I really think everyone should read some A. J. Heschel – man who believed in tradition but rejected some aspects of the theology of orthodox judaism. It’s not all-or-nothing, my-derech-or-no-derech.
“It is customary to blame secular science and anti-religious philosophy for the eclipse of religion in modern society. It would be more honest to blame religion for its own defeats. Religion declined not because it was refuted, but because it became irrelevant, dull, oppressive, insipid. When faith is completely replaced by creed, worship by discipline, love by habit; when the crisis of today is ignored because of the splendor of the past; when faith becomes an heirloom rather than a living fountain; when religion speaks only in the name of authority rather than with the voice of compassion–its message becomes meaningless.”
Abraham Joshua Heschel (God in Search of Man: A Philosophy of Judaism)
