guiltfreejudaism

     Freedom – the underlying subject of the Jewish celebration at Passover – also gets a lot of exposure in contemporary American culture.

     In Judaism, we have a very firm idea of freedom, specifically the freedom presented in the Five Books of Moses. We speak of freedom from slavery. Once free from slavery, the ancient Israelites take a while to realize that without oppression, their freedom still needs some thought, even some restrictions.

     Without the presence of the divine and Moses, as the Israelites wait for Moses to come down from Sinai, they demand another divine presence, even if it is an idol – the golden calf crafted by Aaron. Once chastised by Moses, even though the Israelites don’t ever entirely reform their ways, they do engage in a relationship of responsibility with the divine – accepting a covenant that enumerates our responsibilities as Jews, and the divine responsibility to us as well.

     The idea of a covenant at the center of Jewish thought clearly tells Jews what we think of freedom. Judaism talks about us achieving freedom from slavery or oppression, allowing us to become free to enter the covenant, which is a relationship governed by responsibilities for building a better society, and thus a better world.

     Sometimes Judaism curtails freedom quite severely. The Levites, an entire tribe, and a group within that tribe, the high priesthood, have no choice in their careers. They give up this freedom in order to hold onto the privilege of running the system of worship in the Temple.

     The Jewish social system we inherit gives us a clear understanding of the importance of valuing our freedoms of choice on the one hand, while recognizing that such freedoms come with responsibilities to the societies that preserve them.

     In the last three decades, Americans have mostly pursued a freedom to do, but more importantly, to possess anything and everything that we want. While many identify the American Dream as the opportunity to grant greater freedom to choose ways of life to one’s descendents, our culture seems to have been consumed by a desire to have no restrictions on the things that we might own, use, or consume, regardless of their impact on our country and the world.

     This idea contradicts the principles of American freedom outlined in our Declaration of Independence – “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” being essential, these are not necessarily creature comforts and worldly possessions. Furthermore, the notion that we can be free to have all things, without any regard for how such ownership might be unsustainable for ourselves, much less our descendents, emphasizes how simplistic our common understanding of freedom has become.

     In the coming season of Passover, I hope all of us can help contribute to a more thoughtful understanding of freedom in all contexts – that freedom from oppressions, and freedom to choose paths in our lives, trump freedom to have things every time. In this climate of economic hardship, it seems harder and harder to substantiate possessions over substance in our lives, and I believe that the celebration of Passover serves as a convenient reminder of the great value we already possess, in terms of freedom, even when we find the cost of our lives to be burdensome.

     Temple Bat Yam will celebrate freedom through the Passover Seder on Thursday, April 9, at 5:45pm. Dinner will be served by 6:45pm, following the discussions and singing of the ritual Seder. Everyone is welcome – tickets are $50, and all the information can be found at www.templebatyamtahoe.org.

     May all of us have a spring season of celebrated freedoms to do and think and contribute to the improvement of ourselves and our diverse communities.

 

Really?

Here's an excellent response - worth the three minutes:

American Jews get understandably wary when asked about our “faith”, or addressed with the question: “What do you believe?” Currently, we face a situation in our country when such concepts, Jewish and non-Jewish, go extensively unquestioned and unexplored.

     These words, “faith” and “belief”, so powerful in English, have much less of an impact in Hebrew. In the Hebrew Bible the word for “religious”, with regard to a personal characteristic, exists only in a phrase that translates better as “in awe of the Divine” – what the older English translations render somewhat inaccurately as “God-fearing” (fear and awe share the same root in Hebrew).

     The word for belief in Contemporary Hebrew shares the same root as the word that we say as “amein”. This may be a good place to start on Jewish belief. To what do we respond “amein”?

     Strictly speaking, in a prayer service, when a prayer has been recited by anyone as communal leader, we as a community respond with “amein” – a communal assertion of consent and approval for the blessing that came directly before saying “amein”.

     Similarly, as a way of expressing our communal norms, I can say that: Jewish belief generally frowns upon eating pork, praying to idols, and working seven days a week; and Jewish belief generally promotes honoring one’s parents, a healthy sex-life between married partners, a healthy awe for the universe, and pursuing justice.

     I also assert that Jewish belief asks us to read the Hebrew Bible metaphorically, not literally.

     Interestingly enough, we can easily debate as to how Jews believe in God, whether or not Jews believe in Heaven and an afterlife, whether or not Moses received the Torah (the Five Books of Moses) word for word at Mt. Sinai, and if Jews believe the Hebrew Bible condones or condemns same-sex marriage. These debates form some of the lines of disagreement between the different movements in contemporary Judaism.

     As can be seen from these examples, Jewish faith gets best expressed in advocating certain behaviors. A Jewish perspective easily asserts that what we believe can best be reflected in our actions. Consequently, Jews spend less time discussion the theory of faith, or theology, in favor of the practical details required in producing righteous behavior. Thus, amongst Jews, discussions of personal spirituality are often seen as invasive and less pragmatic.

     An essential aspect of all of these “faith” or “belief” issues in Judaism is that they are open to discussion. When we say “amein” in a prayer service, it can be heard as: “We agree with the sentiment of that blessing.” When we say “amein” to a concept of Jewish belief or faith, we can be heard to say: “Yes, that does seem to be an aspect of our community’s consensus on that issue – let’s discuss the details and ramifications.”

     Most Jews do not believe that we can force other Jews to believe exactly as we do – where’s the interesting discussion in that? Just because our religion, or any central “faith” or “belief”, proclaims it, doesn’t mean we get to close it off from discussion. When religion becomes an excuse to impose practices on people who don’t share them we must, as Jews, and even perhaps American, delve more deeply, and discuss it, even though it might be difficult or uncomfortable.

     Jews often find ourselves feeling disrespected when approached with “belief” and “faith” questions. Given my emphasis on discussion as central to Judaism, we must in turn be careful to respect those with strongly held and expressed beliefs and faith ideas. Our adherence to open discussion may be seen as disrespectful to others’ strongly held ideas about their own truths. Sensitivity in these discussions, even when we often feel that we don’t receive it in turn, especially must be emphasized.

     Our tradition teaches that the Hillel School’s opinions are held over the Shammai School’s not because they were better argued, but because Hillel students always were courteous, and presented Shammai students’ arguments before their own. An open attitude towards discussion asks us all the more so to be respectful and sensitive.

     How do we reconcile our tendencies towards open discussion and pragmatic action? When communities want to act in a way that represents a reasonable consensus, discussion is required – the constant Jewish quandary continues to be, how to move from discussion to action. With this, I can tell you, many Jewish communities struggles valiantly.

     I wish all of you a winter filled with discussions that spark us all to think, speak, and do more about the difficulties around us.

Just began reading and discussing this - I highly recommend it! Friedman's Fables - link in the books section...

 

Having returned from Israel two weeks ago, I have spent a lot of time reflecting on the issues with the latest conflict in Gaza.

First and foremost, it is clear that Hamas needs to go, from the Israeli perspective - where and how is a bigger question.

From the internationaly perspective, the world needs to become a real partner in helping out with the welfare of the Gazans - Israel cannot be responsible for keeping open borders that the Gazans use to transport explosives into Israel.

More to come soon.