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Finding My Spirituality Actually, the whole thing started in Spain Junior year of college I studied in Sevilla for a semester and backpacked around Europe afterwards. While I was in Germany I took a bicycle trip around Munich-a a beer garden was one of the highlights. At the beer garden, I met two people from New Zealand and my friends and I ended up spending the rest of our time in Munich with them. I, post beer garden of course, assured them that I would be visiting them in New Zealand "one of these days." Two years later as I was a few months away from finishing my MBA I had a summer off before beginning my career and in the process, what some refer to as "the rest of your life." I thought it was time for a bit of an adventure. I fondly thought of my beer garden friends and emailed them out of the blue to see if they remembered the crazy redhead from the beer garden two years ago. I told them I was coming to visit for a few months. A month later, in Wellington, NZ, unemployed and broke but as happy as I had ever been, a friend and I decided to go on a hike. We walked for about 10 miles (upon the advice of a native who told us it wasn't far) and arrived at Island Bay. If I had managed to take my eyes off the Pacific Ocean in front of me as I sat on the rocks next to the seals and turned around, I would have seen a never-ending mountain range that glows in the reflection of the sun. Not a bad place to find my spirituality, wouldn't you say? My friend and I were the only people there. It was like our own secluded world and we were just sitting on a rock relaxing, myself looking at the mountains while he stared out into the ocean. There was complete silence and peace. It was strange but for one second, everything just made sense. Life, the world, my place in it, and the feeling was gone as fast as it came. "For one second, everything just made sense". And I realized that people spend their whole lives trying to have that one second of pristine understanding and peace. It's like God gives you this split second to understand everything. Most people go through their entire lives and never know what this feels like. It's one thing to feel this way when you're sitting at one of the most beautiful, peaceful places on earth, completely secluded from the rest of the world. But how does one bring that home and find that sense of peace and understanding in everyday life? This, to me, is the purpose of religion. My struggle with the Torah was always that I felt it was a book that was written by people attempting to seek that moment of understanding of the meaning of life, of God-things we'll never understand. Because I believe the Bible is not the word of God but a book written by people who needed understanding, I have always had a difficult time relating to my own sense of Judaism. I believe is that it is not necessary to accept the Torah as the "word of God" in order to be Jewish and truly believe in what Judaism teaches. As Jews, we should use the lessons taught in the stories of the Torah because those lessons will gear us towards the kind of life that leads to the peace of mind, tranquility, and understanding that I experienced in New Zealand. Travel enabled me to feel that brief moment of defining spirituality and it made me want to feel that way back in "real life" also. As I started thinking about how to go about finding that in my hectic life as a young professional in Manhattan I realized that what Judaism teaches is a way to feel that one second of understanding over and over. Judaism can help find that peace in the chaos of everyday life. Because, how often do we get to New Zealand, really? Marni Yablonka, 25, lives in New York City and working for Ernst and Young, LLP as an accountant.
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