I'm not a pyromaniac. I've never (yet) been tempted to burn down a school building, nor do I follow fire trucks, but I must admit to a lifetime fascination with fire. I don't know, but the dancing flames, the interplay of subtly different hues of light and the heat produced as wood slowly smolders has always had me enthralled.

I certainly picked the religion with sufficient outlets to satisfy my attraction conventionally. How many of our festivals and observances revolve around fire? Off hand I can think of Friday night candles, The Havdala service marking the conclusion of Shabbos, Chanuka, Lag BaOmer bonfires and burning chametz before Pesach not even to mention baking Matza, lighting candles the night before a bris and the lantern-bearing procession to the chupa.

Apparently there's a psychologically recognised condition, Seasonally Affected Disorder (SAD) where, in winter, people become depressed due to lack of sunlight. The presence of light and fire in all their brilliance, warmth and beauty directly influence our feelings of health and contentment.

Tomorrow we read Torah portion Beha'alos'cho, which begins with the Divine command for the High Priest to kindle the seven-branched candelabra. The Temple was the source of splendor and enlightenment for the physical world; The Cohen's responsibility was to ignite these flames of glory and thereby illuminate the universe. We have a similar mission in our daily struggles in this gloomy world, to transmit the radiance of G-d from within ourselves, to brighten our surroundings and illuminate the lives of our families, friends and acquaintances.

Aharon was commanded to light the wicks 'until the fire blazes up by itself' As anyone who has ever battled a coal barbeque or laboured to start a campfire without fire starters or kerosene would attest, there is more to kindling than just holding a match up to the fuel. It takes skill to find the right spot, determination to keep the lighter there till the fire catches and sometimes it takes a few tries (and a half-dozen matches) to guarantee the flame spreads. Once well lit however, the new fire is incomparably more powerful and useful than the puny matchstick from which it was ignited.

It's not easy to reach out to others. We often feel shy or awkward, worried about interfering and unconvinced of our ability to be of any use. Far easier to hide out in one's own little huddle and let the world take care of itself. We can't, we mustn't; the exponential effects of inspiring others, the good engendered and inspiration effected have such powerful consequences that to abnegate our responsibilities would be to condemn both ourselves and others to a sterile, frosty existence.

Jews don't do idolatry

I am Hashem your G-d (Bamidbar 15:41).

Jews don't do idolatry well.

It's not that we haven't had the opportunity. Flip through the pages of our history to find that prostelysing Jews has always been high on the agenda of our non-Jewish neighbours.

Missionising, forced debates, threats and financial inducements are just some of the many means attempted in the millennium-long struggle to convert Jews away from our faith.

However, were the apostles of faith to subject their business plan to a rigorous cost-benefit analysis they would probably be appalled to discover that their efforts have, on the whole, been far from cost effective.

Consider the untold millions of missionary man-hours expended through the ages. Add up the rivers of cash poured down the conversion drain. Now, quantify the results: Very little to boast of. A few misguided youths seeking to circumvent University entrance restrictions. The occasional town drunkard besotted by the prospect of the monastery cellars. Or, most commonly, Jews forced by torture or threats to kiss the cross and half-heartedly embrace the "religion of compassion and love" to save their lives.

This is not to say that the occasional renegade Jew didn't appear, or to deny the terrible sufferings often caused by the schemes and manipulations of some of these apostates, but Jews on the whole have stayed loyal to their faith in the face of all temptations and dangers.

What was all the fuss about? Why have so many Jews allowed themselves to be slaughtered on the altar of religious intolerance when, often, even an insincere conversion could have saved them? Faced with the choice of bowing to an icon or being shot, why did so many take the bullet?

The Jewish soul has been hard-wired with an emergency cut-off switch. The normal Jew, no matter his level of religious observance, no matter how culturally sensitive or ethnically inspired he may or may not be, will never deny G-d nor sever his connection to our common destiny.

This stubborn, bloody-minded refusal to even consider apostasy is instinctive to our race and a function of the one factor common to us all; our soul.

This spark of the Divine persuades a Jew, in the face of all persuasion and threats, even to the point of irrationality, to remain faithful to our path.

Even an insincere acceptance is impossible. Judaism is not some feel-good-sit-on-a-mountainside-contemplate-your-navel creed where all that counts are one's intentions and salvation can be attained by belief alone. Actions count. Positive actions, following G-d's instructions, change the world into a G-dly zone and, by converse, any wayward action, even artificially inspired, is to deny G-d.

In truth, every sin is in some way severing one's connection to G-d. The Torah and commandments are the soul-strings which bind us to our creator and to reject any aspect of Judaism is to, at least momentarily, reject G-d (G-d forbid).

However, we delude ourselves. At every step one can still subconsciously rationalize that the connection is still there. "I'm still Jewish, I'm not rejecting G-d, just contravening a minute part of a greater whole".

It is only when faced with a final and ultimate act of renunciation such as publicly accepting another religion is one forced to confront the yawning abyss of apostasy that looms ahead. This, no Jew can bring himself to do.

That was in the past. Tragically, in the last few decades, Judaism has witnessed a phenomenon unparalled throughout history. Thousands of us have voluntarily left the fold. Jews for J, Hebrew Christians and Jewish Buddhists et al. have lured away too many.  

What changed? The Soul? Our connection to G-d? How come that which for thousands of years was verboten has now become common?

Nothing changed. The Neshama-soul still exists. The cut off switch is still poised. They?ve adapted their tactics that?s all. Nowadays one further stage in the process of Jewish self-delusion has been invented. The modern-day Big Lie goes like this; " You can be a Jew and a Buddhist. A Messianic Jew. A Hebrew Christian.  By embracing our beliefs you haven't separated from the G-d of the Jews, you've just amalgamated some new ideas into your essential Judaism". The age-old process of a Jew refusing to disassociate from Judaism still holds true but some have been snared by this falsehood, enticed onto alien trails.

And a lie it is. Judaism and their beliefs are mutually exclusive. Ultimately, only untainted Yiddishkeit satisfies.

Jews don't do idolatry well.