[Reacting to Leora Eisenberg's "Why I Choose to Dress Modestly"]

I am all applause for your article EXCEPT: You say "religious fundamentalism" as if it is a dirty thing. Fundamentalism is strict adherence to [ones faith], ...[where religious teaching] is taken literally and obeyed in full. When a person follows [doctrine], both [the] literal and implied, this is fundamentalism. For me, there is no other reason to be "religious". We either believe Gd or we don't, we either believe we have His Word or we don't and if we DO believe in Gd and we believe we have His command to us but we have no intention of following its fundamentals, what is the point? In reality, that tells us clearly that we do NOT believe that we can know anything about Gd by HIS Words or that we can even trust our sacred books to BE His Word; so we absolutely cannot believe in the faith we profess. I know; "the Jewish community must keep its identity". But I cannot fathom why because it is Gd who gave this "identity" and if we doubt and/or reject the fundamental teachings of Gd...I am just saying, what IS the point? IF you believe in Gd and believe Gd's Word, religious fundamentalism is not just a GOOD thing it is the ONLY thing. We cannot seriously believe Gd is Creator, that He is Sovereign, and yet say "We see your law and You are too strict, You are 'outdated'. We will do SO MUCH but NO MORE because we will not believe You actually meant what You said or at least that You meant for it to stand for us. We will decide what You mean and 'interpret' it where WE deem necessary and in OUR idea of the kind of god we actually believe You are." That will never do; it would never do for a human king and it will surely never do for our Gd. Gd is STILL Noah's Gd. Gd is STILL Avraham's Gd. Gd is STILL Moshe's Gd. Gd is STILL David's Gd. Gd is STILL the Gd of the Prophets. Gd did not change. It is not likely He left us a Word that would become "outdated" or "optional", especially not before Messiah. If we don't believe that, why "believe" at all..is it just me?