1. Relating in a sacred way to the land and culture of one's tribal ancestors. This is, of course, also a primary Jewish value.
2. Relating in a sacred way to nature. When I've enjoyed sitting on a rock, or in the shade of a tree, or feeling the warmth of the sun or a refeshing breeze, I express my thanks. It's good to honor the spirit of a place, and if G*d is in everything, is there necessarily a clear distinction between thanking G!d and thanking the tree?
3. Relating in a sacred way to the land where one lives. Jewish law about how to live on the land officially only applies in Israel, but the whole earth is sacred, and we need to live in harmony with the land — and to feel spiritually connected to the land — wherever we live. When I say "al ha'aretz hatova asher natan lach", I mean, all at once, the land of my ancestors, the land where what I've been eating actually grew, the land where I live and am free to eat it in peace and unafraid, and this whole, miraculous, life-sustaining planet.
4. Being inclusive of soft polytheism. I thought of a better way of expressing the difference between hard and soft polytheism than in my previous comment — in soft polytheism, there are multiple gods, but there is only one divine will, while in hard polytheism, there is more than one divine will, which can be at odds (as in ancient Greek religion). Soft polytheism is compatible with — is really just a less enlightened form of — polynominalism (one G1d with many names), while hard polytheism is incompatible with monotheism. As I understand it, Jewish law forbids hard polytheism to everyone, and forbids soft polytheism (but not polynominalism) to us Jews.
Most neopagan communities use the language of soft polytheism (what the people in them actually believe is harder to generalize about). By calling myself a neopagan Jew, I'm mainly indicating that I don't feel that being Jewish means that I am forbidden to participate in such a community on that account. I'm allowed to dance with and even to honor the many — what I'm not allowed to do is serve the many (which doesn't even make any sense, since there is only one divine will) or lose sight of the One — that's what I feel I'm affirming in the Shema. If I'm in some particular neopagan community on an ongoing basis, I do make a point of mentioning that I believe, and am obliged to point out, that G1d is One. All this mostly hasn't come up lately because I haven't found (and am too busy being Jewish to seek out) a neopagan community in the Boston area.
5. Magic. I'm still not sure if I believe in magic (*locked entry), or how I would define it, but "magic" — defined somehow — is definitely a neopagan value. Dion Fortune called magic "the art of changing consciousness at will". J.R.R. Tolkien, in "On Fairy Stories", defines a distinction between "magic" and "enchantment", and, in those terms, my practice is much more about enchantment than magic.
I remember reading recently that one of the big Jewish truths is that G!d is not a god who can be invoked or compelled through ritual. I believe this. I also used to participate in pagan rituals where "deities" were "invoked". Actually, I like the word "invoke", but I don't believe any deities were compelled to appear — I believe that the Presence which, being everywhere, was already there, was politely invited to be manifest in a particular aspect — compare "boi challah", or "b'shem Hashem... v'al roshi, Shechinat El". We ask nicely. And, of course, what is really happening is that we are inviting ourselves to open up to the divine Presence on a particular channel, corresponding to the "aspect" that we "invoke".
I think this covers most of the major, distinctively neopagan ideas I have floating around. Of course there are the collected myths, songs, rituals... but the theological content is all here. Does this answer your questions?
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2. Relating in a sacred way to nature. When I've enjoyed sitting on a rock, or in the shade of a tree, or feeling the warmth of the sun or a refeshing breeze, I express my thanks. It's good to honor the spirit of a place, and if G*d is in everything, is there necessarily a clear distinction between thanking G!d and thanking the tree?
3. Relating in a sacred way to the land where one lives. Jewish law about how to live on the land officially only applies in Israel, but the whole earth is sacred, and we need to live in harmony with the land — and to feel spiritually connected to the land — wherever we live. When I say "al ha'aretz hatova asher natan lach", I mean, all at once, the land of my ancestors, the land where what I've been eating actually grew, the land where I live and am free to eat it in peace and unafraid, and this whole, miraculous, life-sustaining planet.
4. Being inclusive of soft polytheism. I thought of a better way of expressing the difference between hard and soft polytheism than in my previous comment — in soft polytheism, there are multiple gods, but there is only one divine will, while in hard polytheism, there is more than one divine will, which can be at odds (as in ancient Greek religion). Soft polytheism is compatible with — is really just a less enlightened form of — polynominalism (one G1d with many names), while hard polytheism is incompatible with monotheism. As I understand it, Jewish law forbids hard polytheism to everyone, and forbids soft polytheism (but not polynominalism) to us Jews.
Most neopagan communities use the language of soft polytheism (what the people in them actually believe is harder to generalize about). By calling myself a neopagan Jew, I'm mainly indicating that I don't feel that being Jewish means that I am forbidden to participate in such a community on that account. I'm allowed to dance with and even to honor the many — what I'm not allowed to do is serve the many (which doesn't even make any sense, since there is only one divine will) or lose sight of the One — that's what I feel I'm affirming in the Shema. If I'm in some particular neopagan community on an ongoing basis, I do make a point of mentioning that I believe, and am obliged to point out, that G1d is One. All this mostly hasn't come up lately because I haven't found (and am too busy being Jewish to seek out) a neopagan community in the Boston area.
5. Magic. I'm still not sure if I believe in magic (*locked entry), or how I would define it, but "magic" — defined somehow — is definitely a neopagan value. Dion Fortune called magic "the art of changing consciousness at will". J.R.R. Tolkien, in "On Fairy Stories", defines a distinction between "magic" and "enchantment", and, in those terms, my practice is much more about enchantment than magic.
I remember reading recently that one of the big Jewish truths is that G!d is not a god who can be invoked or compelled through ritual. I believe this. I also used to participate in pagan rituals where "deities" were "invoked". Actually, I like the word "invoke", but I don't believe any deities were compelled to appear — I believe that the Presence which, being everywhere, was already there, was politely invited to be manifest in a particular aspect — compare "boi challah", or "b'shem Hashem... v'al roshi, Shechinat El". We ask nicely. And, of course, what is really happening is that we are inviting ourselves to open up to the divine Presence on a particular channel, corresponding to the "aspect" that we "invoke".
I think this covers most of the major, distinctively neopagan ideas I have floating around. Of course there are the collected myths, songs, rituals... but the theological content is all here. Does this answer your questions?