Judaism Tied into Life

Judaism is not a religion, the synagogue is not a church, and the Rabbi is not a priest. Judaism is not a mere adjunct to life: it comprises all of life. To be a Jew is not a mere part, it is the sum total of our task in life. To be a Jew in synagogue and the kitchen, in the field and the warehouse, in the office and the pulpit, as father and as mother, as servant and as master, as man and as citizen, with one's feelings and one's thoughts, in word and in deed, in enjoyment and privation, with the needle and the graving­tool, with the pen and the chisel-that is what it means to be a Jew. An entire life supported by the Divine idea and lived and brought to fulfilment according to the Divine will.

R Samson Raphael Hirsch Judaism Eternal II, p. 237