I read this thought today :“Be not the slave of your own past - plunge into the sublime seas, dive deep, and swim far, so you shall come back with new self-respect, with new power, and with an advanced experience that shall explain and overlook the old.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson
I would never give anyone or any community that kind of power in my life. Only Hashem and his Torah give me protection. “A book lying idle on a shelf is wasted ammunition.” ― Henry Miller, The Books in My Life.
My Torah does not sit on a shelf and neither does my life sit in someone else' hands.
“This life is yours. Take the power to choose what you want to do and do it well. Take the power to love what you want in life and love it honestly. Take the power to walk in the forest and be a part of nature. Take the power to control your own life. No one else can do it for you. Take the power to make your life happy.” ― Susan Polis Schutz
G-d protects and gives you the power over your life and choices, not anyone else. His Torah is guides and His love is protection. Let G-d take care of you and when you do that all this Torah can be kept in love and with great joy and in turn that protects you. Give no one that power above Him!