A hug, a kiss, and a blessing is the Jewish concept in the Old Testament, and it has carried over into modern Judaism. Recently I visited a prison in Florida, and I asked one of the prison officials there how many Jews were in prison in Florida. He said thirteen. Only thirteen Jews in all the prisons in Florida! Florida has a high Jewish population, and there are forty thousand inmates in Florida prisons.
I began to ask the same question all over the country. I’ve discovered that in relation to the overall Jewish population, there is an infinitestimal number of them in jail or prison. One reason for this is that some of the hugging, kissing, touching, and blessing mentioned in the Old Testament has carried over to the modern-day Jew. They have a very strong sense of family. We, in the Judeo-Christian tradition, should have received this heritage. But I think we have been influenced more by the Prussian-German life-style, and also a sort of Puritanism that says don’t touch anyone or show emotions.
Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, Moving Beyond Belief, by Bill Glass