Is it too late? I say, “Go for it.” You never tried it before and it’s part of your Jewish heritage, so what have you got to lose? Either you’ll like the new things that you’ve inherited from your grandparents or great-grandparents, and perhaps want to explore more, or you won’t and you’ll be like you are now.
Don’t be pessimistic about trying something new at your “old” age. I realize it may not feel completely natural at first, like for a child born and growing up in an observant family, but why not see how you personally feel when you say a blessing before eating something or only having a coke the next time you go out to a non-kosher eating place with your friends. You can only really know if you try it.
You may know the famous story of Rabbi Akiva. Rachel, the young daughter of a very wealthy man teaches a “lesson for the ages” to the older, poor, uneducated work-hand of her father — Akiva.
Despite his unlearned background and advanced age, she saw that he had lofty character traits and could become a great Torah scholar and leader.
She approached him with the following proposal: If I agree to be engaged and married to you, will you agree to learn Torah?
He initially refused, feeling unsuited to learn Torah. But she inspired him by showing him a large stone that had been eaten into by steady drops of water falling on it. She reasoned that if something as soft as water can bore a hole into something as hard as stone, surely something as strong as Torah can bore into his heart of flesh. He was encouraged and he agreed to try.
Of course, eventually he became one of the greatest rabbis of all times — Rabbi Akiva.
I wish you much happiness and success in whatever you decide to do, but please keep in mind that change is a “process”. Even if you don’t feel like you’ve won the race with your first step, perhaps keep in mind the famous idiom, “Slow and steady wins the race.”
