by Aaron Weil
This past weekend I attended the New York Comic Con at the Javits Center, and I had a wonderful time.
One thing you notice is there are the many different ways that “fandom” is expressed. There are those who are huge fans and followers of DC Comics, others who are into Marvel instead. Some attendees have a narrow and specific focus, and spent the entire Comic-Con looking for anything and everything that pertains to a certain series or show, and others whose fandom overlaps different styles and segments. Fandoms have varying levels of intensity and interest, ranging across a broad spectrum. Some are highly educated and knowledgeable, others are there out of curiosity. But by being at the New York Comic Con – and witnessing, experiencing and learning from this huge colorful mix of different fandoms, and the cross-pollination of all their different focuses and interests, an incredible vast picture emerges and you take what you want/can out of it.
Judaism can be looked at in the same way. Jews observe it at many different levels, in different streams with varying perspectives and interests with different levels of intensity, passion and knowledge. Collectively, because of all this input and involvement the total Jewish experience has so much in it, from so many different “fandoms”. We can take from it, and give into it, and be so deeply enriched by that.