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Monthly Archives: August 2011

Destructive and False “Theology”

31 Wednesday Aug 2011

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in Musings about God/Faith/Religious life

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Next month Rosh Hashanah will be upon us. One theme of the High Holidays that drives many Jews away from Judaism is the doctrine of Reward and Punishment. Though it is part of Jewish religious tradition, it is utterly foreign to my Jewish faith.

The Kabbalists teach that despite our living most of the time in Olam ha-Praida (“The World of Separation”) there is also Olam ha-Yichud (“The World of Unity”). Olam ha-Yichud can be understood as the implicate order in which everything, including Olam ha-Praida, exists. In the world of the mystics God is the Unity principle embracing and connecting the physical and metaphysical realms. Mystics do not regard God as ‘out there’ or ‘up there,’ but rather as an immanent continuously emanating Presence, the All of the All. In this sense, transcendence is to be discovered within immanence.

From this perspective, the doctrine of Reward and Punishment has no part. Put another way, a facile connection cannot be made between our behavior on the one hand and good or ill fortune that may come to us on the other. Such thinking, in fact, is silly. This is not to say that there is no cause and effect. What we do, say, think, and feel affect other human beings, the environment and ourselves.

What do we do with the doctrine of Reward and Punishment? Do we read, for example, the second paragraph after the Sh’ma that says God will grant rain in its season depending upon whether we fulfill the mitzvot, or do we drop it? Do we not participate when the congregation reads the Un’taneh Tokef (“Who will live and Who will die” refrain), or do we read it as metaphor affirming the transitory nature of life?

Over the years, Jews have told me that the doctrine of Reward and Punishment was the impetus for them leaving Jewish religious life and community because they do not believe in a judgmental commanding and angry God. Nor do they believe in the apologetics of yisurin shel ahavah (“sufferings of love”), a rabbinic principle that says sufferers here will be rewarded in the world to come because God loves them.

I am sympathetic with their rejection of this doctrinal nonsense. I believe that the healthiest approach is not to consign these texts to the geniza as sacred trash, but to use them as motivators of ideas and as a stimulus to transcend higher and nothing else. For example, note that the second paragraph in the Sh’ma (see above) follows the V’ahavta (“You shall love Adonai your God with all your heart, mind and soul…”). This juxtaposition suggests that the best reason for doing the right thing is not for the sake of a reward but rather for the love of God, as if to say that ‘virtue is its own reward.’ Given, however, that none of us is always virtuous, sometimes we need a carrot dangling in front of our noses to remind us, ‘Do right and good will come,’ and at other times we need the stick threatening us, ‘Do right, or else!’

This way of thinking can spur us to do good, but this is not theology. It is merely recognition of our human faults and weaknesses. What we need are vehicles of transcendence (i.e. words, Torah, midrash, poetry, music, and ritual) that can open us to the deepest realm of Olam ha-Yichud.

As we approach the Yamim Noraim, it would be well for us to remember that the so-called offending texts were written in a very different time and place. Much, thankfully, has occurred that has evolved our thinking, understanding and faith.

Rabbi Heschel taught that the sin of taking the text literally is that we miss the poetry of life. Our charge during this season is to take the old, re-excavate its stopped-up wells, immerse ourselves in its ebullient springs, and find renewal.

May the month of Elul be a time of probing, struggle and return.

Chazak v’eimatz. Be strong and of good courage.

It’s T’shuvah – nothing more; nothing less!

30 Tuesday Aug 2011

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in Musings about God/Faith/Religious life, Quote of the Day

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“The primary role of t’shuvah (repentance), which at once sheds light on the darkened zone, is for the person to return to herself, to the root of her soul.  Then she will at once return to God, to the Soul of all souls….It is only through the great truth of returning to oneself that the person and the people, the world and all the worlds, the whole of existence, will return to their Creator, to be illumined by the light of life.” (Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook)

 

Tonight is the First of Elul – Time for Teshuvah!

29 Monday Aug 2011

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in Holidays, Musings about God/Faith/Religious life, Quote of the Day

≈ 1 Comment

“Open the door of t’shuvah (i.e. repentance) only the width of the eye of a needle and God will open it wide enough for carriages and wagons to pass through.” (Song of Songs Rabbah 5)

The Language of Cancer – A Personal View

29 Monday Aug 2011

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in American Politics and Life

≈ 5 Comments

In the NY Times Sunday Review (August 28, 2011) there appears a powerful piece entitled “Cancer: Fighting Words” written by Daniel Menaker, a writer and recurrent cancer patient. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/28/opinion/sunday/cancer-fighting-words.html

As I read his words I reflected back upon my own treatment for prostate cancer two plus years ago, the eight weeks of radiation following it and how Barbara and I dealt with my diagnosis, surgery and follow-up treatment.

I should say up front that I am currently cancer free, which distinguishes me from Mr. Menaker and many other people with cancer. Though my tumor was high-grade (9 on the Gleason scale; 10 is the highest and almost always deadly; 9 is often deadly), I had the benefit of treatment from a surgeon and then a radiation oncologist both of whom are world-class. I was also watched over by my brother, Michael, a hematologist-oncologist on faculty and staff at UCLA. I was very lucky. Most people do not receive the quality of care I did.

When my pre-op biopsy revealed how bad my tumor was, I was terrified, imagined that it had spread and that I had only a couple of years of life left. My surgeon calmed me somewhat when he said, “John, yes – you have a very bad tumor, but there is a lot we can do, and we are going to bring out all the cannons to treat you!”

I was comforted by his reassurance and, strangely, by the military language he used. I needed to know in the strongest most combative language that I would survive. Thankfully, my fears were short-lived. After the surgery my doctor determined that the tumor had not spread and that I would be healed and live a normal life.

In contrast to Daniel Menaker and anyone with recurring cancer, I can understand why the military metaphors are disturbing. He quotes Dr. Andrew Weil as saying that conducting a personal “war” is “not the best way” to think of cancer. He also notes that “Cancer patients writing online and bloggers … deplored this linguistic habit.” One asked “Does it mean that if I croak it’s my fault?”

Mr. Menaker favors the ‘demilitarization’ of cancer rhetoric, and though it satisfied an emotional need in me in the initial period after diagnosis and before surgery when I did not know what I was facing, for those in long-term treatment I understand why it is better to regard cancer not as a ‘war’ with victors and vanquished, but as a “problem to be solved, or not solved.”

Thinking of oneself as a “victim” is not helpful to patients who need their inner reserves to remain hopeful and up-beat during treatment and over the long term. Most patients, dependent upon their physician’s protocols and treatment, just want to know that everything possible is being done to make them well.

For Daniel Menaker and others like him, I wish them r’fuah sh’leimah (complete recovery) as their disease is addressed, managed and, God willing, put into remission indefinitely.

Why the Palestinians Can’t Recognize the Jewish State – link to complete article

28 Sunday Aug 2011

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in Israel and Palestine, Israel/Zionism

≈ 1 Comment

Apologies – here is the link to the complete article entitled “Why the Palestinians Can’t Recognize the Jewish State?” and my original but edited and clarified post from last evening:

http://mondoweiss.net/2011/08/why-the-palestinians-can%E2%80%99t-recognize-the-jewish-state.html

To understand the Palestinian position vis a vis the Jewish State of Israel I recommend highly this article. It responds to the question “Why Can’t the Palestinians Recognize the Jewish State?” and is written by Ahmad Samih Khalidi, a former Palestinian negotiator. He is editor of Majallat al-Dirasat al-Filastiniyya, the Arabic-language sister publication of The Journal of Palestine Studies.

Upon reading this piece and pondering what it will take to forge a secure end-of-conflict resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it is clear that for both Israel and the Palestinians the rhetoric of any future deal must preserve Israel’s Zionist principles of historic rights to the land of Israel as a national homeland and the Palestinian principles of the right to Palestine as their national homeland without either negating the other.

The question is, of course, given these mutual claims to the same land, is a deal even possible? I believe that it is if each side can accept less through compromise than its maximal claim.

D’var Torah Re’eh – Compassionate Annihilation!?

26 Friday Aug 2011

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in Divrei Torah, Israel/Zionism

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Ever since Zionism brought the Jewish people back into history from exile we Jews and especially the State of Israel have had a major challenge; namely, how to remain rachmanim b’nai rachmanim (compassionate children of compassionate parents) while at the same time protecting ourselves from real enemies.

In this week’s Torah portion, Re’eh, we encounter a passage set down during the time of the reign of the Judean King Josiah (7th century BCE) who was in the process of solidifying his political control over all the land of Israel while the Assyrians were busy fighting on their eastern front. Here is the offending passage:

“Smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly, and everything in it…gather all the spoils…and burn with fire the city…and it shall be an eternal ruin forever; never again to be rebuilt. Let nothing that has been declared taboo there remain in your hands…God will then grant you mercy and the Almighty will be merciful to you, and multiply you as Adonai has sworn unto your fathers.” (Deuteronomy 13:16)

The juxtaposition of Israel’s utter annihilation of an enemy on the one hand and the reward of compassion by God on the other is jarring. Rabbi Akiva (1st-2nd century CE) tried to ameliorate the brutality of the text by saying that the phrase “God will grant you to be merciful” means that you are not to kill the children (Tosefta Sanhedrin 14).

Following the destruction of the 2nd Temple in 70 CE when the Jewish people lost political control over their homeland, Talmudic tradition writing mostly from Galut (exile) is replete with discussion of mercy and compassion as a principal Jewish trait to be nurtured and developed l’dor va-dor (from generation to generation). One of the most famous of these is found in Yevamot 79a:

“It is taught: There are three distinguishing signs of the Jewish nation: mercifulness, humility and loving-kindness. Mercifulness, as it is written ‘God will then grant you mercy and the Holy One will be merciful to you….’”

Rabbi Chaim ibn Attar (known as Ohr HaChayim – 1696-1743 CE) remarked that the killing of another human being, even when done in self-defense, can lead the killer to become accustomed to bloodlust and eventually will corrupt the heart of Jewish civilization itself. Judaism teaches that we cannot become cruel and still call ourselves Jews. It is a tragic consequence that with the establishment of the State of Israel there have been far too many occasions when Jews have been forced to get our hands dirty. Even so, tradition warns that we Jews can never forget the virtue of mercy.

With this value uppermost in mind the Israel Defense Forces developed a policy called Tohar Haneshek (lit. “Purity of Arms”) that is, to this day, an essential aspect of the training of every Israeli soldier. Tohar Haneshek teaches how to fight a war as compassionately as possible, even at the risk of one’s own life, in order to avoid causing harm to innocent civilians. Indeed, no army in the history of the world has done more to avoid such harm to civilians than has Israel. Few know this because the Israel-haters use every opportunity to accuse the Jewish state of inhumanity and war crimes. Nevertheless, despite Israel’s uncommon record, many Israeli soldiers come home from military duty both in times of war and after service in the administered territories morally scarred and emotionally devastated by what they had to endure.

Israel’s current government, in my view, is guilty in a way no other Israeli government in its history has been so guilty of presiding over a hardening of heart vis a vis the Palestinians and a disregard for democratic principles affirming the human rights of individuals on which the State was founded, that I believe in time Jewish history will judge very harshly.

The passage from Deuteronomy above set down 2700 years ago is disturbingly relevant today. Compassionate annihilation!?  Please. There is no such thing and we ignore that truth at our own peril.

The Face of Revolution – Tel Aviv 2011

25 Thursday Aug 2011

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in Israel/Zionism

≈ 1 Comment

This will bring a smile to your face and infuse your heart with hope and love!

http://www.squrl.com/content/2477087/?GalleryIDContext=129056&CollectionIDContext=129057&CuratorIDContext=32670

Revenge – Will it happen in Libya and Syria?

25 Thursday Aug 2011

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in Quote of the Day

≈ 4 Comments

Soon, Libya’s Muammar Qaddafi and Syria’s Bashar Al-Assad both will pass into history’s dustbin mingled with the blood of thousands of innocent citizens murdered by each regime. Revenge would be a natural and tragic response by those who have been brutalized and oppressed by each ruler for so long.

I have been thinking about the peoples of the Middle East emotional need for revenge this past week not only because of the revolutions coming to a head in both Libya and Syria, but also in light of the beginning of the Hebrew month of Elul that arrives on Monday evening and leads a month later to Rosh Hashanah.

The following are reflections taken from voices uttered over a long period of time on revenge:

An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.
-Mahatma Gandhi (1869 – 1948, India)

In taking revenge, a man is but even with his enemy; but in passing it over, he is superior.
-Sir Francis Bacon (1561 – 1626 CE, England)

Live well. It is the greatest revenge.
-Talmud (500 C.E. Babylonia)

Revenge is always the weak pleasure of a little and narrow mind.
-Juvenal (Decimus Iunius Iuvenalis, Roman poet, late 1st and early 2nd century AD)

Revenge is sweeter than life itself. So think fools.
-Juvenal (ibid)

Those who plot the destruction of others often perish in the attempt.
-Thomas Moore (1779 – 1852, Ireland)

Revenge has no more quenching effect on emotions than salt water has on thirst.
-Walter Weckler

The Sorry State of Politics in America Today

23 Tuesday Aug 2011

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in American Politics and Life

≈ 4 Comments

Sadly, American politics carries mostly negative associations these days, and “politician” ranks with used car salesmen as amongst the least trustworthy of professions. It wasn’t always this way. A political career was once a noble calling, and amongst the most virtuous was attracted to public service where they could alleviate suffering and enhance the quality of life for their fellow citizens.

Bismarck correctly described politics as “the art of the possible,” and for those few who were graced with the legislative skills and the virtues of patience, wisdom and vision politics was never “a public chore to be got over with, but … a way of life” (Plutarch) that could accomplish great things.

Politics, of course, has also attracted amongst the least virtuous of citizens motivated by the accumulation of power, privilege and wealth. Though there are many good, honest and decent people serving in office on the local, state and national levels, unless they are already in office those without vast personal wealth and/or moneyed connections will never be able to compete nor serve.

The Republican field for President is, as I see it, utterly bereft of the quality of men and women this country needs except, perhaps, the former Governor of Utah. Thankfully, we have a good man currently sitting in the White House, but the threat to his effectiveness is substantial not only because of the obstructionist nature of his opposition but of the corrosive nature of the system itself. What is required of the President and of those good people who serve (Republican and Democrat alike) will test their character to the very core. I wish them well and Godspeed.

 

More on Glenn Beck as he prepares to desecrate God’s Holy Name at the Holiest Site of the Jewish people on Wednesday

22 Monday Aug 2011

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in American Jewish Life, American Politics and Life, Israel/Zionism

≈ Leave a comment

About a week ago I wrote why I believe Glenn Beck is bad for Israel and for Middle East peace. In two days (Wednesday, August 24) Beck will stand at the foot of Har Hazeitim in Jerusalem and, according to YNET’s Washington, D,C. correspondent  Yitzhak Ben Horin, try and resuscitate his own career after being fired by Fox.

Note the end of the article that both Senator Joe Lieberman and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, who are in Jerusalem, declined to attend Beck’s event,  without saying why or condemning him outright.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/62804946/Ynet-Aug21-11-DC-Correspondent-Slams-Israel-s-Cooperation-With-Glenn-Beck

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