Blessed without distinction

January 11, 2013 in Featured Question of the Week, Question of the Week, Spiritual or Religious?, Spotlight Answers by Harry K. Danziger

My wife and I say a blessing at every meal because we feel the need to give thanks for our blessings. Some might call that feeling “spiritual”. That we say the specific Hebrew blessing for food might be called “religious”. But the distinction may be of limited meaning.
My concern with the current use of the word “spiritual” is that it seems just to mean “I feel deeply”. My question is: what impact does it have on my actions, my relationships, and my world? In Judaism, we often say that we are what we do, not what we believe or feel. That, to me, is religion.

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