Four Differences about Judaism

Judaism differs from Christianity and Islam in at least four ways.  Judaism is a tribal religion.  Judaism does not seek converts.  Judaism teaches what you do is more important that what you believe. And Judaism encourages questions and questioning God.

Tribal Religion:  There are two ways to be Jewish:  either your mother is Jewish or you can convert into the religion of Judaism. (Reform Jews allow for a person to be Jewish if his or her father is Jewish and the person was brought up to be Jewish)

Not Seeking Converts:  Jews are taught not to seek converts and to discourage someone from converting.  The tradition teaches: a person desiring to convert should be sent away three times.  And the conversion process is lengthy, arduous and requires you to observe Jewish rituals. 

What You Do:  While many Jews have faith in God, faith is not a requirement for being Jewish.  There are many secular Jews who are proud of being Jewish.  There are many ways to be Jewish.  Honoring the rituals of the tradition and caring for the stranger are more important that believing.  In other words, Jewish tradition teaches God is more concerned about what you do then whether you believe.

Questions:  Jewish tradition encourages questioning of the scriptures, debating traditional interpretations, and most importantly, questioning the methodology of God. Questioning is a discipline at the heart of Jewish tradition and a covenantal obligation.

Nevertheless, I Persist

Here is the human dilemma.  We appear.  We are here.  Then, we disappear.  Is there any meaning to any of this?  Other than a few relatives and friends, does it matter that we exist for the time we are here?  How can our brains cope with all the suffering and evil we encounter in a lifetime?  Is there a God or is that something we made up and then conveniently forgot we did so?  If there is a God, is there any way we can understand how he, she, it operates in the world?  Given the absurdities of life, how should we live during the relatively brief time we are here?  Is there anything like an afterlife or do we just disappear, poof!?  As much as we try not to think about them, religious questions will not go away.

These questions persist because we have not been able to definitively answer them.  Each religion has its responses to the questions.  Over the years they each have developed sophisticated rationales and defenses created to deflect objections or doubts.  They assert what they assert with certainty but with precious little proof. 

But here is the thing, this is nothing new.  Religions have always been tentative vectors, glimpses, faith statements, creeds, hymns, prayers, hopes against hope, imaginations, mysteries, dim paradoxical visions along with questionable assertions and extrapolations.

Yet I remain a religious person because I trust there is something more going on than meets the eye.  I am aware that I could be wrong.  But, nevertheless, I persist.  I am haunted by these questions.  They will not let go of me, nor I of them.

We are all caught having to determine where we stand despite the fact there is no solid ground.  The stoics were right.  To live the way we have to live requires courage, self-control, equanimity and wisdom.  Keep working on those four, don’t give up on the religious questions, persist nevertheless.

The Man with the Feather Pillow

The Man and the Feather Pillow

There is a story in Jewish tradition about a man who loved to gossip.  He constantly spread rumors and salacious details about his neighbors. He enjoyed knowing secrets and sharing them.  In the process, he hurt many people.  One day, for whatever reason, he felt guilty for what he had done.  He went to his Rabbi and asked the Rabbi what he could to rectify his gossiping.  The Rabbi said, “Go and get a feather pillow.”  The man went and found a feather pillow.  Then the Rabbi said, “Go to the tallest building you can find, rip open the pillow and let the feathers fly.”  The man did so. He returned to Rabbi who told him, “Now go and retrieve every feather.”  The rabbi explained, “This is how hard it will be to repair all the gossip you have shared.”

I have a friend who loves to gossip.  And even though I try not to gossip, I seem to be quite open to hearing what he knows.  All of us potentially play our roles.

In Jewish tradition, gossip is considered an act of robbery.  You are robbing another person of their reputation.  When you gossip you are not just sharing information with someone else.  You are hurting three people.  You hurt the person you are gossiping about; you hurt yourself by becoming a gossip; you hurt the person to whom you are gossiping by making them an accomplice to gossip.

In Judaism talking about another person behind his or her back is only permitted if the discussion centers on how to help someone in trouble.  While some gossiping can be harmless and frivolous, many times, intentionally or not, it ends up causing injury.

What makes gossip so attractive?  We feel powerful and important to have information unavailable to anyone else.  And we love the attention we get when we share what we know.  We especially enjoy gossiping about the wealthy and powerful in our communities because it convinces us that they are just as human as we are. 

And one more thing:  You know when you tell someone something juicy and you say, “Don’t tell anyone.”  Do not assume that what you say will be kept in confidence.  People forget where they heard what they heard. And they may also enjoy spreading the news to their own confidants.

Here is the truth.  We have the capacity to help and hurt each other every day.  So, the next time you feel like gossiping or someone is sharing gossip with you, think of the man and the feather pillow.

True Believers

True believers know they are right.  There is something seductive about being certain.  Religion and politics seem to breed people who are certain.  From generation to generation, that has been the case.

I understand the seduction of certainty.  I was part of it in the 1960’s.  We knew we were right and they were wrong.  It was a kind of self-righteous arrogance to which we are all susceptible.  I have met Jews, Christians and Muslims convinced their version of their religion, theology or politics is the only one.  And there are always people on the extreme right or the left who know they know and who know you do not know.  They are not interested in having a conversation.  They want to inform or convert you.

But, when true believers become violent it is usually due to idealism, desperation and wanting power.  They picture what they think is the original intent of God or their own tradition, and decide there is no way to implement that original ideal except through violence. These true believers are usually intelligent well-off idealists; they are keenly aware of the injustices of history, and are determined to establish justice through violence and terrorism.

If you have a chance, read the small wise book by Eric Hoffer, entitled, The True Believer.  Hoffer explains what “True Believers” are all about from Nazis to Communists.  His words, written many years ago, are applicable to ISIS as well.

 And, remember for your own religious or political sanity, Whitehead’s quote, “Seek simplicity but distrust it.”

Do What You Need to Do

Some years ago, during a time of some depression, I watched the movie, Shawshank Redemption.  I loved the film but more importantly was the great saying, “Get busy livin or get busy dyin.”  The older I get the more I realize, life is short and unpredictable.  If there is something you need and want to do get to it.

By the way, it’s ok and sometimes right to be afraid, just don’t let the fear run your life.  The most often repeated command in the Biblical text is, “Do not be afraid.”  Feel your fear and resistance to do what you know you need to do, but do not let it control your decision to act.  Have a sane day.

Jews, Christians and Muslims: Can We Trust Each Other?

We have three competing monotheistic revelations in the world.  Each community trusts the revelation they possess to be the historical truth received from God.  And within each community there are different interpretations, all vying with each other to accurately articulate the revelatory truth at the heart of the tradition. This we know.

Some, inside and outside these different religions, want to emphasize what unites rather than what divides the respective believers.  Others are sure their religion is right and all the rest are wrong.  Still others say we will not know who is right until we come face to face with God, assuming there is a God, so, they argue, let’s try and get along for now.

But the goal is not to get along.  The goal is not to assert you are right and the other guy is wrong.  After all, there are theological and ethical areas where caring Jews, Christians and Muslims can agree.  Good!   Where we can work together, let us do so.  But,  there are places where we are compelled to disagree.  That’s fine as well.  We must learn to disagree, to argue respectfully without holding a grudge, to learn to ask what does the other person believe and why do they believe it?  Ultimately, the goal is to listen, engage, and when necessary, respectfully disagree. 

The reason this is so hard to do is it requires trust, trust that you really want to get to know and listen to me and are not out to convert me.  And, at the same time, you need to trust that I am not out to get you. Establishing such trust between people of different religions is not easy.  It takes, time, effort and commitment on both sides.  It is easier to disagree, distrust and dismiss the other side rather than think they have something of value to teach me. 

Invest the time to get to know and listen to someone of a different religion.  You will find that your own faith will become deeper, clearer and wiser.  I know this, because it happened to me.

Open and Closed Religious Borders

These days, people feel free to leave their birth religions to investigate, explore or join another religion.  Some have left religion all together and decided to be agnostic or atheist. Some have grown up without any religion.  Some people mix one religion with another.  There are “dones and “nones”, people who are done with the Church, synagogue or mosque and others who claim to have no religion at all.  Intermarriage between religious believers is rampant.  This wild west religious migration is happening right in front of our eyes.  The world is getting smaller.  We are learning what other people believe.  Religious borders and boundaries are open!

In my own life, I left my religion and community, explored and joined Lutheran Christianity for many years, and finally returned to the Jewish community and tradition.  This has been my religious journey.

I felt free to run away.  And by the way, running away is not always bad.  For some it is the only way to remain sane. There are so many different stories.   Sometimes, like me,  you just need to leave your religious tradition, come to feel completely empty and lost and even join another religion before you wake up. I ran away from the craziness of my family.  I ran and ran as far as I could get. I returned to Judaism when I could no longer run away from my own soul. 

We need to think about how we look at the world’s religions.  We need to avoid two extremes, religious absolutism and religious relativism. No religion has the absolute truth. Religions contain a glimpse of certain truths.  At the same time, it’s wrong to say that every religion is as good as another. Some religious interpretations endorse hatred and violence. Some religions should be avoided.  We need to listen to what others believe with wisdom and discernment. 

Members of each religion should be loyal to and defend their own tradition. That’s fine.  But, at the same time, believers need to be honest about the strengths and weaknesses of their own religious tradition. Religions are, after all, tentative, diverse, and disputatious.  Religions have much to learn from each other. And, remember, God is not a member of any religion.  God is God!

So, I am not upset by all the religious exploration and migration going on.  In its disruptive and sometimes ignorant manner, it demonstrates the importance and vitality of religious questions.  Neither science or secularity will do away with these questions.  Mistakes will be made, there will be regrets, and forgiveness necessary for doing the best you could with what you knew.  People will leave and sometimes return to their traditions.  Such is our life together.  Such is my life.