell? 111
16. What’s the Messiah? 11717. What’s a Bar Mitzvah? What’s a Bat Mitzvah?Can’t I Just Have a Birthday Party? 121Why Do We Have to Keep Going to Hebrew School Even After We’re Bar Mitzvah? 124
18. Why Is It So Important to Marry Someone Jewish? 128Why Can’t I Just Marry Someone I Love? 128What If I Fall in Love with a Person Who Isn’t Jewish but Wants to Be? Can Someone Join Up? 132
19. Why Be Jewish? 134
One More Thing 137Suggestions for Further Reading 138