Beautifully written as usual. I recently reread Rabbi J Sack’s A Letter in the Scroll and highly recommend it to anyone. Does anyone know if it is translated into Hebrew? I would support a mass distribution of this book to the Jewish population looking for some clarity on what it means to “identify” Jewish independent of their level of observance.
I also highly recommend R. Sacks's book "Future Tense". He has a chapter called "A New Zionism". Among other points, he notes the irony that whereas the U.S. was founded partly on Biblical ideas, and that these led to American church-state separation, the founders of Israel rarely cited Biblical ideas. Just like Dr. Gordis above, Rabbi Sacks says that we need a Jewish renaissance in Israel and Zionism. Sacks calls the Hebrew Bible a "forgotten political classic", and suggests that the form of government closest to the Biblical ideal, today, is liberal democracy.
Very well written, but with an issue. You haven't proposed what it is we seculars are supposed to take from both Jewish "religion" (I sort of agree that it's a civilizational culture broadly and shouldn't be compared to an imperial-confessional faith) and, most especially, from the blend of European and Islamic forms that religion officially takes in Israel. I have a fairly reasonable Jewish education myself, am adamantly pro-Zionist, would argue for a particularly Jewish Israel -- but I don't think "God said so as given to Moshe at Sinai then to ... Rav Ovadiyah Yosef then to Yitzhak Yosef" is a source of cultural authority or of culture, period. It is a claim of moral imperative by divine command. If I don't believe in any link in the chain, from Moshe at Sinai down to Rav Yosef - for instance if I am Ashkenazi! - then what am I or the State (which is neither Ashkenazi nor Sefaradi but *Jewish*) supposed to draw from it?
I humbly suggest that it starts with not labeling yourself as secular. That implies a static condition. Judaism is dynamic in that we are ALL “religious” , whatever our starting point, as long as we are consistently growing in our relationship (and SEEKING any relationship)with G-d, recognizing His presence even in our “mundane” lives. More important however is making sure our children are privileged to SEE His importance in our own daily lives. Children will only revere what we revere . “Ritual” can seem irrelevant at first, but it is a mechanism ,designed by G-d himself ( independent of cultural variations), for continuity. And who are we to challenge the system designer. The ultimate purpose is not to aggrandize ourselves through religion but to bring attention to His presence and greatness so the world recognizes not the greatness of the Jewish people, but His greatness through the Jewish people (one candle at a time).
Ouch Eli. I am far from seething. I feel close to another Jew because of something that is even beyond my own comprehension. We are all part of the same Being. My comment was that by labeling oneself secular implies not even giving oneself permission to believe. Anyone without an ego at least admits to the possibility of a higher power.
This is brilliant. I feel like the early socialist/Bundist antipathy towards "religion", which is still present on the Left, never really made sense in the context of Judaism, which encompasses so many aspects of life.
This requires families, schools and youth movements to teach Jewish history and philosophy and secure the knowledge that their great grandparents had in their hearts and minds !!!
Regarding the miracle of oil. A Zoom teacher pointed out that the gemara doesn't say that the one cruse of oil lasted 8 days. It says that they 'lit from it' for 8 days -- i.e., they burned a little of it one day, a little the next,...
Beautifully written as usual. I recently reread Rabbi J Sack’s A Letter in the Scroll and highly recommend it to anyone. Does anyone know if it is translated into Hebrew? I would support a mass distribution of this book to the Jewish population looking for some clarity on what it means to “identify” Jewish independent of their level of observance.
I also highly recommend R. Sacks's book "Future Tense". He has a chapter called "A New Zionism". Among other points, he notes the irony that whereas the U.S. was founded partly on Biblical ideas, and that these led to American church-state separation, the founders of Israel rarely cited Biblical ideas. Just like Dr. Gordis above, Rabbi Sacks says that we need a Jewish renaissance in Israel and Zionism. Sacks calls the Hebrew Bible a "forgotten political classic", and suggests that the form of government closest to the Biblical ideal, today, is liberal democracy.
Very well written, but with an issue. You haven't proposed what it is we seculars are supposed to take from both Jewish "religion" (I sort of agree that it's a civilizational culture broadly and shouldn't be compared to an imperial-confessional faith) and, most especially, from the blend of European and Islamic forms that religion officially takes in Israel. I have a fairly reasonable Jewish education myself, am adamantly pro-Zionist, would argue for a particularly Jewish Israel -- but I don't think "God said so as given to Moshe at Sinai then to ... Rav Ovadiyah Yosef then to Yitzhak Yosef" is a source of cultural authority or of culture, period. It is a claim of moral imperative by divine command. If I don't believe in any link in the chain, from Moshe at Sinai down to Rav Yosef - for instance if I am Ashkenazi! - then what am I or the State (which is neither Ashkenazi nor Sefaradi but *Jewish*) supposed to draw from it?
I humbly suggest that it starts with not labeling yourself as secular. That implies a static condition. Judaism is dynamic in that we are ALL “religious” , whatever our starting point, as long as we are consistently growing in our relationship (and SEEKING any relationship)with G-d, recognizing His presence even in our “mundane” lives. More important however is making sure our children are privileged to SEE His importance in our own daily lives. Children will only revere what we revere . “Ritual” can seem irrelevant at first, but it is a mechanism ,designed by G-d himself ( independent of cultural variations), for continuity. And who are we to challenge the system designer. The ultimate purpose is not to aggrandize ourselves through religion but to bring attention to His presence and greatness so the world recognizes not the greatness of the Jewish people, but His greatness through the Jewish people (one candle at a time).
Rubbish. I call myself secular because I don't believe in God. If you can't live in a country with people who don't believe, cope and seethe.
Ouch Eli. I am far from seething. I feel close to another Jew because of something that is even beyond my own comprehension. We are all part of the same Being. My comment was that by labeling oneself secular implies not even giving oneself permission to believe. Anyone without an ego at least admits to the possibility of a higher power.
This is brilliant. I feel like the early socialist/Bundist antipathy towards "religion", which is still present on the Left, never really made sense in the context of Judaism, which encompasses so many aspects of life.
This requires families, schools and youth movements to teach Jewish history and philosophy and secure the knowledge that their great grandparents had in their hearts and minds !!!
Fighting a war over an idea. The is profound. I never knew this. DG is coming to Houston in the Spring and I am very happy.
Regarding the miracle of oil. A Zoom teacher pointed out that the gemara doesn't say that the one cruse of oil lasted 8 days. It says that they 'lit from it' for 8 days -- i.e., they burned a little of it one day, a little the next,...