I was brought up to see Judaism as full of adult choices and one's own concscience.
That is indeed one of several approaches to Judaism. A much older understanding has it that adults face an overwhelming range of choices, and that in a healthy human being one's own concscience ultimately serves one's own best interests (after following the philosophical chain of consequences), and that the role of Judaism is precisely to circumscribe that range of choices in the direction of "God's Will." This does have a way of relieving, though not removing, the onus from one's concscience and transferring it onto the consciences of the leaders and rabbinic interpreters of the Torah (in the broadest sense of the word). It therefore explains why loyal Orthodox Jews have less trouble in following dictates that don't stand up to "neutral" logical scrutiny than non-Orthodox Jews have in understanding these dictates. (By "neutral" logic I mean the kind that does not take the Torah as its logical starting point.) In classical Judaism the role of human understanding is far less important than commonly assumed. This is made quite clear in the biblical Tree of Knowledge vs. Tree of Life episode.
Unfortunately, the chasm that lies between different interpretations of one's own religion is normally deeper than the differences between liberal understandings of two different religions. That is a tough nut to swallow for those who are consumed (as I once was) with the question of "Why can't we all just get along?"
Shabbat Shalom.
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Cantor Sam Weiss === Jewish Community Center of Paramus, NJ
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