tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38759186602249224532024-02-19T10:48:10.600-05:00The Religious HumanistReligious humanism is not secular humanism. Religious humanism does not deny the presence of the divine in the cosmos and in the mind, heart and soul of humans. Religious humanism does, however, understand religion as a human endeavor to comprehend what is ultimately incomprehensible and to express the ineffable.
Read more on the "Religious Humanist Manifesto" Page.Richard Ledermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17050252724017716795noreply@blogger.comBlogger48125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3875918660224922453.post-78260960117299025592022-05-23T14:43:00.001-04:002022-05-23T14:43:43.332-04:00Jewish Shabbat and Christian Sunday<p><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I recently taught an online course for the Osher Adult Learning Community sponsored by Johns Hopkins University. The course was titled “Judaism and Christianity: How Did the Ways Depart?” It was based on a book titled </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Partings: How Judaism and Christianity Became Two </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">that included a chapter on the question of how Jews came to observe Saturday as Shabbat, while Christians observe Sunday as “the Lord’s Day.” </span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-3af662e0-7fff-f19e-aa5c-7f8a76032536"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a></span>Of course, we’d have to begin by exploring how Shabbat came to be observed every 7<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: 0.6em; vertical-align: super;">th</span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> day on Saturday. There is some rather solid evidence that Shabbat in the Hebrew Bible began as a full-moon observance. Throughout the Hebrew Bible, there are persistent references to “New Moon and Shabbat,” which numerous scholars have understood to mean that Shabbat was a full-moon observance. Indeed, major festivals of the ancient Hebrew and modern Jewish calendars—Passover and Sukkot, for instance—fall on the full moon. </span><p></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Another interesting piece of evidence for Shabbat originating as a full-moon observance comes from the so-called Babylonian account of creation, </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Enuma Elish</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. The principal edition of this tale, discovered in the ruins of the library of the 7</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: 0.6em; vertical-align: super;">th</span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> century BCE Assyrian king Ashurbanipal, comes to us in seven clay tablets (more on the number seven below). It tells of the struggle between the deity Marduk, head of the pantheon of the city of Babylon, against the personification of chaotic waters named Tiamat. After defeating Tiamat, Marduk cleaves her body in two, placing half of her as heaven and the other half as earth. He then sets about cosmic and world creation, instituting the religious and political life of Babylon.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the course of this project we read:</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He made the crescent moon, entrusted night (to it)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And designated it the jewel of night to mark out the days</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">‘Go forth every month without fail in a corona,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At the beginning of the month to glow over the land.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You shine with horns to mark out six days;</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On the seventh day, the crown is half.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The fifteenth day shall always be the midpoint, the half of each month.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(From Stephanie Dalley, </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Myths from Mesopotamia</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">)</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The text goes on to describe the relationship between the phases of the moon and sun as part of a thirty-day month that an astronomer could explain. What is important for us is that our translator, Professor Dalley, has a note attached to the words “the fifteenth day.” The note reads: “The word for the fifteenth day of the month, </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">šabattu</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, is cognate with Sabbath.” In other words, the word for the mid-point of each thirty-day month, that is, the fifteenth of the month, is designated with a Babylonian word that is cognate with Hebrew Shabbat. But note also the specific references to the new moon, the seventh day of the month, the fifteenth day of the month and the thirtieth day of the month, i.e., what appear to be phases of the moon.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It has also been noted that the proof text for Shabbat in the Bible, Genesis 2:1-4, never actually uses the word Shabbat. It refers to the seventh day of creation and the fact that God “ceased” from work, using the root of that word </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">šbt</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> as verbs to indicate God resting, but never using Shabbat as a noun. In the earliest liturgical calendars presented in the Hebrew Bible—for instance, Exodus 23:12 and 34:21—there is a seven-day cycle of work followed by rest on the seventh day, again using the root </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">šbt </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">as a verb indicating cessation, but never as the noun, Shabbat. In these instances, there is no clear indication that there is any fixed timing—a fixed day on which this occurs; it simply occurs every seven days.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It is clear that the ancient Israelites, like their Mesopotamian neighbors, recognized a seven-day week. Indeed, the word for week in Hebrew is </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">šavu’ah</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, related to the word </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">šev’ah</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, which means “seven.” It’s already clear from </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Enuma Elish</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> that the number seven has special significance and, at least from this point of view, it appears to have some connection to the phases of the moon. Within the tradition of ancient Israel, beyond Shabbat, the number seven is ubiquitous. The two full-moon festivals, Passover and Tabernacles (Sukkot) last for seven days. Land lies fallow in the seventh year, and debts are forgiven in the seventh year. The period of time between Passover and the Feast of Weeks (Shavu’ot) is seven Sabbaths of days, i.e. forty-nine days, the word Shabbat becoming a synonym for a week. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the classic Mesopotamian hero tale, six days and seven nights becomes virtually a standard measure of time. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But the Bible never assigns names to the days of the week, only referring to them by number—first, second, third day, etc.—a system used in modern Hebrew to this day. Passages from the New Testament indicate that this system of numbering days was used by first century Jews and was adopted by the early church. The one issue that will arise from these passages involves the distinction between the solar day, beginning with sunrise, and the lunar day, beginning in the evening. The Jewish calendar is lunar, meaning the day begins in the evening with the rising of the moon. It would appear that the New Testament assumes a solar day beginning at sunrise. At the same time, it is clear that the New Testament recognizes the day following Shabbat as the first day of the week. For example, both the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke note events surrounding the death, burial and resurrection of Christ.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Matthew 28:1</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Luke 24:1</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So the questions remain: When, how and why Saturday? When, how and why Sunday?</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s not clear exactly when and where days of the week were given names. There is some suggestion that it may have begun in Babylon, where days of the week were named for gods associated with the sun, the moon and the then recognized moving stars, i.e., planets: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus and Mercury. While there is no overt evidence for this, there is an interesting passage in the </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Histories</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> of the Roman historian Tacitus writing at the beginning of the second century CE. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Tacitus seems quite familiar with Jews in general and the Jews of Judea in particular. The entire Book V of his </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Histories</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is devoted to the suppression of the anti-Roman rebellion in Judea that began in 66 CE and was not finally suppressed until 74 CE with the conquest of the mountain fortress of Masada. In describing the origins of the Jews, Tacitus includes this observation regarding the Jewish observance of the Sabbath:</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">...it is an observance in honor of Saturn, either from the primitive elements of their faith having been transmitted from the Idaei (Judeans), who are said to have shared the flight of that God, and to have founded the race, or from the circumstance that of the seven stars which rule the destinies of men, Saturn moves in the highest orbit and with the mightiest power, and that many of the heavenly bodies complete their revolutions and courses in multiples of seven (</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Tacitus, </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Histories</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> V, 2).</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It must be pointed out that the term in rabbinic Hebrew/Aramaic for Saturn is </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">shabbetai</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, clearly etymologically related to the word Shabbat. In that regard, there is an obscure but perhaps revealing passage from the Talmud, a vast account of rabbinic discussions published sometime in the 6</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: 0.6em; vertical-align: super;">th</span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> century CE, but containing material that may go back to the time of the second temple before its destruction by the Romans in 70 CE. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Sages taught: One who sees the sun in the beginning of its cycle, the moon in its might, the planets in their orbit, or the signs of the zodiac aligned in their order recites: Blessed…Author of creation. The Gemara asks: And when is it that the sun is at the beginning of its cycle? Abaye said: Every twenty-eight years when the cycle is complete and returns to its genesis, and the Nisan, vernal, equinox, when the spring days and nights are of equal length, falls within the constellation of Saturn on the night of the third and eve of the fourth day of the week, as then their arrangement returns to be as it was when the constellations were first placed in the heavens</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (BT Berakhot 59b)</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So what is this about? To begin, this passage is from the tractate or section of the Talmud called </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">berakhot</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, “blessings.” Remember the response of the rabbi in “Fiddler on the Roof” when asked if there is a blessing for the Tsar? “There is a blessing for everything.” So there is a blessing for this moment, when the celestial bodies return to their original positions when the heavens were first created. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I am no astronomer, but according to nakedeyeplanets.com, the planet Saturn is in opposition to the sun every 378 days. That is, there is a direct line from the sun through the earth to Saturn every 378 days, which means that this celestial phenomenon occurs 13 days later in each successive year (i.e., 378-365). So apparently, everything returns to its original position every 28 years (i.e., 365/13), and this occurs on the evening of day 4 of the week in which the vernal equinox occurs. The point being that this original configuration of the cosmos is focused, in Jewish tradition, on the relative positions of sun, earth and the planet Shabbetai, i.e., Saturn.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Another Roman historian, Dio Cassius, writing at the end of the 2</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: 0.6em; vertical-align: super;">nd</span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> century or beginning of the 3</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: 0.6em; vertical-align: super;">rd</span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> century CE, describes the circumstances surrounding the appointment of Herod by the Roman senate as king of Judea in 40 BCE. In the struggle to put down an anti-Roman uprising inspired by the Judean leader Antigonus with the support of the Pathians (Persians), Dio Cassius describes this scene as part of the siege of Jerusalem by Mark Antony, ruler of the east under the so-called Second Triumvirate.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Jews, indeed, had done much injury to the Romans, for the race is very bitter when aroused to anger, but they suffered far more themselves. The first of them to be captured were those who were fighting for the precinct of their god, and then the rest on the day even then called the day of Saturn. And so excessive were they in their devotion to religion that the first set of prisoners, those who had been captured along with the temple, obtained leave from Sosius, when the day of Saturn came round again, and went up into the temple and there performed all the customary rites, together with the rest of the people</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (Dio Cassius, </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Roman History</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, XLIX, 22, 4-5).</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In Book 37, chapter 19 of his </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Roman History</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Dio Cassius offers two ways of understanding the relationship of the calendar to the movement of the sun, the moon and the five planets. In one rendition, Dio explains how each day and each hour of the day is related to each of these celestial bodies. The first hour of the first day is associated with Saturn, and as one moves through the rotation of each hour, the first hour of the second day is associated with the Sun, etc. The other explanation involves an association of the system of naming the days of the week by the planets with the musical tetrachord, again a subject that is above my pay grade. In any event, Dio notes that Saturn is in the highest orbit, as Tacitus, writing a century earlier, also indicated.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Let us assume, then, that either based on Babylonian astronomy or on the notion that Saturn is in the highest orbit, ancient Jews ultimately came to associate Shabbat with Saturday, i.e., Saturn’s day. Now, what about the Christian Sunday?</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We might start with the apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans, probably written between 55 and 60 CE. Considered his last epistle and a kind of </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">summa</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> of his theology and Christology (understanding the nature of Christ), it becomes apparent that Paul was preaching to a Roman Christian community that consisted of a mix of Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians. At this early stage of the Christian community—and I would suggest for some several hundred years thereafter—the separation between Judaism and Christianity had not been entirely completed. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yet, it appears that there was some tension between the two groups, and Paul, throughout his career, was anxious to maintain harmony within the Christian communities that he established. We also understand that Paul was anxious to extend his Christ-centered theology of salvation from sin to Gentiles and taught that this salvation comes through Christ alone and not through adherence to the laws of the Torah. At the same time, it is clear from other Pauline epistles and other New Testament writings that there were significant numbers of Jewish followers of Jesus who insisted that adherence to Torah law remained a requirement. In chapter 14, Paul addresses the issues that arose in this somewhat fractious environment. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Welcome those who are weak in faith, but not for the purpose of quarreling over opinions.</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: 0.6em; vertical-align: super;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Some believe in eating anything, while the weak eat only vegetables</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Those who eat must not despise those who abstain, and those who abstain must not pass judgment on those who eat; for God has welcomed them. Who are you to pass judgment on servants of another? It is before their own lord that they stand or fall. And they will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make them stand.</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: 0.6em; vertical-align: super;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Some judge one day to be better than another, while others judge all days to be alike</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Let all be fully convinced in their own minds. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Those who observe the day, observe it in honor of the Lord. Also those who eat, eat in honor of the Lord</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, since they give thanks to God; while those who abstain, abstain in honor of the Lord and give thanks to God. (Romans 14:1-8)</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s quite clear that Paul is confronting members of his Roman community who continued to insist on the observance of the Shabbat and the Jewish dietary rules, while others, including Paul, did not think them necessary. Indeed, Paul calls the Torah observers “weak in faith” in that they were not convinced that salvation comes only through faith in Christ’s salvific self-sacrifice. But, he says, those who observe a special day, i.e., Shabbat, should do so “in honor of the Lord,” i.e., Christ.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">While Paul seems never to have used the expression “Day of the Lord,” there are some hints in the New Testament that Paul recognized Sunday as a special day in the early Church. Writing to his community in Corinth, Paul instructs as follows:</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now concerning the collection for the saints: you should follow the directions I gave to the churches of Galatia.</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: 0.6em; vertical-align: super;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On the first day of every week (mian sabbatone)</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, each of you is to put aside and save whatever extra you earn, so that collections need not be taken when I come. And when I arrive, I will send any whom you approve with letters to take your gift to Jerusalem</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (I Corinthians 6:1-3).</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Book of Acts, a kind of early Church history written around 90 CE, has this account of a gathering involving the apostle Paul in the Greek town of Troas:</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 40.5pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On the first day of the week (mia tone sabbatone)</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, when we met to break bread, Paul was holding a discussion with them; since he intended to leave </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the next day (on the morrow)</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, he continued speaking until midnight</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (Acts 20:7)</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">While these passages are a bit obscure, they suggest that the early Church community had the practice of meeting on the first day of the week, i.e., Sunday.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">By the middle of the second century the early Church Father Justin Martyr, who penned any number of anti-Jewish and anti-Jewish-Christian screeds, wrote the following:</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness and matter, made the world; and Jesus Christ our Saviour on the same day rose from the dead. For He was </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">crucified on the day before that of Saturn (i.e., Friday, the day before Saturday); and on the day after that of Saturn (i.e., Sunday), which is the </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">day of the Sun</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, having appeared to His apostles and disciples</span><span style="color: #0070c0; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">,</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He taught them these things, which we have submitted to you also for your consideration</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (The First Apology of Justin, Chapter LXVII)</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here we see Justin adopting the full-on Roman calendar, perhaps ultimately derived from the Babylonians, with the days of the week associated with celestial bodies. Justin opines that if God finished the work of creation on Saturn’s day, i.e., Saturday, that would indicate that the work began on Sunday, the “day of the sun.” He then associates the first day’s creation of light with Christ’s resurrection, thereby justifying the observance of Sunday as, presumably, the “day of the Lord.”</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The fifth century church historian Eusebius makes all of this entirely explicit. Commenting on Psalm 91 in which a worshipper declares God’s saving power, Eusebius writes,</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Logos has transferred by the new alliance the celebration of the Sabbath to the rising of the light. In this day of light, first day and true day of the sun, when we gather after the interval of six days, we celebrate the holy and spiritual Sabbaths… All things whatsoever that were prescribed for the Sabbath, we have transferred them to the Lord’s Day, as being more authoritative and more highly regarded and first in rank, and more honorable than the Jewish Sabbath. In fact, it is on this day of the creation of the world that God said: “Let there be light, and there was light.” It is also on this day that the Sun of Justice (i.e., Christ) has risen for our souls</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (quoted from Lawrence T. Geraty in Hershel Shanks [ed.], </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Partings: How Judaism and ChristianityBecame Two</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">).</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Without going into specific detail, there is ample evidence to suggest that even as late as the fourth century, there were significant communities of what might be called “Jewish Christians,” that is followers of Jesus as the Messiah who continued to follow Jewish religious practices. Epiphanius, Bishop of Salamis on Cyprus at the time, authored his </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Panarion</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, or “Medicine Chest,” a compendium of remedies against various heresies, including that of the Nazoreans and the Ebionitdes, both groups apparently claiming to be Christians while sticking to Jewish practice. Indeed, as noted, Jewish Christians were already something of a sticking point for Paul in the first century. Indeed, I would suggest that for the early Church fathers, these Jewish Christians were even more of a dilemma than the Jews themselves. This is why it was important to separate the observance of “the Lord’s Day” from the Jewish Sabbath. Similar circumstances surrounded the determination of the date for the observance of Easter, but that will have to remain a topic for another essay.</span></p><div><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>Richard Ledermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17050252724017716795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3875918660224922453.post-46231310603195266842020-12-16T10:56:00.001-05:002020-12-16T10:58:30.639-05:00The Challenge of Monotheism<p> <b><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Summary:</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I argue in this essay that monotheism, more so
than polytheism, involves a certain danger of spilling over into religious
imperialism, that is, the impetus to suppress other forms of religious
expression. I understand that this is a rather challenging claim, but I believe
I make a valid argument. As I note, I offer this essay more as a warning than a
critique.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I recently had an interesting and challenging
experience. I’ve been attending a back-yard Shabbat morning worship service
that includes a rather lively and lengthy Torah discussion. I have no
recollection exactly how this topic arose, but I made the comment that
polytheism was a far more tolerant approach to divinity than monotheism; that
monotheism is a stepping stone to religious imperialism.</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Needless to say, I was set upon by my fellow
worshippers, challenged to provide evidence of such an outlandish and possibly
anti-Semitic statement. The fact is, I’m not real fast on my feet. I might
define myself as a cerebral plodder. I need to think about things, crystalize
my thinking. In fact, that’s why I write this blog: not so much to bring what I
might consider my pearls of wisdom to my not so vast audience, but to afford
myself the opportunity to crystalize and articulate my thinking. So herewith I
offer evidence to support my statement with the understanding that this is less
a critique than a warning.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Before continuing I should acknowledge that I
am writing this during the celebration of Hanukkah, which commemorates the
defeat by the Hasmonean family in Judea of the Seleucid King Antiochus IV, a
successor of Alexander the Great, who sought to thoroughly Hellenize his
kingdom, including the Jews of Judea. Here is a clear example of a polytheistic
imperial power exercising a form of religious imperialism over a monotheistic
people. I would suggest that this was anomaly and will deal with it toward the
end of this essay.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I would begin defending my initial premise by
pointing to Deuteronomy 12:1-3 which reads:</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“<b><sup>1</sup></b></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="background: white; font-size: 12pt;">These are the statutes and ordinances that you
must diligently observe in the land that the Lord, the God of your
ancestors, has given you to occupy all the days that you live on the earth. <b><sup>2 </sup></b>You
must demolish completely all the places where the nations whom you are about to
dispossess served their gods, on the mountain heights, on the hills, and under
every leafy tree. <b><sup>3 </sup></b>Break down their altars, smash
their pillars, burn their sacred poles with fire, and hew down the idols
of their gods, and thus blot out their name from their places<span class="text">”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="text"><span style="background: white; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Why would the people of Israel be required to
destroy all of the places of worship of the indigenous peoples? Well, because
their gods are not really gods; only our god is God.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“For all the gods
of the peoples are idols (<span dir="RTL" lang="HE">אלילים</span><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span> = “worthless”), but
the Lord made the heavens.” (Psalm 96:5)</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Not only that, but those non-gods are a snare
and a trap to those who worship the only true God (Exodus 23:33; Exodus 34:12
Joshua 23:13 and elsewhere). Therefore, the only way to assure the true worship
of the only true God is to demolish the places where the fake, worthless gods
are worshipped.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">After announcing this requirement, Deuteronomy
12 continues:</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“<b><sup>4 </sup></b>You
must not worship the Lord your God in their way. <b><sup>5 </sup></b>But
you are to seek the place the Lord your God will choose from among
all your tribes to put his Name there for his dwelling. To that place
you must go; <b><sup>6 </sup></b>there bring your burnt offerings and
sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, what you have vowed to
give and your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks.”</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">This is
understood to mean the centralization of worship; the idea that not only must
you worship only the one true God, but there is only one place where you may
offer sacrifices and other offerings to this deity.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">It becomes clear
in II Kings that what is meant by this singular place is the king’s royal
capital Jerusalem and the temple built by King Solomon. Scholars consider the
book of II Kings to be part of what they term the Deuteronomic History, written
under the influence of the ideology of the book of Deuteronomy. That this
centralization of worship was apparently enacted late in the Judean monarchy is
indicated in at least two passages from II Kings, passages that refer to events
of the late 8<sup>th</sup> century BCE and the late 7<sup>th</sup> century BCE
respectively.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">According to II Kings 18:4, King Hezekiah of
Judah instituted what appears to be a religious reform:</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“He
removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down
the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made,
for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. It was
called Nehushtan.”</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">What exactly was being undermined here—high
places, sacred stones, Asherah poles, Nehushtan—is a complex issue. However,
the implication is that people were engaging in some form of worship that the
king considered illegitimate, a violation of the principle that the one true
God could only be worshipped in the one true place, and therefore, these worship
sites and their religious accoutrements had to be demolished.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">About a century later the Judean king Josiah
instituted an even more sweeping religious reform. According to II Kings 23:</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“<b><sup>4 </sup></b>The
king ordered Hilkiah the high priest, the priests next in rank and the
doorkeepers to remove from the temple of the Lord all the
articles made for Baal and Asherah and all the starry hosts. He burned them
outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron Valley and took the ashes to
Bethel. <b><sup>5 </sup></b>He did away with the idolatrous priests
appointed by the kings of Judah to burn incense on the high places of the towns
of Judah and on those around Jerusalem—those who burned incense to Baal,
to the sun and moon, to the constellations and to all the starry hosts. <b><sup>6 </sup></b>He
took the Asherah pole from the temple of the Lord to the Kidron
Valley outside Jerusalem and burned it there. He ground it to
powder and scattered the dust over the graves of the common
people. <b><sup>7 </sup></b>He also tore down the quarters of the
male shrine prostitutes that were in the temple of the Lord, the
quarters where women did weaving for Asherah. <b><sup>8 </sup></b>Josiah
brought all the priests from the towns of Judah and desecrated the high places,
from Geba to Beersheba, where the priests had burned incense. He broke
down the gateway at the entrance of the Gate of Joshua, the city governor,
which was on the left of the city gate. <b><sup>9 </sup></b>Although
the priests of the high places did not serve at the altar of
the Lord in Jerusalem, they ate unleavened bread with their fellow
priests.”</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The implications of this passage are actually
quite astounding. Apparently what Jewish tradition would call <i>avodah zarah</i>,
“foreign worship,” was actually taking place not only on the high places, but
within the Jerusalem temple itself. At the same time, archeology has revealed
that there were sanctuaries in towns like Lachish in the <i>shefelah</i>/lowlands
region of Israel and in the northern Negev towns of Arad and Beersheva. The
religious accoutrements discovered there would indicate that these were sites
for the worship of Yahweh, the God of Israel. However, they appeared to have
been destroyed under Josiah in his effort to implement the centralization of
worship.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">What about the priests at these sanctuaries?
Well, they were effectively decommissioned. They were brought to Jerusalem, but
couldn’t share in the portion of the offerings relegated to the priest.
However, they apparently had to maintain their priestly purity by eating
unleavened bread with their colleagues.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Yet, there is more to the story when it comes
to the priesthood in Jerusalem. Numbers 18 insists that only descendants of
Aaron the High Priest were authorized to offer the sacrifices in the temple,
and any person not so authorized who performed these sacrifices would be
subject to death along with the High Priest. However, we are told in II Samuel
6 that King David appointed two priests, Zadok and Abiathar, to be priests. (It
also says that he appointed his sons to be priests, for which they were not
eligible, since they were Judahites, not Levites, and therefore certainly not
descendants of Aaron.) Abiathar was eventually banished from Jerusalem for his
support of Adoniyahu over his brother Solomon (I Kings 2:26), but Zadok and his
descendants remained, according to Jewish tradition, the only legitimate heirs
to the Aaronid priesthood. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">It appears, therefore, that within the development
of ancient Israelite religion, a religious ideology emerged that not only
insisted that there is only one true God and that all of the other cards are
fake and are nothing but traps and snares to deceive the people of Israel, but
also there is only one place in which offerings to this God were to be made and
only the descendants of one man were eligible to offer those sacrifices. Moreover,
all other sites of worship, even sites where Yahweh, the God of Israel was
worshipped, were to be destroyed. Is that not a form of religious imperialism?</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Now let’s take a look at what was happening in
contemporary polytheistic religions. We can begin with the fate of the Jews who
were exiled from Judea by the Babylonians at the beginning of the 6<sup>th</sup>
century BCE. It is true that the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and the Jewish
temple in 586 BCE, but this was not a religious act, but a politico-military
act. Babylonia was an empire, an imperial power intent on politically
subjugating other nations. However, there is no indication that they applied
any type of religious coercion. In fact, the Babylonians actually first
conquered Jerusalem in 597 BCE, taking the king and all of his royal retinue as
prisoners to Babylon. However, as far as we know from the Bible, the temple and
its personnel continued to function unimpeded.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Moreover, there is significant evidence from
ancient Babylonia that the even after 586, the Jewish exiles not only continued
to maintain communal cohesion, but seemed to have integrated quite well into
the social and economic structure of Babylonia, both under Babylonian and
Persian kings. Two ancient archives—from Al Yahudu from the 6<sup>th</sup>
century and the archive of the sons of Murashu from the 5<sup>th</sup>
century—show Jews with Judeans names significantly integrated into local
society.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Once the Persian King Cyrus conquered Babylon
in 539 BCE, he issued a proclamation, a copy of which is now housed in the
British Museum, restoring the shrines scattered throughout his realm. He
castigates King Nabonides, the last Babylonian king, for bringing the images of
the gods of those shrines to Babylon and announces their return to their
restored shrines. A version of this proclamation announcing the rebuilding of
the temple in Jerusalem is recorded at the beginning of the book of Ezra.
Chapter 6 of Ezra records a decree from Cyrus’ successor Darius assuring the
rebuilding, which took place in 515 BCE after some delay. What all of this
amounts to is that the polytheistic Babylonians and Persians seemed not only to
recognize local religious traditions, but, particularly in the case of the
Persians, appeared to have supported and encouraged them.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Now, however, we have to take a look at the
Hellenistic kingdom of the Seleucids who ruled Syria and Palestine in the second
century BCE and imposed a forcible Hellenization of their kingdom, including
over the Jews. These events are recorded in the apocryphal books of the
Maccabees. King Antiochus IV, who used the eponym “Epiphanes,” or manifestation
of divinity, overthrew the worship of the God of Israel in the temple in
Jerusalem and installed an altar dedicated to head of the Greek pantheon Zeus.
The priestly family of the Hasmoneans, led by Judah Maccabee, revolted, threw
the Seleucids out of Judea and rededicated the temple, an event recalled to
this day in the Jewish celebration of Hanukkah.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">That’s certainly what I learned in Hebrew
School, and this broad sketch is borne out by ancient records referred to as I
and II Maccabees, apocryphal books that are considered to be relatively
accurate portrayals of these events. At the same time, this broad sketch is a
bit over-simplified. To begin, the first century Jewish historian Josephus
tells us that Seleucus Nicator, the founder of the Seleucid kingdom, afforded
complete citizenship upon the Jews of his kingdom.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“The Jews also
obtained honors from the kings of Asia when they became auxiliaries; for
Seleucus Nicator made them citizens in those cities which he built in Asia, and
in lower Syria, and in the metropolis itself, Antioch; and gave them privileges
equal to those of the Macedonians and Greeks, who were the inhabitants,
insomuch that these privileges continue to this very day...” </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">(Flavius Josephus,
<i>Antiquities of the Jews</i> XII, iii,
1)</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Moreover, the book of II Maccabees makes it
fairly clear that the whole issue of the Hellenization of Judea was as much an
internal struggle as it was a form of religious imperialism undertaken by
Antiochus. It seems that a certain Jason, brother of the Jewish High Priest
Onias, convinced Antiochus to oust Onias and appoint him High Priest in return
for—you guessed it—money. It was Jason who began the Hellenization of Judea (II
Maccabees 4). Antiochus, it would seem, was simply siding with and encouraging
his Hellenized client.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Now for the Romans, which is actually where my
Shabbat morning interaction began and ended. It is the case that the Romans,
particularly following the reign of the Emperor Augustus (27 BCE-14 CE),
engaged in what is referred to as the cult of the emperor. When Augustus’
adopted father, Julius Caesar, died, he was declared a deity, and his son
struck coins with the motto <i>divi filius</i>, “son of god.”</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The argument of my Shabbat colleagues was that
polytheistic Rome was religiously imperialistic in that Roman subjects were forced
to participate in the cult of the emperor. Therefore, the introduction of
monotheistic Christianity into the Roman state was not the cause of Christian
religious imperialism, since this religious imperialism was already part of the
Roman state before the state adopted Christianity. However, this is an entirely
simplistic way of understanding the cult of the Roman emperor.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">According to the <i>Encyclopedia of Religion</i>,
s.v. “Emperor’s Cult”:</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Ruler worship
was a characteristic statement of Greco-Roman paganism, reflecting its
definition of godhead as a power capable of rendering benefits to the community
of worshipers, and its ability to create an endless supply
of cults in honor of new and specifically entitled manifestations of
such beneficent divine power. The granting of cult honors to a ruler,
living or deceased, was an act of homage made in return for his bestowal of
specific benefits upon the community. It recognized him as the possessor of supernormal
power and sought to regularize his beneficent relationship with the community
by establishing the formal elements of cult, including feast days,
festivals, priesthoods, and shrines.”</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">In other words, it’s not that subject peoples
were forced to recognize the cult of the emperor; rather, it was a common
phenomenon in the Greco-Roman world to recognize the emperor as the source of beneficence
to the community, and that beneficence was seen as emanating from a divine
source thereby inspiring the worship of the emperor as a channel of divine
beneficence.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">But there is even more to it than that. Since
polytheistic religions recognize a multiplicity of gods, it was quite natural
for members of one nation to recognize the gods of other nations. After all,
the Romans recognized and worshipped what was essentially the Greek pantheon;
they simply changed the names of the gods to reflect local traditions. Zeus
became Jupiter; Hera became Juno; Aphrodite became Venus.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Perhaps to put at least one nail in the coffin here, I
would point to the ruins of a town along the middle Euphrates river that was
known in ancient times as Dura-Europos. In the 3<sup>rd</sup> century CE, Dura-Europos
was a Roman garrison town sitting along the border with Persia. Indeed, it was
finally captured and destroyed by the Sassanian Persians in the middle of that
century. Before that, however, this Roman garrison town housed not only a
synagogue and a church, but also a number of temples dedicated to various pagan
deities, including local Syrian deities.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Among these was a temple dedicated to the
Palmyrene god Bel. Palmyra was a major town in northern Syria, and it seems
that the Roman garrison housed Palmyrene mercenary soldiers, who erected a
temple to the worship of their god. Most impressive is a fresco discovered in
the temple that portrays the Roman commander of the garrison offering an
incense offering to the god Bel in the temple of Bel. So while the Palmyrene
residents of Dura-Europos may have been making offerings to the emperor, the
emperor’s general was making offerings to the Palmyrene god, perhaps an ancient
version of “I’m OK, you’re OK.”</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">That was the mid-3<sup>rd</sup> century. At
the end of the 4<sup>th</sup> century, by which time the empire had adopted
Christianity, the law code of the Emperor Theodosius reads:</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif">It is our
desire that all the various nations which are subject to our clemency and
moderation, should continue to the profession of that religion which was
delivered to the Romans by the divine Apostle Peter, as it has been preserved
by faithful tradition and which is now professed by the Pontiff Damasus and by
Peter, Bishop of Alexandria, a man of apostolic holiness. According to the
apostolic teaching and the doctrine of the Gospel, let us believe in the one deity
of the father, Son and Holy Spirit, in equal majesty and in a holy Trinity. We
authorize the followers of this law to assume the title Catholic Christians;
but as for the others, since in our judgment they are foolish madmen, we decree
that they shall be branded with the ignominious name of heretics, and shall not
presume to give their conventicles the name of churches. They will suffer in
the first place the chastisement of divine condemnation and the second the
punishment of our authority, in accordance with the will of heaven shall decide
to inflict.”(Theodosian Code XVI.1.2, promulgated in 380; </span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><b><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">https://</span></b></span><a href="https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/theodcodeXVI.asp"><b><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/theodcodeXVI.asp</span></b></a><span face="Calibri, sans-serif">)</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This section is
among others that suppress synagogues and pagan temples. What is most
oppressive about this particular section is that it also suppresses expressions
of Christianity that do not conform to Roman orthodoxy.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So what happened
between the 3<sup>rd</sup> century, when a Roman general was offering incense
to a Palmyrene god, and the fourth century, when the Roman state was
suppressing all but Orthodox Roman expressions of religion? Rome ceased to be a
polytheistic state and became a monotheistic state.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">As I said at the
beginning, I offer this analysis not as a critique, but as a warning. After
all, some of my best friends are monotheists. But I would stand by my statement
that there is a danger in the notion that there is only a single divinity and
that all other expressions of attachment to any other divinity or to any
divinity called by some other name is fake, phony, fallacious, even dangerous.
Unfortunately, this way of thinking and believing can easily lead to the call
to have those expressions of religious attachment e</span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">liminated,
i.e., religious imperialism.</span>Richard Ledermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17050252724017716795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3875918660224922453.post-48163933212195162282020-09-30T10:09:00.007-04:002020-09-30T10:13:50.262-04:00Eliminating the memshelet zadon<p><span style="font-size: medium;"> <span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: arial;"><b>Summary:</b></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #2a2a2a; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">The Jewish High Holiday liturgy includes a plea to
God to “eliminate the <i>memshelet zadon</i> from the land.” The phrase <i>memshelet
zadon</i> has been translated in a variety of ways. I would translate it as “the
regime of arrogance,” but <i>zadon</i> is much more than arrogance. This
article provides a closer examination of the term <i>zadon</i> and suggests that
we are now in the grips of a <i>memshelet zadon</i> that must be eliminated.</span><span style="color: #2a2a2a;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2a2a2a; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>Full Text:</b><br /></span><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">For many years it has been my duty, honor, pleasure,
burden—however one might describe it—to serve as <i>sheliah tsibbur</i> (prayer
leader) for the afternoon service of Yom Kippur at my synagogue. As I prepare
and as I actually perform, I am always attracted to the three <i>u-vekhen</i>
(thus) paragraphs that follow the <i>kedushah</i>. <o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #2a2a2a;">The first paragraph cites the awe and reverence that
impels the human consciousness to recognize the sovereignty of the divine. The
second describes the joy of the faithful as we await the utopian days of the
Messiah. Finally, in a cantorial crescendo, we experience the ultimate
rejoicing as “evil shuts its mouth, when all wickedness disappears like smoke
as [the divine] eliminates the </span><i style="color: #2a2a2a;">memshelet zadon</i><span style="color: #2a2a2a;"> from the land.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #2a2a2a;">There are a number of ways to translate </span><i style="color: #2a2a2a;">memshelet
zadon</i><span style="color: #2a2a2a;">. I would translate it “the regime of arrogance,” but </span><i style="color: #2a2a2a;">zadon</i><span style="color: #2a2a2a;">
means much more than arrogance. This paragraph alone strongly suggests that
there is an element of evil and wickedness attached to the term.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #2a2a2a;">An ambitious doctoral student could easily devote an
entire dissertation to explore the full semantic range of </span><i style="color: #2a2a2a;">zadon</i><span style="color: #2a2a2a;">, but
I’ll spare my reader and stick to a few revealing references. The term appears
again in the liturgy in the twelfth blessing of the weekday Amidah. This
section opens with reference to the </span><i style="color: #2a2a2a;">malshinim</i><span style="color: #2a2a2a;">, the slanderers, continues
with the wicked and the arrogant (</span><i style="color: #2a2a2a;">zedim</i><span style="color: #2a2a2a;">, i.e., the purveyors of </span><i style="color: #2a2a2a;">zadon</i><span style="color: #2a2a2a;">)
and ends by praising </span><i style="color: #2a2a2a;">ha-shem</i><span style="color: #2a2a2a;"> for shattering the enemy and subduing the </span><i style="color: #2a2a2a;">zedim</i><span style="color: #2a2a2a;">.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #2a2a2a;">Moses’ father-in-law Jethro charges that Pharaoh and
the Egyptians </span><i style="color: #2a2a2a;">zadu, </i><span style="color: #2a2a2a;">behaved with </span><i style="color: #2a2a2a;">zadon</i><span style="color: #2a2a2a;">, by defying the divine
command to let the people of Israel go (Exodus 18:11). The prophet Jeremiah
denounces Babylon, the Temple destroyer, as a </span><i style="color: #2a2a2a;">zada </i><span style="color: #2a2a2a;">(one who acts
arrogantly) against </span><i style="color: #2a2a2a;">ha-shem</i><span style="color: #2a2a2a;"> (Jeremiah 50:29)</span><i style="color: #2a2a2a;">. </i><span style="color: #2a2a2a;">The Book of
Deuteronomy insists that difficult legal cases must be brought to the proper
authorities, the Levitical priests, at the proper location, the Temple, and that
their legal decision must be followed. Arrogantly (</span><i style="color: #2a2a2a;">be-zadon</i><span style="color: #2a2a2a;">) defying the
authoritative legal decisions is a capital crime. The Babylonia Talmud tractate
Shabbat 69a indicates that anyone violating a </span><i style="color: #2a2a2a;">mitzvah bizedono</i><span style="color: #2a2a2a;">, in his
arrogance, is subject to excommunication (</span><i style="color: #2a2a2a;">karet</i><span style="color: #2a2a2a;">)</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i><span style="color: #2a2a2a; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Zadon</span></i><span style="color: #2a2a2a;"> is more than
arrogance. It is a willful, impudent, impious, betrayal of universal norms and
values and the institutions that support those norms and values. It is cosmic
in its scope. It is blasphemous, an affront to the divine.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #2a2a2a;">What we are experiencing in our country is a </span><i style="color: #2a2a2a;">memshelet
zadon</i><span style="color: #2a2a2a;">, a government and a body politic that fits all of the definitions.
For the Jewish people, this </span><i style="color: #2a2a2a;">memshelet zadon</i><span style="color: #2a2a2a;"> has crossed over into a
popular canard of anti-Semitism, whereby the president, when speaking to a
Jewish audience, refers to Israel as “your country,” as though the United
States is not our country. This suggestion of disloyalty historically lies
alongside the charge of deicide and the blood libel in its dangerous
hate-mongering. How the organized Jewish community does not have its hair on
fire over this is inexplicable.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #2a2a2a;">As
this year’s </span><i style="color: #2a2a2a;">yamim nora’im</i><span style="color: #2a2a2a;"> (High Holidays) have revealed to me the </span><i style="color: #2a2a2a;">memshelet
zadon</i><span style="color: #2a2a2a;"> that now infects our country and the world, I have reached a point
where I have had enough of preachers, politicians and pundits telling me how
important it is to “reach across the aisle.” I live with the hope that we will
return to a time when such a state of reconciliation is possible. May it come
speedily and in our day. But before that day can arrive, we must utterly eliminate
the </span><i style="color: #2a2a2a;">memshelet zadon</i><span style="color: #2a2a2a;"> from our land.</span></span></p></div>Richard Ledermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17050252724017716795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3875918660224922453.post-17944848497353388172020-08-05T15:12:00.007-04:002020-08-05T15:22:53.547-04:00Did the Canaanites Have More Fun?<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Summary</span></b><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><font face="inherit">During a Bible study class in my
synagogue, a participant raised the idea that perhaps the ancient Israelites
adopted foreign religious practices because “the Canaanites had more fun.” When
pressed, this colleague of mine referred specifically to cultic prostitution.
Ah, yes. Sex! This article examines the issue of sexuality, specifically sacred
marriage and cultic prostitution in the ancient Near East and concludes that
the ancient Israelites were having just as much fun as their Canaanite
neighbors.<o:p></o:p></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="inherit"><span><span></span></span></font></p><a name='more'></a><font face="inherit">Friday mornings are Haftarah<i> </i><span>study
in my synagogue. Lately it’s been on Zoom due to the COVID 19 pandemic, but we
gather virtually with our rabbi to study that week’s biblical reading from the
prophets (Haftarah). On this particular occasion, the biblical passage was the
second of the three so-called “Haftarahs of Rebuke” read during the three weeks
between the half-day fast of the 17</span><sup>th</sup><span> of the Hebrew month of Tammuz
and the full-day fast of the 9</span><sup>th</sup><span> day of the Hebrew month of Av. On
the 17</span><sup>th</sup><span> of Tammuz, according to tradition, the Babylonians breached
the walls of Jerusalem in the year 586 BCE, and three weeks later, on the 9</span><sup>th</sup><span>
of Av, they destroyed the city of Jerusalem and the first Temple. All three of
these passages of rebuke come from the prophet Jeremiah.</span></font><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="inherit"><span>Of course for Jeremiah, this catastrophe
was not simply the outcome of historical forces—the superior military power of
Babylon—but God’s punishment of the people of the Kingdom of Judah for their
failure to maintain covenant loyalty to Yahweh, the God of Israel. In the
opening chapters of Jeremiah, we read of this disloyalty in metaphorical
expressions evoking fertility. Speaking in the name of God, Jeremiah reminds
the people that God had brought them through a barren wilderness into a fertile
land, but that they defiled the land through worship of the local Canaanite
storm-god Baal (Jeremiah 2:6-8).</span><span> </span><span> </span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="inherit"><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">This prophetic insistence on Yahweh as
the source of fertility and not Baal is consistent with the well-known story of
the contest between the Israelite prophet Elijah and the prophets of Baal in I
Kings 18-19. There, too, the issue is the true divine source of rain and
fertility. As this discussion ensued in our study group, one of the
participants suggested that perhaps one of the reasons that certain elements of
the Israelite population preferred the Canaanite ritual is because “Canaanites
had more fun.”</span><span> </span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="inherit"><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">My guess is the question is about sex,
and a lot of that comes from biblical references to the alleged lasciviousness
of the indigenous, pre-Israelite population of Canaan. Consider for example the
list of forbidden sexual relations in Leviticus 18, a passage traditionally
read on the afternoon of Yom Kippur. I’ve heard it said that this is
traditionally read at that time to wake up tired, hungry congregants who have
spent the whole day in synagogue. Well, this ought to wake us up: sex with your
father’s wife, your half-sister, your aunt, your daughter-in law, not to
mention bestiality.</span><span> </span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0.5in;"><font face="inherit"><i><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">“Do not
defile yourselves in any of those ways, for it is by such that the nations that
I am casting out before you defiled themselves”</span></i><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> (Lev. 18:24).</span><span> </span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="inherit"><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Unfortunately, according to our prophet
Jeremiah, Judeans were also having fun like their Canaanite neighbors, and this
is part of the prophet’s rebuke. Speaking in the name of God, Jeremiah scolds
his Judean audience:</span><span> </span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><font face="inherit"><i><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">“Because
you forgot Me<br /></span></i><i><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">And
trusted in falsehood,<br /></span></i><i><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">I in turn
will lift your skirts over your face<br /></span></i><i><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">And your
shame shall be seen.<br /></span></i><i><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">I behold
your adulteries,<br /></span></i><i><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Your
lustful neighing,<br /></span></i><i><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Your
unbridled depravity, your vile acts<br /></span></i><i><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">On the
hills of the countryside.<br /></span></i><i><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Woe to
you, O Jerusalem...”</span></i><span> (Jeremiah 13:26-27)</span><span> </span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="inherit"><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">I asked my colleague what prompted him to
raise the question, and he mentioned cultic prostitution, a topic that actually
relates to the subject of sacred marriage. Any number of scholars, most notably
the late Samuel Noah Kramer, the preeminent scholar of Sumerian language and
culture, have written about Sumerian sacred marriage myths and rituals. The
myths generally involve the Sumerian goddess Inanna and her consort Dumuzi.
Known from the Sumerian King List as a legendary king of the Sumerian city of
Uruk (Erech in the Bible, modern Warka), Dumuzi is portrayed as a shepherd, but
also as a dying and rising vegetation deity.</span><span> </span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="inherit"><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">There are any number of Sumerian poems
that describe the relationship between Inanna and Dumuzi. In one of them,
published by Kramer and Diane Wolkstein, a scholar of mythology, in a book
titled <i>Inanna: Queen of Heaven and Earth</i>, Inanna’s brother, the sun god
Utu, prepares flax for the goddess to create a bridal sheet for her. She asks,
“Who will go to bed with me?” to which Utu answers,</span><span> </span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="inherit"><i><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">“Sister, your bridegroom will go to bed
with you.<br /></span></i><i><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">He who was born from a fertile womb,<br /></span></i><i><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">He who was conceived on the sacred
marriage throne,<br /></span></i><i><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Dumuzi, the shepherd! He will go to bed
with you”</span></i><span> (p.31).</span><span> </span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="inherit"><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Insisting that she prefers the farmer to
the shepherd, Inanna is finally convinced by her mother to marry the shepherd,
who provides wool, milk and cheese. Having anointed and adorned herself, the
bride waits anxiously for her lover. When he arrives, she sings:</span><span> </span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><font face="inherit"><i><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">“My
vulva, the horn,<br /></span></i><i><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The Boat
of Heaven,<br /></span></i><i><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Is full
of eagerness like the young moon [note the moon and sexuality].<br /></span></i><i><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">My
untilled land lies fallow.<br /></span></i><i><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">As for
me, Inanna,<br /></span></i><i><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Who will
plow my vulva?<br /></span></i><i><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Who will
plow my high field?<br /></span></i><i><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Who will
plow my wet ground?<br /></span></i><i><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Dumuzi
replied:<br /></span></i><i><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Great
Lady, the king will plow your vulva.<br /></span></i><i><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">I, Dumuzi
the King, will plow your vulva...<br /></span></i><i><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">At the
king’s lap stood the rising cedar [so the tree is the male image].<br /></span></i><i><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Plants grew
high by their side.<br /></span></i><i><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Grains
grew high by their side.<br /></span></i><i><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Gardens
flourished luxuriantly.”</span></i><span> (p.37)</span><span> </span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="inherit"><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Here, the goddess is associated with the
new moon and the female menstrual cycle. More significantly, however, Inanna is
the earth waiting to be plowed. Dumuzi’s organ is the tree, impregnating the
earth through his seed effecting the fecundity of the earth.</span><span> </span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="inherit"><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The mention of “the sacred marriage
throne” suggests an actual sacred marriage ceremony. Indeed, some of these
poems actually name Sumerian kings, who seem to play the role of Dumuzi in the
sacred marriage ritual, presumably engaging in a sexual relationship with a
female hierodule, i.e., a cultic prostitute, who plays the role of Inanna. It
appears that this ritual was part of the Sumerian New Year’s festival and was
meant as a kind of enactment and actualization of the fertility of the earth
and thereby the well-being of the human community.</span><span> </span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="inherit"><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">To be honest, there is no consensus as to
whether or not these myths and poems depict an actual sacred marriage ritual,
as opposed to simply being erotic love songs, not unlike the Song of Songs in
the Bible. There is also no clear evidence that sacred marriage rituals existed
among the Canaanites. However, there is some clear evidence that it may have
existed among the ancient Israelites.</span><span> </span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="inherit"><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">First, a word about the goddess Inanna
and any connection to the Bible. Inanna’s Semitic name is Ishtar. She is known in
the Canaanite literature from the archeological remains of Ras es-Shamra/Ugarit
in northwest Syria as Ashtoret, as she also appears in several passages in the
Bible. The Greeks knew her as Astarte. However, Ashtoret plays a minor role,
both in the Ugaritic literature and in the Bible. In the former, a somewhat
more prominent role is played by the goddess Asherah, the consort of the high
god El and mother of the gods.</span><span> </span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="inherit"><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">We hear quite a lot about Asherah in the
Bible, though she is often hidden in English translation, where she is often
translated “sacred post.” The Hebrew has <i>asherah</i> (<span dir="RTL" lang="HE">אשרה</span><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span>).
That it was some sort of image made of wood is suggested by the fact that the
judge Gideon is told to cut it down and use it to build a fire to offer
sacrifices to Yahweh (Judges 6:25-26). The Torah demands in several places to
cut down these Asherah poles (e.g., Exodus 34:13; Deuteronomy 7:5, 12:3) and
also forbids the erection of these poles in connection with God’s altar
(Deuteronomy 16:21).</span><span> </span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="inherit"><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Nonetheless, it is clear that these
Asherah poles were in use in the late 8<sup>th</sup> century BCE, since we are
told that King Hezekiah of Judea closed all of the local shrines in his kingdom
and “<span style="background: white; color: black;">cut down the Asherah post” (II
Kings 18:4). About a century later, Hezekiah’s grandson Josiah was removing
from the Temple in Jerusalem “all the objects made for Baal and Asherah” (II
Kings 23:4).</span></span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="inherit"><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The other
issue raised in this regard is ritual prostitution. As noted, elements of the
Sumerian sacred marriage ritual, as well as indications from other sources,
suggest that this ritual involved the king representing the god Dumuzi (Semitic
Tammuz) copulating with a hierodule or cultic prostitute. The evidence for
ritual prostitution among the Canaanites is unclear, but, again, it appears
that ritual prostitution was an element of the Israelite ritual. Deuteronomy
23:18 insists, “No Israelite woman shall be a cult prostitute, nor shall any
Israelite man be a cult prostitute.” The Hebrew words for the female cult prostitute
and the male cult prostitute are <i>qedeshah</i></span><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> and <i>qadesh</i> respectively, words that come from the Hebrew
word <i>qadosh</i>, meaning “holy,” “sacred.” Deuteronomy is prohibiting sacred
prostitution.</span><span> </span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="inherit"><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Again, this was not hypothetical; it was
happening. Sometime in the late-10<sup>th</sup> to early-9<sup>th</sup> century
BCE, the Judean king Asa was busy expelling “the male prostitutes (<i>ha-qedeshim</i>)
from the land” (I Kings 15:12). Two centuries later and only about a half a
century before the destruction of the Kingdom of Judah by the Babylonians, while
King Josiah of Judah was busy ridding the Temple of “objects made for Baal and
Asherah,” he also “tore down the cubicles of the male prostitutes (<i>ha-qedeshim</i>)
in the House of the Lord (the Temple), at the place where the women wove
coverings for Asherah” (II Kings 23:7).</span><span> </span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><font face="inherit">Admittedly, the Bible condemns these
practices in the harshest terms and, indeed, cites these practices as the
pretext for the divine punishment of foreign conquest and exile. Nonetheless,
it appears that as late as the late-7<sup>th</sup> early-6<sup>th</sup>
century, Judeans were having at least as much fun as their Canaanite
neighbors—perhaps more so, and doing so within the Temple itself. Besides, if
you really want to have fun, read the Song of Songs.</font><font face="arial, sans-serif"><o:p style="font-size: 12pt; font-size: 12pt;"></o:p></font></span></p><br />Richard Ledermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17050252724017716795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3875918660224922453.post-42456078707185149922020-05-22T16:19:00.000-04:002020-05-22T16:19:01.498-04:00Ruth and Hesed (חסד)<div class="WordSection1">
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-font-width: 115%; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">This essay looks at the use
of the word <i>hesed </i>in the Book of Ruth. Normally translated “loving
kindness,” I argue that the word indicates human relationship characterized by pure
faithfulness and fidelity, loyalty and<span style="letter-spacing: -1.0pt;"> </span>devotion
that extends beyond the formal requirements of familial and societal
responsibility.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-font-width: 115%; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"></span></div>
<a name='more'></a>To begin I would like to
review, for a moment, where we've been recently, liturgically speaking, and
where <span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-font-width: 115%;">we're</span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -1.35pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-font-width: 115%; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-font-width: 115%; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">going. Let me remind you that exactly seven weeks ago, we
witnessed God's act of redemption, when He brought us out of Egypt and led us
triumphantly across the<span style="letter-spacing: -1.6pt;"> </span>Red<span style="letter-spacing: -.45pt;"> </span>Sea. In the interim, we've been crossing
a kind of personal, moral desert, the period of <span style="letter-spacing: -5.1pt;"> </span><i>sephirat ha-omer</i>,
counting the <i>omer</i>, avoiding celebrations, some going so far as to
letting their hair and beards grow long, as though in mourning.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-font-width: 115%; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">And here we are, standing
at the foot of Mt. Sinai, about to receive God's<span style="letter-spacing: -1.0pt;"> </span>Torah.<span style="letter-spacing: -3.4pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-font-width: 115%; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">It's an awesome,
frightening moment—the mountain smoking and quaking as heaven and <span style="letter-spacing: -2.65pt;"> </span>earth<span style="letter-spacing: -.25pt;"> </span>meet. <span style="mso-text-raise: .5pt; position: relative; top: -.5pt;">We don't want to get near </span>the place, so
we end up sending Moses,<span style="letter-spacing: .4pt;"> </span>alone. It's a
strict, stern message that we receive at Sinai: do this, don't<span style="letter-spacing: -.9pt;"> </span>do<span style="letter-spacing: -.5pt;"> </span>that.
<span style="mso-text-raise: .5pt; position: relative; top: -.5pt;">But, given the
nature of the moment, <span style="letter-spacing: -3.3pt;"> </span>we're </span>in no position to argue,
and so we simply respond, “Whatever you say, we'll<span style="letter-spacing: 1.15pt;"> </span>do."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-font-width: 110%; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Now, at the same time that
we are experiencing the awe and terror of the imperative revelation at Sinai,
liturgically speaking, we are also treated to the recitation of the Book of
Ruth. And what a contrast. A volcanic Mount Sinai is replaced with the quiet </span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-font-width: 115%; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">grain fields of Judea. <span style="mso-text-raise: 1.0pt; position: relative; top: -1.0pt;">God is mentioned, but<span style="letter-spacing: -.95pt;"> </span>does not act. The Torah is there, but only as background. There
is no imperative in Ruth. Rather, the focus is on human relationships, and it’s
that feature of Ruth that I would like to concentrate on.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-font-width: 115%; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Before I begin the
analysis, let me say that this narrative, the Book of Ruth, has this in common
with much of biblical narrative: human encounters occurs in pairs, two protagonists
<span style="letter-spacing: -4.45pt;"> </span>at
<span style="mso-text-raise: .5pt; position: relative; top: -.5pt;">a<span style="letter-spacing: -.4pt;"> </span>time. </span>Even when there are more than
two—Joseph and his brothers—it's a duet: Joseph’s brothers speak with one
voice. In Ruth, too, human encounters occur in pairs, Ruth and someone: Ruth
and Naomi, Ruth and<span style="letter-spacing: -2.95pt;"> </span>Boaz. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-font-width: 110%; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Naomi and Boaz<span style="letter-spacing: 3.45pt;"> </span>never </span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-font-width: 115%; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">meet. What's more, there is a quality to these encounters,
a warmth, a tenderness, that is hard to express in a single <span style="letter-spacing: -4.9pt;"> </span>word,
but I would like to propose a<span style="letter-spacing: -.65pt;"> </span>word. The
word<span style="letter-spacing: -.6pt;"> </span>is<span style="letter-spacing: -.6pt;"> </span><i>hesed </i>(</span><span dir="RTL" lang="HE" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-font-width: 115%; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">חסד</span><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-font-width: 115%; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span>)</span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-font-width: 115%; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">. It is<span style="letter-spacing: -1.25pt;"> </span>a word
used of Naomi with regard to her daughters-in-law when <span style="letter-spacing: -5.2pt;"> </span>they choose to<span style="letter-spacing: -1.45pt;"> </span>follow her. It is used again of Ruth,
when Boaz describes Ruth's loyalty to Naomi, and it is used by Naomi to
describe Boaz' treatment of Ruth after she had returned from gleaning in Boaz'<span style="letter-spacing: .9pt;"> </span>field.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-font-width: 110%; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">But what does<span style="letter-spacing: 4.25pt;"> </span>it<span style="letter-spacing: 1.75pt;"> </span>mean?
It is generally translated “love,” or <span style="letter-spacing: -2.2pt;"> </span>“loving<span style="letter-spacing: -1.15pt;"> </span>kindness<span style="letter-spacing: -4.65pt;"> </span>,”<span style="letter-spacing: 2.5pt; mso-text-raise: 4.0pt; position: relative; top: -4.0pt;">
</span>and is used mostly of God's kindness, as when, in the Amidah, God is
called <i>gomel hasadim tovim, </i>“one who
treats us with<span style="letter-spacing: 4.65pt;"> </span>loving<span style="letter-spacing: 2.2pt;"> </span>kindness.” The term appears in the context
of human relations in the expression <i>gemillut
hasadim, </i>referring to kindness shown to people in trouble, or those who are
less fortunate than we<span style="letter-spacing: .8pt;"> </span>are.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-font-width: 115%; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">But I think that the Book
of Ruth reveals a different <span style="letter-spacing: -5.0pt;"> </span>aspect of <i>hesed</i>, namely, that <i>hesed</i>
has to do with the development of human relations based on pure faithfulness
and fidelity, loyalty and<span style="letter-spacing: -1.0pt;"> </span>devotion. <span style="mso-text-raise: 1.0pt; position: relative; top: -1.0pt;">When human
relationships extend beyond the formal legal requirements of familial and
societal responsibility, there we find <i>hesed. </i></span></span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-font-width: 110%; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Much of what takes place in
Ruth has a legal<span style="letter-spacing: 2.0pt;"> </span>background. That is,
for much of what occurs<span style="letter-spacing: .55pt;"> </span>in </span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-font-width: 115%; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Ruth, one can find legal material from the Torah which
would apply in that particular<span style="letter-spacing: .15pt;"> </span>instance.
But what we also find is that in each case, the actors in the Book of Ruth go
beyond the requirements of the law out of faithfulness to some more fundamental
requirements of<span style="letter-spacing: -1.9pt;"> </span>human<span style="letter-spacing: -.95pt;"> </span>relationships. Consider this passage, Deuteronomy<span style="letter-spacing: -.25pt;"> </span>25:5-10. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i>“When</i><i><span style="letter-spacing: 1.15pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-font-width: 105%; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"> </span></i><i>brothers<span style="letter-spacing: -.4pt;"> </span>dwell<span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;"> </span>together and<span style="letter-spacing: -.65pt;"> </span>one<span style="letter-spacing: -.9pt;"> </span>of<span style="letter-spacing: -.4pt;"> </span>them<span style="letter-spacing: -.25pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: .3pt;">dies</span><span style="letter-spacing: -1.1pt;"> </span>and<span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;"> </span>leaves<span style="letter-spacing: -.2pt;"> </span>no<span style="letter-spacing: -1.0pt;"> </span>son, the wife of the deceased shall not
be married <span style="letter-spacing: .2pt;">to </span>a stranger, outside the
family. Her husband's brother shall unite with her: take her as his wife and
perform the <span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">levir's </span>duty. <span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">The </span>first son that she bears shall be
accounted to the dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out in Israel. But
if the man does not want to marry<span style="letter-spacing: .95pt;"> </span>his
brother's widow, his brother's widow shall appear before the elders in the gate and<span style="letter-spacing: .35pt;">
</span>declare, ‘</i><i>My husband's brother refuses to establish
a name in Israel for his<span style="letter-spacing: -1.25pt;"> </span>brother; he<span style="letter-spacing: -.4pt;"> </span>will<span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;"> </span>not<span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;"> </span>perform<span style="letter-spacing: .25pt;"> </span>the<span style="letter-spacing: -.75pt;"> </span>duty<span style="letter-spacing: -.65pt;"> </span>of<span style="letter-spacing: -.8pt;"> </span>a<span style="letter-spacing: -.4pt;"> </span>levir.’<span style="letter-spacing: -1.1pt;">
</span>The<span style="letter-spacing: -.7pt;"> </span>elders<span style="letter-spacing: -.65pt;"> </span>of<span style="letter-spacing: -.55pt;"> </span>his<span style="letter-spacing: -.55pt;"> </span>town<span style="letter-spacing: -.55pt;"> </span>shall<span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;"> </span>then summon him and talk to <span style="letter-spacing: .2pt;">him. </span>If he insists, saying, ‘I do not want
to marry her,’ <span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">his </span>brother's widow
shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, pull the sandal off his foot,
spit in his face, and make this declaration: Thus shall be done to the man who
will not build up his brother's house! And he shall go in Israel by the name of
‘the family of the unsandaled one.’”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-font-width: 115%; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Now let's<span style="letter-spacing: -1.25pt;"> </span>take<span style="letter-spacing: -1.0pt;">
</span>a<span style="letter-spacing: -.5pt;"> </span>look<span style="letter-spacing: .2pt;"> </span>at Ruth's<span style="letter-spacing: -.75pt;"> </span>action<span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;"> </span>in<span style="letter-spacing: -.75pt;"> </span>relation<span style="letter-spacing: -.3pt;"> </span>to<span style="letter-spacing: -.55pt;"> </span>this<span style="letter-spacing: -1.2pt;"> </span>passage. Ruth is left<span style="letter-spacing: -1.55pt;"> </span>a<span style="letter-spacing: -.3pt;"> </span>widow<b>. </b>There is no brother to act as<span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;"> </span>levir.
Her father-in law is also deceased, and, as Naomi explains, even were she,
Naomi, to find a husband immediately, she is beyond childbearing years. There is no way for the duty as described in Deuteronomy
to<span style="letter-spacing: -.25pt;"> </span>be<span style="letter-spacing: -1.05pt;"> </span>fulfilled. Orpah, Naomi’s other daughter-in-law, recognizing
this, returns to her home. But Ruth acts out of a motivation that goes beyond formal
legal duty; that<span style="letter-spacing: -4.15pt;"> </span>has to do with a
sense of personal loyalty to her mother-in-law; to the personal bond that
exists between them, as demonstrated by Ruth 1:16-17.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i>“But Ruth replied, ‘Do not
urge me to leave you, to turn back and not follow you. For wherever you go, I
will go; wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and
your God my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus
and more may the L<span style="font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal;">ord</span> do to me if
anything but death parts me from you.’”</i><i><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-font-width: 115%; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Now consider two passages
from the Torah:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i>“W</i><i><span style="letter-spacing: .75pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">hen you </span></i><i>r<span style="letter-spacing: .15pt;">e</span></i><i>a</i><i><span style="letter-spacing: -1.4pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"> </span></i><i>p<span style="letter-spacing: .75pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt; mso-font-width: 104%;">th</span>e<span style="letter-spacing: .9pt;"> </span>harvest<span style="letter-spacing: .75pt;"> </span>of<span style="letter-spacing: .3pt;"> </span>your<span style="letter-spacing: .25pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt; mso-font-width: 103%;">land</span>,<span style="letter-spacing: .75pt;"> </span>you<span style="letter-spacing: .2pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt;">shal</span>l<span style="letter-spacing: .85pt;"> </span>not<span style="letter-spacing: 1.1pt;"> </span>reap<span style="letter-spacing: .4pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt; mso-font-width: 92%;">al</span>l<span style="letter-spacing: 1.05pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt; mso-font-width: 104%;">th</span>e<span style="letter-spacing: .65pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt; mso-font-width: 97%;">way </span>to the edges of your field, or gather the
gleanings of your harvest. You shall<span style="letter-spacing: .15pt;"> </span>not pick your vineyard <span style="letter-spacing: .15pt;">bare, </span>or gather the fallen fruit of<span style="letter-spacing: -.65pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: -.25pt;">your
vine</span>yard; you shall leave them for the
poor and the stranger: I the L<span style="font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal;">ord</span>
am your God”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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(Leviticus 19:9-10).<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>“When you reap the harvest in your field and overlook
a sheaf in the field, do not tum back to get it; it shall go to the stranger, the
fatherless, and the widow, in order that the L<span style="font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal;">ord</span>
your God may bless you in all your und<span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">ertaking”</span></i><span style="letter-spacing: .55pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"> (Deuteronomy 24:19).</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-font-width: 115%; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-text-raise: .5pt; position: relative; top: -.5pt;">From this
we get an image of Ruth, along with other </span>destitute souls, walking
behind the reapers and picking up fallen stalks of grain which, according to
law, were to be left<span style="letter-spacing: -5.15pt;"> </span>behind.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-font-width: 115%; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Yet here again (Ruth
2:14-16), we find an instance where the protagonist goes beyond the
requirements of the<span style="letter-spacing: .2pt;"> </span>law. Discovering
Ruth gathering in his field at mealtime, Boaz seats Ruth with the other reapers
so that she can eat a decent meal, and she even has leftovers to take home<span style="letter-spacing: -2.35pt;"> </span>to<span style="letter-spacing: -.35pt;"> </span>Naomi.
He instructs his foremen to allow Ruth to glean among the standing sheaves and further
instructs them to pull some of the ears of grain out of the <span style="mso-text-raise: .5pt; position: relative; top: -.5pt;">sheaves, so that Ruth
will have a bit extra <span style="letter-spacing: -3.6pt;"> </span>to<span style="letter-spacing: -.3pt;"> </span>glean.
</span>Ruth returns to Naomi with what seems to be a sizeable quantity of <span style="mso-text-raise: .5pt; position: relative; top: -.5pt;">grain. </span>Clearly, Boaz has gone beyond the
legal requirements.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-font-width: 115%; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-text-raise: .5pt; position: relative; top: -.5pt;">Now consider a passage from Leviticus 25:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i>“If your kinsman is in straits and has to sell
part of his holding, his nearest redeemer shall come and redeem what his
kinsman has sold. If a man has no one to redeem for him, but prospers and acquires enough to redeem with, he shall
compute the year since its sale, return the
difference to the man to whom he sold it, and return to his holding. If he
lacks sufficient means to recover it, what he sold shall remain with<span style="letter-spacing: .75pt;"> </span>the purchaser until the jubilee; in the
jubilee year it shall be released, and he shall
return to his holding”</i> (Leviticus 25:25-28)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-font-width: 115%; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Generally, it was the
responsibility of the <i>go’el</i>, the “redeemer” or next of kin, to protect
the family: to avenge the blood of a murdered family member, to protect family
property from alienation, and to come to the aid of family members in distress.
And so Boaz goes to the <i>go’el</i> of the family and explains to him that
Naomi is about to sell her property and that he, the <i>go’el</i>, has the
right of redemption, while Boaz would obtain <span style="letter-spacing: -4.85pt;"> </span>that right </span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-font-width: 110%; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">if the </span><i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-font-width: 115%; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">go’el</span></i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-font-width: 110%; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"> reneged </span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">(Ruth 4:1-4).
Then he lays the bombshell.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">“Then
Boaz said, ‘The day you acquire the field from the hand of Naomi, you are also
acquiring Ruth<sup> </sup>the Moabite, the widow of the dead man, to maintain
the dead man’s name on his inheritance”</span></i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"> (Ruth
4:6)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Fearing
this arrangement might threaten his own estate, the <i>go’el</i> relinquishes
the right.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-font-width: 115%; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Now, it really isn't clear
exactly how this so-called levirate<span style="letter-spacing: -.6pt;"> </span>marriage<span style="letter-spacing: -.3pt;"> </span>proceeded<span style="letter-spacing: .4pt;">
</span>in<span style="letter-spacing: -.4pt;"> </span>the<span style="letter-spacing: -.6pt;"> </span>case where there<span style="letter-spacing: -.95pt;"> </span>were<span style="letter-spacing: -1.35pt;"> </span>no<span style="letter-spacing: -1.1pt;"> </span>surviving
brothers. <span style="mso-text-raise: .5pt; position: relative; top: -.5pt;">In
Genesis 38, where a similar situation occurs, the </span>obligation comes to
rest on the father-in-law, but there is no father-in-law<span style="letter-spacing: -.25pt;"> </span>here. <span style="mso-text-raise: .5pt; position: relative; top: -.5pt;">At the very least, Boaz
is pushing the law </span>to its outermost limit in making the Moabite widow<b> </b>part of the </span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-font-width: 110%; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">bargain.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-font-width: 110%; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">So Ruth and Boaz go beyond
duty, bringing <i>hesed</i> into </span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-font-width: 115%; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">their personal and<span style="letter-spacing: -2.6pt;"> </span>familial<span style="letter-spacing: -.3pt;"> </span>dealings. But there is an even deeper
message in the way in which each act of <i>hesed</i> leads to the next act of <i>hesed</i>.
We have already noted Ruth's act of personal loyalty and devotion that
motivated her to return to Judea with her mother-in-law, what we are calling a
true act of<span style="letter-spacing: .35pt;"> </span><i>hesed</i>. <span style="mso-text-raise: .5pt; position: relative; top: -.5pt;">And so,<span style="letter-spacing: -1.4pt;"> </span>when </span>Boaz
encounters Ruth gleaning in his field, he responds to her act of<span style="letter-spacing: -1.15pt;"> </span><i>hesed</i> (2:8-12). <span style="mso-text-raise: .5pt; position: relative; top: -.5pt;">Boaz speaks of Ruth's
act of <i>hesed</i> in </span>the same language of migration used in Genesis
with regard to Abraham's migration (compare Ruth 2:11 with Genesis 12:1), and
it is her act of <i>hesed</i>, her act of loyalty and devotion that engenders
his act of<span style="letter-spacing: -1.75pt;"> </span><i>hesed</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-font-width: 110%; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">And again, Boaz’ act of <i>hesed</i>
leads to the next act of <i>hesed</i>. As instructed by Naomi, Ruth proceeds
one night to the threshing floor, where Boaz is encamped, and lies down with
him. The scene is odd, a bit difficult to decipher, but I believe that what is
happening is that Ruth is more or less forcing Boaz’ hand with a proposal of
marriage<span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;"> (Ruth 3:8-10</span>). </span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-font-width: 115%; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Ruth could have gone after <span style="letter-spacing: -3.65pt;"> </span>another<span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;"> </span>man. Perhaps she<span style="letter-spacing: -1.45pt;"> </span>could have found a rich<span style="letter-spacing: -2.15pt;"> </span>young<span style="letter-spacing: .15pt;"> </span>lad. It is clear, incidentally, based on the
way in which Boaz speaks to Ruth, in much the same manner as Naomi speaks to
her, that Boaz is a contemporary of Naomi, old enough to be<span style="letter-spacing: -.9pt;"> </span>Ruth's<span style="letter-spacing: -1.45pt;">
</span>father. She could have found a young<span style="letter-spacing: -1.5pt;">
</span>stud.</span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-font-width: 115%; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">But Ruth was not operating
out of self-interest, but out of a sense of faithfulness, loyalty and devotion.
And so each act of <i>hesed</i> leads to the next, resulting in the ultimate
well-being of the family, the birth of a child, who ends up being the grandfather
of King David and thus an ancestor of </span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-font-width: 110%; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">the Messiah, the ultimate redemption.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-font-width: 115%; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">So our journey from Egypt
through the Red Sea and across <span style="letter-spacing: -4.25pt;"> </span>the wilderness leads us to Sinai, but
it also leads us to each other. It is in those acts of mutual devotion, loyalty
and faithfulness to one another, that we discover Torah.</span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><br clear="all" style="mso-break-type: section-break; page-break-before: always;" /></span>Richard Ledermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17050252724017716795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3875918660224922453.post-58169844389851459602019-08-13T11:42:00.001-04:002019-08-13T11:47:57.886-04:00Cosmic Oneness<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Summary:</span></b><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Western
theology has been infected with a vision of divinity that is supernatural,
hierarchical and patriarchal. Having explored the works of Father Diarmuid
O’Murchu and a bit of the modern Quantum Physics and Cosmology that he invokes,
I continue my quest to understand an immanent divinity and a cosmos that is not
created from without, but simply Is.</span></div>
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<a name='more'></a><br />
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<b><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Full Text:</span></b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">I am becoming increasingly disillusioned
with the idea of a supernatural God. I am becoming increasingly disillusioned
with the idea of a supernatural God who behaves like a cosmic cop: do this,
don’t do that. Having just participated in the Jewish observance of Tisha B’Av,
marking the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 586 BCE, which is blamed
not on the Babylonians, but on us for our sins, I feel especially disenchanted.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">I am becoming increasingly enamored of
an image of an immanent divinity, a divinity within the cosmos. I have
expressed a number of these ideas in several of my blog posts: “The Anthropic
Principle,” “Biblical Pantheism.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">But thanks to my friend Sister Sharon
Dillon, for the past several years I have been pondering the work of Father
Diarmuid O’Murchu in books with titles such as <i>Quantum Theology</i> and <i>Evolutionary
Faith</i>. O’Murchu begins his critique of traditional western religion with a
rejection of the supernatural, hierarchical, patriarchal divinity that is the
starting point of western theology. Most modern theologians confronting modern
science attempt to reconcile science with their theology by tweaking the
theology to make room for science. O’Murchu, on the other hand, begins with
modern Cosmology and Quantum Physics and allows his theology to emerge from there.
The theology that emerges is one of cosmic oneness, connection and
relationship.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">While I cannot bring a level of
understanding of these disciplines that even O’Murchu can, I, too, have become
enamored of what I have learned about Einsteinian physics and Quantum Physics,
as well as the bit of modern Cosmology that I’ve learned from Neil DeGrasse Tysson
in his book <i>Astrophysics for People in a Hurry</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">What Einstein did was to challenge the
Newtonian vision of a static universe subject to immutable mechanical laws.
Time and space are relative. Matter and energy are relative. As I described in “The
Anthropic Principle,” the so-called two-slit experiment teaches that light
sometimes behaves as a wave (energy) and sometimes as a particle (matter).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Trying to nail down physicists and
cosmologists on the relationship between energy and matter can be just
that—trying. Here’s what Matthew Strassler, Visiting Scholar at Harvard’s
Center for the Fundamental Laws of Nature has to say on his </span><a href="https://profmattstrassler.com/articles-and-posts/particle-physics-basics/mass-energy-matter-etc/matter-and-energy-a-false-dichotomy/"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">blog</span></a><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“…<i> what
is matter, and what is not, is temperature-dependent and therefore
time-dependent!</i> Early in the universe, when the temperature was
trillions of degrees and even hotter, the electron was what cosmologists
consider radiation. Today, with the universe much cooler, the electron is in
the category of matter. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">So in the early, hotter cosmos,
electrons were radiation, i.e., energy. As time went by and the universe
cooled, the energy became matter. Tufts University chemist Patrick Bisson </span><a href="https://www.researchgate.net/post/Is_matter_really_energy_condensed"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">speaks</span></a><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">
(loosely, as he admits) of the “evaporation” of matter into energy and the
“condensation” of energy into matter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">But perhaps the most significant
aspect of O’Murchu’s work, based on modern Cosmology and Quantum Physics, is
the replacement of a hierarchical cosmos with one based entirely on connection
and relationship. Take, for example, this passage from Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s
book, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Einstein’s
general theory of relativity, put forth in 1916, gives us our modern
understanding of gravity, in which the presence of matter and energy curves the
fabric of space and time surrounding it.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">At first glance, this seems to be a
fairly innocuous—if arcane—statement. But try to imagine space not as distinct
points, or time not as distinct units (seconds, minutes, etc.), but as a
fabric. Space and time are like a sheet. Hold the sheet at its four corners and
place a basketball on it; it bends. The sheet is space and time; the bending is
gravity. But the point is, all of space and all of time are a single
fabric—connected.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Or consider the quantum understanding
of “entanglement” that describes the behavior of sub-atomic particles known as
quarks. Again, Neil DeGrasse Tyson:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“….you’ll
never catch a quark all by itself; it will always be clutching other quarks
nearby. In fact, the force that keeps two (or more) of them together actually
grows stronger the more you separate them—as if they were attached by some sort
of subnuclear rubber band.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">According to physicist and science writer
Philip Bell speaking at the Royal Institute in London, Einstein described the
activity of quarks as “spooky science at a distance.” (You can view Bell’s
lecture on YouTube </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7v5NtV8v6I"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">here</span></a><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">.)
It seems that quarks come in pairs, and they spin; one spins up and one spins
down. However, the direction of the spin is indeterminate until it is observed.
As soon as the spin of the first quark is observed, despite the distance
between them, its spin is instantaneously communicated to the other quark, which
then determines its spin, a phenomenon known to physicists as “entanglement.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">This means that there is some force
that travels instantaneously between the two quarks. However, this would defy a
central pillar of Einsteinian physics, which insists that there is no force
that travels faster than the speed of light. To resolve this conundrum, quantum
physicists speak of “quantum non-locality.” As explained by Philip Bell,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Properties
of quantum objects when they are entangled can be non-local… [There’s] a kind
of mixing of these two things… a non-local influence that means, in effect,
that we can no longer think of these two… as separate objects… They become part
of the same quantum entity.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">This, for O’Murchu, is simply another
example of a cosmos characterized by oneness, connection and relationship.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Yet, there is more to O’Murchu’s
vision of the cosmos than connection and relationship. According to A’Murchu
following his reading and research into Quantum Physics, in a vacuum where
there are <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“…no
atoms, and no elementary particles, and no protons, and no photons, suddenly,
elementary particles will emerge. The particles simply foam into existence…
Being itself arises out of a field of ‘fecund emptiness.’” <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[or
the “void”; see the poem by Herbert Levine at the end of this article]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The so-called “Big Bang Theory”
teaches us that the cosmos began as a singular point, a concentration of all
mass and energy in the universe that reached a level of heat and energy that it
eventually had to expand. For O’Murchu, God is spirit, spirit is energy, the
energy from the Big Bang, from which Being itself, the material universe,
“foams into existence.” God does not create the universe; God is the universe,
and the universe is in a constant state of creation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">What I’m feeling, what I’m envisioning
is largely impossible to put into words. I’m sensing a cosmos that does not
begin, is not created, but that simply Is, eternally emerging. I keep in mind
what I have written elsewhere (“What’s in a Name”) about the biblical name of
God: YHWH. As I read and study, it becomes increasingly clear to me that this
name represents a form of the verb “to be.” So I would translate YHWH as “He
is.” God is! God is Being itself, existence itself. The cosmos Is and God Is.
God did not create the cosmos; God is the cosmos, and this Being of the cosmos
is energy, spirit. The corporeal world, including each of us, is a kind of
incarnation or emanation of Divine Being. This is partially what motivated the
writing of “Biblical Pantheism, where I quote a local Sikh priest: “Everything—you,
I, every particle in the universe—is infused with divinity.” And when we
say that God is One, we are saying, along with Fr. O’Murchu, that we are all
connected; indeed we are all One with the Oneness of Divine Being.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">If matter is actualized energy, and if
we consider energy as spirit, then one might say that all matter is spirit
incarnate. And if all energy, all spirit, is the product of the original
singularity, the Big Bang, then all is One. I might even go so far as to say
that when we acknowledge that we are, in effect, divinity incarnate, One with
the entirety of divine incarnation, we thereby conquer death; death is but the
“evaporation” of matter into energy; we are all Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">To quote Fr. Richard Bohr of the
Center for Action and Contemplation:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“The
Christ is born the minute God decides to show Himself; the moment God decides
to materialize. Modern science would call that the big bang. The big bang is
the birth of the Christ…. That’s the cosmic Christ.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Finally, I would conclude with a
passage from the poem “Rebbe Nahman’s Torah of the Void” from the book <i>Words
for Blessing the World</i> by my friend Herbert Levine:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Come and listen:
In the beginning<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">there was only
the light of God<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">To make a world,
God, may He be blessed, became compressed<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">(if a person
dares to say such a thing)<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">and His light
burst into fiery fragments<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">millions on every
side, dancing<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">in the void
remaining after His self-compression.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />Richard Ledermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17050252724017716795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3875918660224922453.post-36242996225106273842019-01-27T12:00:00.004-05:002019-01-27T12:01:50.056-05:00The Seraphim of Isaiah 6I seem t<span style="font-family: inherit;">o be o</span>bsessed with biblical serpents, perhaps because of my interest in the biblical story of the Garden of Eden and its connection to world mythology. Meanwhile, I've published another article on thetorah.com concerning the seraphim in Isaiah 6. <span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">The image of YHWH accompanied by a heavenly retinue (צבאות) is ubiquitous in the Prophets and the Writings. Uniquely, in Isaiah’s call narrative, YHWH appears before the prophet accompanied by six-winged </span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">seraphim</em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">. What are these heavenly beings? Find out at </span>https://thetorah.com/the-seraphim/Richard Ledermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17050252724017716795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3875918660224922453.post-9823523245801217072019-01-22T10:01:00.001-05:002019-01-22T10:01:28.214-05:00Beware the Christian ZionistI would like to inform my readers that I have been accepted as a blogger for <i>The Times of Israel</i>, an online English-language Israeli media platform. The blog post warns us to beware of the apocalyptic nature of evangelical Christian Zionism, which looks forwared to an imminent cataclysmic, apocalyptic war, which Christian eschatology reads as an end to the Jewish people and the State of Israel. Be sure to check out <i>The Times of Israel</i>, but especially this blog post at<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> </span><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/beware-the-christian-zionist/&source=gmail&ust=1548254000317000&usg=AFQjCNF6lOiT0Iy_3kDdEJw_8mfHiQS5Uw" href="https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/beware-the-christian-zionist/" rel="noreferrer" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" target="_blank">https://blogs.timesofisrael.co<wbr></wbr>m/beware-the-christian-zionist<wbr></wbr>/</a>Richard Ledermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17050252724017716795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3875918660224922453.post-24416493440013780182017-09-14T09:49:00.001-04:002017-09-14T09:56:37.547-04:00The Religion of Climate Change<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Summary:<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Much of climate change denial is fostered by religious
fundamentalists, who, in their insistence on biblical inerrancy, are convinced
that science in general, and, therefore, the science of climate change, is fake
news. Not only is this unsound in terms of how we come to understand the world,
but I also believe it is religiously unsound. Divine revelation is ongoing, and
scientific discovery is as important a vehicle for receiving that divine
revelation as prophecy was for the biblical world.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b></b></div>
<a name='more'></a><b>Full text:<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWcvRCU5IOodhTIp-RFFTBu5hxCVfFJ3EWxj3qzUsSb1O7hZvBoC-0FDI7n0-Hga64FHNc7_26grqYFvI6I1hze7FjNxKTtBIa5uvU8tHYlCp5y7zAJhW6Uc4M5VqElkrPmLr3cknTReE/s1600/Flooded+Houston+Home.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="542" data-original-width="862" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWcvRCU5IOodhTIp-RFFTBu5hxCVfFJ3EWxj3qzUsSb1O7hZvBoC-0FDI7n0-Hga64FHNc7_26grqYFvI6I1hze7FjNxKTtBIa5uvU8tHYlCp5y7zAJhW6Uc4M5VqElkrPmLr3cknTReE/s320/Flooded+Houston+Home.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A flooded Houston home</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<o:p></o:p></b><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There’s an old joke about a guy warned of a major flood.
A rescue van comes by to take him to an evacuation shelter.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“No,” says the guy, “I have faith in God. He will rescue me
and save me from the flood.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The flood waters inundate the first floor of his home, so he
retreats to the second floor. A rescue team in a boat comes by to rescue him and
take him to an evacuation center.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“No,” says the guy, “I have faith in God. He will rescue me
and save me from the flood.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The flood waters inundate his second floor, and he manages
to escape to the roof. A helicopter comes to rescue him and take him to an
evacuation center.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“No,” says the guy, “I have faith in God. He will rescue me
and save me from the flood.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Well, finally the flood overwhelms him and he drowns. He
stands before the throne of God and laments, “Lord of all the universe, creator
of all that is, I had faith in You. I believed in You. I thought you would
rescue me from the flood. Why didn’t you rescue me?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"Hey, genius," God retorts, “I sent you a van, a boat and a
helicopter.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m reminded of that joke as I contemplate the events of the
last couple of weeks. While we were witnessing the effects of a
one-in-a-thousand year climate event that dumped nearly 50 inches of rain on
Houston and its environs, and left much of the area submerged, the publisher
and editor of the Hillsboro, Ohio, <i>Times-Gazette</i>, Gary Abernathy, wrote
an op-ed piece in <i>The Washington Post</i>. It seems that Hillsboro is the
location of an annual gathering of evangelical Christians, and in his essay,
titled “Why most evangelicals don’t condemn Trump” (September 1, 2017),
Abernathy explains Trump’s appeal to evangelical Christians. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Among other factors, Abernathy explains, many evangelical
Christians view scientists as anti-Christian, since science challenges inerrant
biblical truth, and this opposition applies to scientific claims regarding
climate change. They applaud Trump’s skepticism of climate change and his move
to drop out of the Paris Climate Accord. In fact, writing in the same edition
of the <i>Post</i>, op-ed columnist Kathleen Parker (“Hurricane Harvey’s
warning to all”) cites one evangelical pastor who informed her that “Harvey was
retribution for Houston’s leniency toward the LBGT community.” According to
Parker, right-wing writer Ann Coulter opined that “Harvey was more likely God’s
punishment for Houston’s former lesbian mayor than a result of climate change.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We shouldn’t be surprised by these reactions. Evangelical
Christians view the world, including the issue of climate change, through the
lens of biblical inerrancy, which teaches them that humans are meant to
exercise dominance over nature (Genesis 1:26, 28) and that God promised never
again to bring a flood to destroy the earth (Genesis 8:21-22). That was what
got the flood victim of our joke. He was waiting for some divine call to build
an ark, or perhaps a giant fish would come by, swallow him and vomit him up on
dry land. After all, that’s what the Bible teaches.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I, on the other hand, have a different understanding of
divine revelation, and while Houstonians were emerging from the flood, I was gathered
with some friends and our rabbi as we contemplated a passage from <i>Pirkei
Avot</i>, “Saying of the Fathers,” a rabbinic text from around the 2<sup>nd</sup>
or 3<sup>rd</sup> century CE. According to this text, a certain Rabbi Joshua
son of Levi made the following statement:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
<i>“Each and every day a heavenly voice
goes out from Mount Horeb (=Sinai), and announces and says: ‘Woe to the
creatures for disparaging the Torah…”</i> (Pirkei Avot 6:2<i>)</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For Rabbi Joshua and his colleagues, Torah was not simply
the first five books of the Bible, but was actually that plus the entire corpus
of rabbinic learning that had accumulated over hundreds of years, which,
according to the rabbinic mind, was also delivered at Sinai. For me, what Rabbi
Joshua’s statement implies is that divine revelation is not a one-off, or even
an occasional or episodic event. Rather, every phenomenon and every process in
the cosmos, combined with the human capacity to perceive and analyze those
phenomena and processes are all aspects of an ongoing, continuous divine
revelation.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So God is constantly revealing to us God’s nature and the
nature of the cosmos. Yet, in every age, there are certain people specially
endowed with the knowledge, wisdom, insight and capacity to acutely receive
that revelation. We all have access to divine revelation, but it takes a particular
sensitivity and perception to truly grasp it. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In ancient times, they called these people prophets.
Prophets are not soothsayers. They don’t use crystal balls and tarot cards to
prognosticate the future. In fact, if you study the biblical prophets
carefully, you’ll notice that they are not so much concerned about the future
as they are about the present. Yes, the present has implications for the
future, but the prophet is profoundly focused on what is happening in his
contemporary world and interprets those events through a transcendent, cosmic
lens. For the biblical prophets, world history is a stage, and God is the stage
manager. God orchestrates historical events as a way to teach God’s people and
to warn them that the impact of their misbehavior is historical, military and
political calamity. The nation’s ability to withstand the forces of history is
contingent on their willingness to fulfill the divine mandate. Failure to do so
leads to destruction.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
While the prophets are attentive to historical forces, the
authors of the psalms seem more attuned to natural forces—the presence of the
divine operating in the cosmos as revealed in nature. Gazing into the heavens
and contemplating the cycles of nature, these ancient poets saw divine harmony,
order and balance, and they understood that the natural order and balance that
they perceived was a model for human behavior. Psalm 104 is a paean to divine
harmony and balance on earth, and God’s final rebuke to a recalcitrant Job is
meant to remind all of us of a transcendent yet barely comprehensible cosmic
order (Job 38-39).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We have prophets in our day. MLK was a prophet. He clearly
perceived broad historical forces driving our country forward in its mission to
advance equality and human rights, and he could profoundly articulate a vision
of that mission fulfilled. “The arc of the universe is long,” he proclaimed,
“but it bends toward justice.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But we have other prophets, perhaps a bit more prosaic. We
call them scientists. It may be troublesome to think of scientists as prophets,
but what scientists have in common with prophets is an ability to perceive
cosmic principles revealed in quotidian events. What we are seeing today has
been predicted by climate scientists for decades, not because they read these
effects in their tarot cards and their crystal balls, but because they have the
knowledge and insight to translate universal scientific principles into the
impact these principles have on our lives and the life of the planet.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s hard to distinguish the true prophet from the false
one. The prophet Jeremiah preached a dire message of destruction while one of
his colleagues preached the opposite (Jeremiah 27). You think God’s chosen king
and the Temple where God has chosen to dwell will protect you, Jeremiah chided.
It will not. The nation is so corrupt that it invites annihilation.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>I look at the earth<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>It is unformed and void;<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>At the skies,<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>And their light is gone.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>I look at the mountains,<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>They are quaking;<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>And the hills are rocking.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>I look: no man is left,<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>And all the birds of the sky
have fled.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>I look: the farm land is desert,<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>And all the towns are in ruin…</i>
(Jeremiah 4:23-26)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I wonder if there are people in Houston, Key West and Barduda
who might be having a similar reaction. While Jeremiah was able to perceive and
proclaim transcendent principles of history for his own time, we must heed the
warnings of our own visionaries—people who are attuned to what I would consider
an ongoing divine revelation: the universal laws and principles that underlie
the physical world and how those principles affect our ability to survive and
thrive on planet Earth.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
We’ve been warned for years, and the warnings are ringing
true. We can’t rely on outdated biblical doctrine that seems to have seized the
right wing of our politics and thereby much of the Republican Party. If we don’t
begin to heed the warnings of our contemporary Jeremiah’s, we may be facing a
world that returns to its primordial state of being “unformed and void.”<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
Richard Ledermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17050252724017716795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3875918660224922453.post-33466059166170921042017-07-12T15:10:00.000-04:002017-07-12T15:24:26.171-04:00<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I would invite my readers to check out an article that I've written for the <i>Forward</i>'s online "Scribe" forum responding to Michael Steinhardt's June 9 interview with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in which he declared that the State of Israel is his religion. The article is titled "Is Religion Really a 'Big Problem' for American Jews?" Check it out!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Go to <a href="http://forward.com/" target="_blank">Forward.com</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Click on Community and scroll down to the article.</span>Richard Ledermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17050252724017716795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3875918660224922453.post-3165639473437698322017-07-12T15:03:00.000-04:002017-07-12T15:21:13.756-04:00Flying Serpents<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I would invite my readers to check out two pieces that I have written for thetorah.com, a website with articles written by historical-critical Bible scholars for a general audience.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The first piece is titled "Nehushtan, the Copper Serpent: It's Origin and Fate"</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Torah describes Moses building a copper serpent to heal the Israelites. According to Kings, Hezekiah destroys it because it was being worshiped. Archaeology and history clarify the religious and political meaning of this image.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://thetorah.com/nehushtan-the-copper-serpent-its-origins-and-fate/" target="_blank">http://thetorah.com/nehushtan-the-copper-serpent-its-origins-and-fate/</a></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The second piece is titled "What is a Biblical Flying Serpent?"</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A number of biblical and non-biblical texts describe encounters with flying venomous snakes in the Sinai and Arabian deserts. Egyptian iconography may help clarify what is being pictured.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://thetorah.com/what-is-the-biblical-flying-serpent/" target="_blank">http://thetorah.com/what-is-the-biblical-flying-serpent/</a></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18.6667px;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>Richard Ledermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17050252724017716795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3875918660224922453.post-56832271448959927072016-11-16T13:44:00.000-05:002016-11-16T15:14:25.702-05:00What's in a Name?<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Summary:<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The death of Leonard Cohen led me to connect to one of his
most popular songs, “Hallelujah.” He questions the fallacy of naming God in a
particular way, and encourages us to recognize divinity in all of its
manifestations. This got me thinking about God’s name in the Bible and how the
biblical insistence on worshipping only a god that goes by this name may
actually be a barrier to a more expansive recognition of the sacred. Thank you,
Leonard!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b></b></div>
<a name='more'></a><b>Full Text:<o:p></o:p></b><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I can’t say I’ve ever been a big fan of Leonard Cohen. Yet in
any random moment that I hear one of his songs, I’m inspired. I have a book of
his poems that I glance at periodically, and when I do, I’ll spend the next day
or two pondering the depth of meaning that lies hidden in his often obscure verse.
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But like so many other larger-than-life contemporary
personalities, we don’t truly miss ‘em ‘til they’re gone. So last Friday late
afternoon I lay in my weekly warm bath—my version of a <i>mikveh</i> or ritual
bath on the eve of the Sabbath—listening to Amazon Prime’s “The Essential
Leonard Cohen.” I had been hearing about one song in particular that the
talking heads mentioned most often; a poem called “Hallelujah.” As I drifted
off to the sound of the soulful melody and the rather lugubrious verses
interrupted by the crash of the chorus, “Hallelujah,” one verse brought me back
to the surface.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>“You say I took the name in vain<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>I don't even know the name<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>But if I did, well really,
what's it to you?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>There's a blaze of light<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>In every word<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>It doesn't matter which you
heard<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>The holy or the broken
Hallelujah”</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’ve been thinking a lot about God’s name in the Bible, the
enigmatic tetragrammaton, the four letters announced to Moses as he stood at
the foot of Mt. Sinai, YHWH, Yahweh, I AM, HE IS, “Being” itself (Exodus
3:14-15). It’s a sacred name, mysterious, mystical, ineffable. Jews substitute <i>Adonai</i>
“my Lord,” and even that is not pronounced by the Orthodox, who simply say <i>ha-shem</i>,
“the Name.” In our English Bibles, the name is not written, but appears as L<span style="font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: normal;">ord, </span>with those small caps to
distinguish it from the ordinary word lord that might be applied to a king. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But what has troubled me for some time, as I’ve noted
elsewhere in this blog, is that the Hebrew Bible as it stands is constantly
vilifying the people of Israel for worshipping “other gods.” In fact, the agony
of defeat, destruction and exile that resulted from the Assyrian conquest of
the northern Kingdom of Israel and the Babylonian conquest of the southern
Kingdom of Judah are both blamed not on the superior power of the enemy armies,
but on the citizens of these two nations. This suffering is God’s punishment
for their apostasy.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s true. The people of these two ancient kingdoms,
presumably heirs to the covenant initiated by Moses at Mt. Sinai, did venerate
Canaanite deities. A collection of administrative documents from northern
Israel known as the Samaria Ostraca dating from the 8<sup>th</sup> century BCE
feature numerous personal names formed by the theophoric element “ba’al”; names
like <i>abyba’al</i>, “Baal is my father,” or <i>ba’lme’ony</i>, “Baal is my
strength.” Clearly the people who bore these names were so named in tribute to
the deity. The Bible states that Ahab, King of Israel, married a Phoenician
princess, the villainous Jezebel, who promoted the worship of Ba’al (I Kings
16, 18).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Inscriptions from a Judean town in north central Sinai known
as Kuntillet Ajrud mention Yahweh and his Asherah, a reference to a Canaanite
goddess who, according to some scholars, may have functioned as Yahweh’s
consort. The prophet Jeremiah pillories the citizens of Jerusalem for baking
cakes for the “Queen of Heaven (Jeremiah 7, 44).”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
More recently, however, biblical scholars have taken a
closer look at some of these biblical condemnations. Dartmouth scholar Susan
Ackerman points out that the religion of ancient Israel might have been much
more heterodox than we are led to understand from the Bible. The “foreign
worship” that the Bible condemns may simply have been forms of popular folk
religious practices taking place within what appears more and more to be a
polyglot Israelite society. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Bible is, after all, mainly the end product of the work
of priests and scribes centered in the Temple in Jerusalem. The orthodoxy that
is expressed therein is their orthodoxy. Indeed, attempts were made
specifically to maintain Jerusalem as the unique center of worship in the
Kingdom of Judah. The Bible tells us that King Josiah, at the end of the 7<sup>th</sup>
century BCE, eradicated all centers of worship outside of Jerusalem (II Kings
22-23). <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What the religious establishment in Jerusalem at the end of
the 7<sup>th</sup> century BCE was trying to promulgate was not exactly the
existence of a unique, singular deity. All of the nations surrounding Israel
had their national deities. What the priests and prophets of Israel were
attempting to assert was that only Israel’s national deity, Yahweh, was worthy
of worship, and only in the nation’s capital, Jerusalem. On the one hand, I
would suggest that this may be one of the dark sides of monotheism: only this
god, whose name is Yahweh, is worthy of worship. On the other hand, I would
suggest that this was as much a feature of national chauvinism and an exercise
of political power as it was religious piety. (I wonder if that is not true of most
expressions of religious piety.)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Which brings me back to Leonard Cohen. If there is but one
God, one source of divine consciousness in the cosmos, what difference does it
make how one names it; or even if one ascribes different names to the manifold
manifestations of divinity in the cosmos? What matters is the human desire to catch
that blaze of light in all of its manifestations and by every name by which it’s
called. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>“You say I took the name in vain<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>I don't even know the name<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>But if I did, well really,
what's it to you?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>There's a blaze of light<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>In every word<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>It doesn't matter which you
heard<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>The holy or the broken
Hallelujah”</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
</div>
Richard Ledermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17050252724017716795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3875918660224922453.post-6889515841783094362016-01-25T15:02:00.000-05:002016-01-25T15:02:35.700-05:00Eden: A Mythical Journey<div class="MsoNormal">
In the beginning was the One<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hovering above the indistinguishable darkness<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Essential, unitary Being<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Unfathomably deep<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Impenetrably dark<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Wind-blown and chaotic<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Alone and undifferentiated<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yet the One sought self, consciousness<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And yearned for the Other<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To distinguish the One from the Other<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And so the One divided mitotically <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Producing Father Sky and Mother Earth<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Like the One, both empty and alone<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Separate, yet needing, yearning, desiring<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In His yearning and desire <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Father Sky reached deep into the womb of Mother Earth<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Extracting Her rich red seed<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Creating a vital Earthling called Human<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Fashioned from the cosmic womb of Mother Earth<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Carrying her essence, but also her corporeal substance<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yet infused with the breath of the divine Father<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But, like Him, singular and alone<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And through Him, overwhelmed by Power, Dominion and
Authority<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Restricted, bound by rules:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Don’t touch this<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Don’t eat that <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A luxuriant, verdant Tree blossoms<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Distinct in the midst of a lush Garden<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Its roots deep in the heart of Mother Earth<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Imbued with Her divine wisdom and
knowledge <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Its branches seeking eternity<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Reaching for the embrace of
Father Sky<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Do not eat of this Tree,” demands
Father Sky<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Wrapped in Power and Authority,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Do not taste Wisdom and Knowledge<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Close your eyes<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Remain ignorant, naïve, innocent<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Here among the other creatures born of Mother Earth<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Like them, remain wild, uncultured, uncivilized, <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Feeding on the fruits of the trees and the grass of the
earth.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thus did singular Humanity <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Remain caught in a web of patriarchal authority<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Left dependent and<b> </b>ignorant<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Living in a trap of Maleness<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Awed by the allure of Power<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Unable, unwilling to imbibe the cosmic secret<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The mysteries of knowledge, consciousness and self-awareness<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Cowed by rules and authority.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yet just as the domineering Divinity<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Oneness of Being<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Alone in His Male Power and Authority<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Could not ignore the allure of Feminine intimacy and
knowledge<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And so divided Father and Mother<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Just so was the singular Human bifurcated Male and Female.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Broken free from the embodied bondage of Maleness<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Released from the power of patriarchal authority<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Female would not be trapped and bound<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To her belong the secrets of intimacy<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The deep recesses of motherhood, mystery and mercy<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
An oracular Pythian voice <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Spoke from deep within Her rejuvenating, regenerative
essence<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Eat of the Tree<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Open your eyes<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Attain self-awareness, consciousness, knowledge.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Spellbound by its beauty<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Fascinated by its fragrance<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Inspired by its promise of Wisdom<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They ate<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And their eyes were opened<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Finally they could see, discern, know<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Each saw the other and all of the other others<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bifurcated, distinct and separate<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Male and Female<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Earth and Sky<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Nature and Nurture<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Divine and Human<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Life and Death<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Aware as well of separation’s accoutrements:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Need, yearning, desire<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They walked together<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Knowing that desire would overcome separation<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And bring forth a world<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Populated by a race of humans<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Born of Mother Earth<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But reaching for Father Sky<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Richard Ledermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17050252724017716795noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3875918660224922453.post-14008480357921461882016-01-05T15:58:00.000-05:002019-08-14T09:35:36.555-04:00The Divine Attributes (middot)<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Summary:<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In my essay “The Anthropic Principle: Consciousness Creates
the Cosmos,” I pondered the possibility that it is human consciousness that creates
the cosmos. In this piece, I suggest that human consciousness is a manifestation
or emanation of divine consciousness. As such, we humans are responsible for manifesting
the divine ethical attributes of love, mercy, graciousness and forgiveness, not
as imitations of God’s attributes, but as the immediate manifestations of these
divine attributes.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Full text:<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In my essay “The Anthropic Principle: Consciousness Creates
the Cosmos,” I pondered the possibility that it is human consciousness that creates
the cosmos. The cosmos is what it is—operates the way it operates—simply as a
result of our consciousness of it and our perception of the way it operates.
The cosmos evolves as our perception and understanding of it evolves.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m not yet fully convinced of this argument; the
implication is that there is no reality beyond human consciousness, and I fear
the ontological abyss that such a thought implies. On the other hand, I am more
comfortable with the notion that human consciousness is a piece of, or a
manifestation of the divine consciousness. While I’m no expert, I am attracted
to the Hindu notion that <i>atman</i>, the
human life force, is one with <i>brahman</i>,
the universal life force. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
While I noted in “The Anthropic Principle” the emerging
confluence of science and theology, in the realm of cosmology, science
generally understands the origins and evolution of the cosmos in terms of
immutable, impersonal, unconscious mechanical laws. Religion, on the other
hand, “ensouls” the cosmos, anthropomorphizes the cosmos by ascribing human
consciousness to it in the form of divinity. In the field of ethics, we generally
look to this divine consciousness as the source for determining proper human
behavior. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Jewish tradition points to a passage in the Hebrew Bible
in which God’s 13 <i>middot</i>,
“attributes,” are enumerated (Exodus 34:6-7): mercy, love, graciousness,
forgiveness, etc. The Rabbinic tradition picks this up in a midrashic (homiletic)
commentary to the Book of Deuteronomy, which then makes its way into the daily
prayer book of the Conservative Movement. In Deuteronomy 11:22, we are told to
“walk in all of [God’] ways.” The midrash understands that we are to imitate
God’s <i>middot</i>, the 13 attributes enumerated
in Exodus 34. “This means that just as God is gracious and compassionate, you
too must be gracious and compassionate” (<i>Siddur
Sim Shalom</i>, p. 19).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I would like to suggest however, that while God’s
consciousness is the source of cosmology—or, put in kabbalistic terms, the
cosmos consists of divine emanations—God is not ethical. God does not manifest
or emanate ethical attributes, at least not directly. Rather, it is we humans, divine
emanations imbued with the divine consciousness, who are responsible for the
immediate manifestion of the <i>middot</i>.
In a sense, God has outsourced ethics to us. We can’t look to God for a cosmos
manifesting mercy, love, graciousness and forgiveness; those become our
responsibility. If we want to live in a merciful, loving, gracious and
forgiving world, we must be merciful, loving, gracious and forgiving;
otherwise, there is no mercy, love, graciousness, or forgiveness in the cosmos.
<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Richard Ledermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17050252724017716795noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3875918660224922453.post-60386037607805325012015-09-03T16:26:00.001-04:002015-09-03T16:26:05.069-04:00Foreign Policy or Mythology?<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Summary:</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We hear it all the time: the evil empire, the axis of evil,
the big Satan, the little Satan. How many times have we heard and read that
Iran is the most evil regime in the history of humanity. Where does all this “evil/satan”
language come from? What I would suggest is that this is age-old and deeply
ingrained mythic language, which is designed mainly to instill fear, but which
truly has no role to play in a rational foreign policy.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Full text:</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Several days ago, former member of Congress and current
distinguished scholar at Indian University Lee Hamilton wrote a piece for the
Huffington Post titled “A Case of Diplomacy.” As one might expect, it was
written in support of the nuclear deal worked out by the P5+1 with Iran. In the
piece, Hamilton contrasted the words from President Kennedy’s inaugural speech,
“Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate,” with
the words, “We don’t negotiate with evil, we defeat it,” which Hamilton
attributes to former Vice-President Dick Cheney, a stanch opponent of the Iran
deal (surprise, surprise). </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s striking that this word “evil” keeps popping up in
foreign affairs. In a 1983 speech, Ronald Reagan referred to the Soviet Union
as “the evil empire.” Coming six years after the release of the movie “Star
Wars,” a name that was also attached to Reagan’s anti-ballistic missile
proposal, it’s no wonder that the president could arouse people sense of fear with
images of Darth Vader attacking from the east. Not to be outdone, George W.
Bush, seeking to advance his wish to invade Iraq in 2002-03, referred to the
combination of Iraq, Iran and North Korea as “the axis of evil,” and we mustn’t
forget that, turn about being fair play, the Iranians refer to us as “the Great
Satan,” while our little brother Israel is called—you guessed it—“the Little
Satan. So, to paraphrase Jerry Seinfeld, what’s with all this evil/Satan stuff?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In his 1988 work <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Creation
and the Persistence of Evil</i>, Harvard theologian Jon Levenson reminds us of
a biblical worldview which understands that at the beginning of time, God
created an ordered cosmos out of the chaotic primordial waters, a theme well
attested elsewhere in the Bible and in much of world mythology. The story in
Genesis goes on, of course, to describe the divine role in creating world order
by means of the appointment of the people of Israel as God’s covenant
community, which will then become the recipient of the ultimate emblem of the
divinely ordered world, the Torah.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What Levenson points out, however, is that this divinely
established cosmic and world order is never permanent. The struggle to contain
those chaotic waters never ends. Chaos and its moral counterpart, evil, are continuously
threatening. One of the best examples of this is Psalm 74. It’s quite clear
that the psalm begins with a lament over the destruction of Jerusalem by the
Babylonians in 586 BCE. It then goes on to glorify God’s primordial deeds.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Yet
God my King is from of old, working salvation in the earth.</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">You
divided the sea by your might; you broke the heads of the dragons in the
waters.</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">You
crushed the heads of Leviathan; you gave him as food for the creatures of the
wilderness.</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">You
cut openings for springs and torrents; you dried up ever-flowing streams.</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Yours
is the day, yours also the night; you established the luminaries and the sun.</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: center 3.25in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">You have fixed all the bounds of the earth; you
made summer and winter.</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 3.25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 3.25in;">
This passage is reminiscent
of the several iterations in the Bible and in the mythology of the ancient Near
East depicting a storm god defeating a chaotic sea dragon in order to create
cosmic and world order. It is a well-known mythic theme in the ancient world
best exemplified by the extensive Babylonian poem known as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Enuma Elish</i>. What Levenson points out is that this biblical poet
understands the Babylonian onslaught not simply as a military defeat, but as a
sort of return to a primordial, chaotic, evil condition, and calls upon the God
of Israel to restore cosmic and world order.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 3.25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 3.25in;">
The sea dragon returns in
Jewish and Christian apocalyptic literature of the Greco-Roman period. In
Daniel 7, the beast that emerges from the sea is a mythologized reference to
the persecution of the Jews of Judea by the Seleucid king Antiochus IV
Epiphanes. It is this persecution that sparked the rebellion by the Hasmonean
family led by Judah Maccabee, which then forms the historical background to the
Jewish festival of Hanukkah. The dragon emerges from the sea once again in
Revelation wreaking a havoc that has its historical background in the
persecution of Christians under the emperor Domitian. These historical
events—the defeat of the Kingdom of Judah by the Babylonians, the persecutions
undertaken by Antiochus and Domitian—are, for these biblical writers, far more
than simply military, political defeats. They are threats to the people of God
and therefore they are, in effect, challenges to a divinely ordained cosmic and
world order. They represent the epitome of chaos and evil.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This tendency to understand historical processes in terms of
chaos versus order, good versus evil is deeply ingrained in the American
psyche. In 1845, the journalist John L. O’Sullivan coined the term “Manifest
Destiny” to justify American territorial expansionism in terms of divine
providence. In 1900, Senator Albert T. Beveridge of Indiana, defending the
concept of Manifest Destiny, rose on the Senate floor and declared</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“God
has not been preparing the English-speaking and Teutonic peoples for a thousand
years for nothing but vain and idle self-admiration. No! He has made us the
master organizers of the world to establish system where chaos reigns... He has
made us adepts in government that we may administer government among savages
and senile peoples… The superiority of the "white race" is the
foundation on which the Anti-Indian Movement organizers and right-wing helpers
rest their efforts to dismember Indian tribes.”</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In other words, the “efforts to dismember Indian tribes” was
not simply a military and political endeavor. It was part of the destiny of
“English-speaking and Teutonic people… to establish system where chaos reigns.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In his classic work <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Elementary Forms of the Religious Life</i>, the eminent sociologist Emile
Durkheim noted that an essential element of religion is the bifurcation of
reality into the realms of the sacred and the profane. The eminent
anthropologist<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"> Claude Lévi-Strauss</span> expanded on the notion of binarism in the
religious life. The religious mind makes a sharp distinction between the sacred
and the profane, good and evil, order and chaos, nature and culture, the cooked
and the raw, the edible and the inedible. </div>
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In fact, these binarisms may be related to what the eminent psychologist
Karl Jung called “archtypes,” patterns of reality that our collective unconscious
receives from our primitive ancestors. In fact these binary archetypes are
useful to us in terms of how we come to understand reality. Having these binary
distinctions revealed to us in this absolute manner provides us with a valuable
epistemological tool, a way to come to understand the world. By demonstrating
absolute good and absolute evil, absolute chaos and absolute order, these
paradigms help us identify good and evil, order and chaos.</div>
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The problem is that these binary patterns are symbols of
reality; they are not reality itself. There really is no “Evil Empire” outside
of Hollywood. Ronald Reagan negotiated several arms control treaties with the Soviet
Union. Remember “trust but verify”? Despite his rhetoric, Reagan was able to
separate myth from reality, and thereby make the world a bit safer from nuclear
holocaust.</div>
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If we want to continue to make the world more safe, secure,
peaceful and prosperous, we have to move away from mythic binarism—depicting our
opponents as the embodiment of pure evil, expressed mainly to instill fear—and pursue
foreign policy based on a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">realpolitik</i>,
i.e., a rational foreign policy based on realistic, actual needs and interests
in a world full of overlapping and conflicting needs and interests.</div>
Richard Ledermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17050252724017716795noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3875918660224922453.post-54886474274882189892015-08-18T17:48:00.000-04:002015-08-18T17:48:27.535-04:00King David and Oedipus RexI've just published a piece on the website TheTorah.com. I argue that the so-called Succession Narrative of King David, from his affair with Bathsheba to the succssion of Solomon, is a rather late composition dated to the 5th or 4th centuries BCE, during the time of Persian rule in second-temple Judea. One way to demonstrate this is to show thematic connection between the Succession Narrative and classcal Greek tragedy of 5th century BCE Athens. Check it out at <a href="http://thetorah.com/king-david-and-oedipus-rex">King David and Oedipus Rex</a>Richard Ledermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17050252724017716795noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3875918660224922453.post-19846019057137433292015-03-05T19:36:00.000-05:002015-04-23T14:07:22.652-04:00What Scares Me about Iran? Not Iran... so much<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Summary: <o:p></o:p></b></div>
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There is nary an American who is not concerned about a nuclear
Iran. We all recall the 1983 bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut by Iranian
ally Hizbollah, not to mention the continuing Iranian-supported militancy of
Hizbollah. There is more than a suspicion that Iran was behind the bombing of
the AMIA Jewish center in Buenos Aires in 1994. But there is in the world today
an odd confluence of neoconservative hawks and Evangelical Christians in the US
and their Israeli counterparts, all of whom seem eager for confrontation and war.
I worry about Iran, but these folks scare me even more!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a name='more'></a><b>Full Text:</b><br />
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There is nary an American who is not concerned about a nuclear
Iran. We all recall the 1983 bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut by Iranian
ally Hizbollah, not to mention the continuing Iranian supported militancy of
Hizbollah. There is more than a suspicion that Iran was behind the bombing of
the AMIA Jewish center in Buenos Aires in 1994. Why just today, March 5, 2015, Foreign
Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif assured Ann Curry of NBC News that Iran doesn’t
want to annihilate Jews, it just wants to annihilate the Netanyahu regime. What
a relief!<o:p></o:p></div>
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It’s no wonder, therefore, that there are no shortage of
ominous jeremiads joining Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in warning
of the dire consequences of a potential deal with Iran over its nuclear
program. A nuclear Iran, these voices claim, would be an unacceptable threat to
western security interests. Leaving Iran with even a one-year break out
opportunity would simply not be adequate to prevent the inevitable and
indefatigable Iranian drive for world dominance attained through the threat of
a nuclear arsenal. An Iran entirely stripped of its nuclear program is the only
acceptable solution. <o:p></o:p></div>
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But the nature of the voices making these pronouncements
makes for some strange and even more frightening bedfellows. There is a somewhat
odd confluence between neoconservative hawks and Evangelical Christians in the
US, and their counterparts in Israel, particularly the Likud Party and its West
Bank settler movement allies. As we witness these forces marching us inexorably
into military confrontation with Iran, it may be worthwhile to take a look at
what animates and motivates them.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The partnership between neoconservatives and Evangelicals in
the US came to fruition in the Reagan administration. What both of these groups
share is a kind of mythic view of international affairs which sees the
international arena dominated by enemy forces of evil that must be confronted
by what they call “American exceptionalism,” which invariably translates to
military intervention. Our adversaries are not our adversaries. They are wholly other, "sons of
darkness," godless communists, evil incarnate, the evil empire, the axis
of evil, and their threats are ubiquitous. It’s actually no joke that the enemy
agency in the 1960s sitcom “Get Smart” was named CHAOS. Our enemies represent
just that—primordial chaos, the ultimate force of disorder in the world. There
can be no compromise, no negotiating with them. They must be eliminated.<o:p></o:p></div>
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In the 1970s and 80s, the political mythology of neoconservatism
well served the emerging Evangelical Christian movement represented by the
likes of Jerry Falwell. Godless communism was not only a political threat, but
a cosmic threat—an affront to God. Together with what the movement considered
the moral decline of America, the advance of communism seemed an obvious symbol
of a truly cosmic, catastrophic crisis. <o:p></o:p></div>
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While this ideology was getting under way, another
remarkable event occurred. The tiny nation of Israel, beset and besieged by
nations all around, managed to thwart Arab aggression and achieve a
resounding—even miraculous—victory in the 1967 Six Day War. Suddenly,
everything seemed to fit for Evangelicals. All of this represented a sign of
the apocalyptic “End Times,” when, according to the biblical Book of
Revelation, God would purify the world through a cataclysmic, cosmic battle at
a biblical site known as Armageddon. This battle would result in the defeat of
evil and bring about the Kingdom of Heaven for the faithful. The return of the
Jews to Israel and the capture of old Jerusalem and the Western Wall had all
been predicted by the prophets of old as precursors of this cosmic finale.<o:p></o:p></div>
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This way of viewing world affairs was not limited to
Evangelical leaders. At the height of the 1984 presidential election, <i>The New York Times</i> reported on a walk
back by President Ronald Reagan, who, according to a documentary titled “'Ronald
Reagan and the Prophecy of Armageddon,” had frequently indicated his adherence
to this imminent apocalyptic vision. The <i>Times</i>
reported that “White House spokesmen have said the President's beliefs on
Armageddon would not alter his firm conviction for peace and intent to seek
arms control” (<i>The New York Times</i>,
October 21, 1984; online at <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1984/10/21/us/religious-leaders-tell-of-worry-on-armageddon-view-ascribed-to-reagan.html">http://www.nytimes.com/1984/10/21/us/religious-leaders-tell-of-worry-on-armageddon-view-ascribed-to-reagan.html</a>).
<o:p></o:p></div>
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In those early days of the confluence of neoconservatism and
Evangelical Christianity, the Soviet Union, China and the Arabs served as handy
actors in this religio-political drama, and Evangelical leaders like Jerry
Falwell and Hal Lindsay saw these actors and the events unfolding in the 70s
and 80s as the prelude to cosmic battle that would climax in an attack on
Israel. In the end, however, God would intervene, Christ would return, defeat
the evil forces and create a new heaven and a new earth. <o:p></o:p></div>
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While Hal Lindsay and his followers may be heartened by
recent acts of Russian aggression as signs that their predictions are not
wholly discredited, there is hardly a Russian-Arab axis, and it would be even
more far fetched to imagine a Russo-Sino-Arab alliance arrayed against Israel.
So it appears that we need to find a new apocalyptic primordial beast to be
defeated in a cosmic battle that will herald the return of Christ and the new
age. Who might that be?<o:p></o:p></div>
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Ahhhhh… Iran. Thank goodness Iran has arrived to play the
role now that we’ve lost the Soviets. And to put icing on the cake, we have
Al-Qa’eda and ISIS to complete a vision of the evil Muslim enemies of Christ
and the American way of life. This new aggregated enemy once again cements the
alliance between hawks and Evangelicals. The stage is set for the final battle.
<o:p></o:p></div>
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In light of all of this, I react with equal doses of shock
and dismay when I listen to Jewish Zionists extol the virtues of Evangelical
Christians like Pastor John Hagee, founder and executive director of Christians
United for Israel (CUFI). He has become the darling of many, to the extent that
he delivered the keynote address at the 2011 Annual Policy Conference of the
American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). <o:p></o:p></div>
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But I have to wonder if these admirers have ever read
Hagee's books or examined his speeches. The truth is, Hagee holds a dangerous
and delusional apocalyptic understanding of contemporary international
affairs. Cherry picking biblical verses
from Jeremiah to Ezekiel, Isaiah, Daniel and Luke et al., and culminating in
the apocalyptic visions of the Book of Revelation, Hagee has staked his
reputation on the imminent outbreak of a nuclear war involving, among others,
Israel and Iran. <o:p></o:p></div>
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But Hagee and his followers have nothing to fear from this
nuclear holocaust. Following a passage in the Apostle Paul's first letter to
the Thessalonians, the faithful--those who accept Jesus as the Messiah--will
experience "the rapture." That is, they will be transported to heaven
while the cataclysmic nuclear battle purges the earth of unbelievers. The
faithful will then be restored to the new earth and the New Jerusalem ruled by
a triumphant Christ as envisioned in Revelation.<o:p></o:p></div>
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But what about Israel and the Jews, whom Hagee and his
followers purport to love? Again, Hagee relies on the Apostle Paul, who
proclaims in his letter to the Romans that, in the end, "all Israel will
be saved." Now, going back to Revelation, Hagee envisions 144,000 Jews who
will accept Jesus as the Messiah, and thus, all Israel will be saved. From a
Jewish perspective, that means that in Hagee's vision of the future, there will
be no Jewish state and no Jews. Talk about Iranian threats of genocide?<o:p></o:p></div>
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Enter Benjamin Netanyahu. It would appear that Netanyahu has
the best of both worlds, straddling the "never saw a threat I didn't
like" perpetual war mindset of the neoconservative hawks and the
apocalyptic visions of the Evangelicals. In Netanyahu's case, however, the
apocalyptic vision may be somewhat tempered by Jewish Messianism, which does
not universally envision a cosmic end-days battle as per the New Testament Book
of Revelation. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Nonetheless, the Six Day War certainly gave encouragement to
a tendency within the Jewish Zionist movement to understand the existence of
the State of Israel in Messianic terms. In fact, the "Prayer for the State
of Israel," recited in most synagogues regularly, characterizes the State
of Israel as "the first fruit of our redemption," a rather clear
messianic reference. This, indeed, forms the ideological and theological
backbone of the Israeli West Bank settler movement, a crucial contingent within
Netanyahu's governing coalition.<o:p></o:p></div>
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In this regard, the neoconservative mindset becomes a
perfect backdrop facilitating the maintenance of Netanyahu's coalition, which
has made clear that it rejects a two-state resolution of Israel's conflict with
the Palestinians. This puts Netanyahu in a predicament. His coalition rejects
the two-state solution, while his western allies, including the US, demand it. As
the Prime Minister of Israel, he must console his western allies by paying lip
service to the two-state solution while managing to maintain his coalition of
rejectionists. <o:p></o:p></div>
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With regard to the Palestinians, the Israeli rejectionists
manage to contrive language that allows them to continue to settle the West
Bank while denying the rights of citizenship to the indigenous residents. The
West Bank, in this way of arguing, is not legally “Israel,” so there is no
legal obligation to extend citizenship to the Palestinian Arabs who live there.
But neither is it “occupied territory,” which would render the settlements
illegal. No, this territory is “disputed territory,” allowing for the
continuation of the status quo. Of course, in order to have disputed territory,
you need to have a dispute. A resolution of the dispute undermines the
political strategy.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Iran is a sort of icing on this strategic cake. It ties into
another important theme that supports Netanyahu’s neoconservative worldview.
How can Israel possibly make any concessions in its relationship with the Arabs
when there are threats everywhere, particularly a nuclear threat from Iran? And
let’s not forget the surge of anti-Semitism in Europe. The Holocaust allusions
are rampant, and the expression, “Never Again” drops effusively from
Netanyahu’s lips. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Yes, we all worry about Iran, but what scares me more are
these bellicose voices that seem downright eager to push the world into a major
conflagration. That, it seems to me, is even more dangerous than Iran.<o:p></o:p></div>
Richard Ledermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17050252724017716795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3875918660224922453.post-45232810852604182362015-02-20T15:23:00.000-05:002015-02-20T15:23:11.732-05:00The Spirit of Food and Eating<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Summary:</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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Food and eating are basic elements of human survival; mundane,
quotidian acts that provide the nutrients required for all life. Yet all
humans—even the most detached secular humans—participate in rituals surrounding
food and eating. The birthday cake, the Thanksgiving turkey, the fork on the
left and the knife on the right are all examples of food rituals. The fact is,
however, that food and eating, perhaps because they are so essential a part of
life, provide an opportunity for connection to a reality that far transcends
our mundane, quotidian lives. </div>
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<a name='more'></a><b>Full Text:</b><o:p></o:p><br />
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Have you ever watched a show on The Travel Channel called
“Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern”? The host is an overweight foody whose
tagline is, “If it looks good, eat it!!” Nonetheless, I have seen Zimmern eat
some things that don’t look at all good.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I happen to be a devotee of Jewish dietary regulations known
as <i>kashrut</i>, or “keeping kosher,” so I
don’t actually subscribe to Zimmern’s adage. At one point in my career, I was
working with a number of colleagues on developing a certification for ethical <i>kashrut</i>. We wanted to supplement the
biblical and rabbinic rules for <i>kashrut</i>
with ethical considerations such as worker rights, environmentalism and animal
welfare. In those days, and even since, I’ve spent a good deal of time and
energy thinking about food and food rituals.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The fact is that no matter what your religious, national, or
ethnic identity—even if you’re an atheist blue blood American—my bet is you participate
in food rituals. Just try having a birthday party without a cake. Tell the
owners of your local sports arena that hot dogs and beer are not good for you,
so they shouldn’t sell them. Try serving a pot roast on Thanksgiving, or better
yet, vegetarian lasagna.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="h.gjdgxs"></a>It’s not only the food items
themselves, but the rituals that surround the eating of these food items. Why
does the fork go on the left and the knife on the right? Try having a dinner party
and reversing that order; see what your guests have to say. I can never forget
a scene in the movie “Avalon,” a story about a Polish-Jewish family that
settled in Baltimore. One Thanksgiving eve, one of the brothers was delayed.
With the children fussing for dinner, the other brother began to carve and
serve the traditional turkey. In walks the prodigal brother who exclaims,
“What!?!?! You cut da toikey widout me? You’re supposed to wait fa ya bruda
before you cut da toikey!” There was plenty of turkey for everyone to enjoy,
but it was carved before this important guest had arrived. That’s not kosher;
it's a serious violation of an important food ritual.<o:p></o:p></div>
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These examples demonstrate one important dimension of food
and its accompanying rituals. Eating is a social event. Have you ever been in a
restaurant and seen someone sitting alone? It’s something of a sad sight. The
important social function of eating is also one of the reasons that
sociologists often decry the disappearance of the family meal. Eating is an important
symbol of social cohesion.<o:p></o:p></div>
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In that regard, eating not only binds families, but whole
societies as well. That's probably why we have ethnic food. Culinary traditions
serve as important marks of social identification. Any number of commentaries
on Jewish dietary regulations have pointed to this function. One of the
formulations regarding permitted and forbidden animals in the Bible explicitly
makes the connection between ancient Israel's distinct group identity and the
distinction between so-called "clean" and "unclean" foods;
animals that could be eaten and animals that could not (see Leviticus 20:25-26).
<o:p></o:p></div>
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Even the early Christian church struggled with this issue
despite the Gospel literature's suggestion that Jesus had eliminated these
distinctions (see Matthew 15:11-20; Mark 7:14-19). The apostle Paul describes a
dispute he had with his colleague Peter over an issue of what is referred to as
"table fellowship," namely, with whom one may eat. Not only what you
eat, but with whom you eat has significance for group identity (see Galatians
2:11-13).<o:p></o:p></div>
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Yet, all of this begs the question. Why are so many
important rituals centered around the act of eating? I am intrigued by the fact
that in the first chapter of the Book of Genesis in the Bible, a passage that
presents a remote and transcendent God who simply designs and commands, God’s
only interaction with humans involves two simple instructions: to procreate and
to eat—specifically what to eat. I’m equally intrigued by the fact that in the
third chapter of Genesis, the famous Garden of Eden story, the major breach
between the human and the divine occurs over an act of eating. Clearly, eating
and procreation are essential to human survival, so it is no wonder that these
are essential divine instructions. It is also clear that procreation, as a
private act between two intimate partners, is not conducive to socially
cohesive ritual (at least not in my social circles), while eating is.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Indeed, within the western religious traditions, food and
eating become central to some of the core ritual events. The Passover seder, a
ceremony that reenacts the seminal moment of national liberation and the
emergence of ancient Israel as a nation, is a clear example. The narrative of
the Seder, the <i>haggadah</i>, is
essentially the libretto that accompanies the drama of a ritual meal. The <i>haggadah</i> itself makes clear that much of
the narrative is subservient to the essential requirement of explicating the symbolic
meaning of and then consuming the ritual food items. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Likewise, the core Christian ritual is the Eucharist, or Communion,
whereby the celebrant enters into an immediate relationship with the divine
through an act of eating. A passage in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians
seems to suggest that in the early church, this ritual was not simply the
consumption of a wafer and wine as part of a larger religious ceremony, but
that it was, in fact, a full ritual meal that represented the dominant and
essential feature of Christian worship (see I Corinthians 11:20-34).<o:p></o:p></div>
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There is an element of this that was brought home to me by
the Zen Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh in his book <i>The Miracle of Mindfulness</i>. The author tells me something important
about eating—indeed, about all human activity—that may help to explain the way
food becomes connected to ritual. In fine Zen tradition, the author encourages
what he calls “mindfulness” in all human behavior. What happens when you eat
with mindfulness? He cites an example of eating a tangerine. Most of us would
eat a tangerine section by section, of course enjoying the sweet juice and
savory pulp of the tangerine. But most of us would also be simply popping the
sections of the tangerine into our mouths, ripping the next section apart
before finishing the previous one so that we are prepared immediately to pop
that next section. <o:p></o:p></div>
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What if we slowed down? What if we lingered on each section?
What if we contemplated where that tangerine came from; the workers in the
grocery where we bought it; their lives; their families; the truck driver who
brought the tangerine to the market; the farmer who grew it; the tree on which
it grew; the grove where that tree grew; the sunshine and rainfall the fed and
watered that tree; the insects that pollinated the flower?<o:p></o:p></div>
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The fact is, eating is a sacred act. In the course of
eating, we essentially ingest the energy, the divine life force of the cosmos,
into our bodies and transform it into our own life force. Eating connects us to
the energy of the cosmos and to every other living being on earth. In that
regard, eating is the ultimate act of communion.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Perhaps this is where <i>kashrut</i>
enters, the Jewish ritual of food and eating with roots in the Hebrew Bible.
That initial divine instruction to the first humans in Genesis restricts all
animals, including humans, to veganism. It is only with the recognition of
human violence and corruption in the days of Noah that humans are given
permission to eat meat, with the caveat that the life force of the animal
contained in the blood is not to be eaten. Reacting to a biblical injunction
against boiling a baby goat in its mother’s milk, rabbinic tradition went further,
enjoining the eating of meat and dairy together. <o:p></o:p></div>
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No doubt, these rules can become fetishes, observed for
their own sake with no thought of the transcendent purpose. The truth is, meat
is a symbol of death, a nod to the violent, bloodthirsty aspect of human
nature. Milk is a symbol of life, a product that nurtures the young lives of
mammalian infants, including humans; a product that an animal gives us in a
symbiotic, mutually beneficial relationship. To keep them separate is an act of
mindful eating, a way to remind us of the sanctity of life, which is violated
in the act of animal slaughter.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Food rituals allow us to transform a mundane, quotidian act
of survival into something sacred and transcendent. They afford us the
opportunity to eat mindfully, conscious of the way eating connects us to the
cosmos and to all of creation. When done mindfully, each act of eating is an
opportunity for communion.<o:p></o:p></div>
Richard Ledermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17050252724017716795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3875918660224922453.post-59857531050511842262015-02-20T15:22:00.000-05:002015-02-20T15:22:04.314-05:00A Diet for the Soul<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Summary:<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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I have to admit, I wrote this piece about 10 years ago. It’s
actually a bit silly—meant to be humorous—and I’m not sure it really belongs on
The Religious Humanist blog, but then again, it is about food rituals. I’ve been
thinking for some time about a religious humanist perspective on food rituals,
as, for example, the Jewish dietary rules. This is not that. This is just for
fun. I hope you enjoy it, but I hope it may also get you to begin thinking
about how food works as a ritual—religious or otherwise. </div>
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<a name='more'></a><b>Full Text:<o:p></o:p></b><br />
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Diets are back—with a vengeance. It used to be simple. We
only had to keep track of a few things: calories, fat, cholesterol. Now, we are
all veritable chemical laboratories. I have two friends, both of whom have
diagnosed themselves with a form of hypoglycemia that is undetectable by
medical science. In fact, that’s how they know they have it—because the doctors
haven’t detected it. <o:p></o:p></div>
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One friend told me he knows he has this condition because
he’s experienced mood swings after eight months of unemployment. So he went on
a special diet, got a job and is feeling much better. He can’t eat
wheat—something about the carbs in wheat tuning into sugar. He can eat other
grains, just not wheat, but he can’t eat corn syrup. We went out to eat at a
restaurant once. He could have the tofu dog without the bun, but he couldn’t
have the barbecue sauce that it was cooked in because that had corn syrup. Pheeew.
What an ordeal. I’m sure the server
breathed a sigh of relief when we left.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Another friend is on the Atkins diet because he was having
trouble loosing weight. The Atkins diet is my dream diet—all fat. Eggs, cheese,
fatty meats. You thought they were out? Nope! Eat all you want. Just don’t eat
anything else. When I die and go to heaven, I want to be put on the Atkins
diet.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Don’t laugh! Even as venerable a publication as the <i>New
York Times Magazine</i> is taking a new look at the Atkins diet. You see, when
you eat carbohydrates, your insulin level goes up and your body burns the
carbohydrates, not the fat. Deprive your body of carbohydrates and your body
will burn fat. After all, our bodies are very finely tuned repositories of
salts and sugars, electrolytes, enzymes and amino acids—all of which have to be
very carefully calibrated. I feel like maybe I should start carrying around a
few test tubes, a petrie dish and a portable Bunsen burner.<o:p></o:p></div>
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But I shouldn’t make fun. I’m also on a very strict diet. My
diet’s different than all of these diets. It’s called <i>kashrut</i>, aka keeping kosher. It’s not a diet for the body, but a
diet for the <i>neshoma</i>. What’s a <i>neshoma</i>?
The Torah tells us that when God created humans, God took a lump of earth (<i>adamah</i>)
and fashioned a little earthling (<i>adam</i>), but the earthling was still
just a lump until God breathed into it the <i>neshoma</i> of life and it became
a living being. My life force is God’s breath, God’s <i>neshoma</i>. The Siddur, the Jewish Prayer Book, tells me
that when I pray, that <i>neshoma</i> in me reaches back to God, its source, in
the form of prayer. Without that<i> neshoma</i>, I can’t reach God. So I really
want to take good care of my <i>neshoma</i>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Now, this <i>neshoma</i> is very delicate and must be very
carefully nurtured and nourished. You can’t just feed it anything, or you might
damage it—I guess kinda like what cholesterol does to your arteries, or alcohol
does to your liver. Fortunately, God has given me very careful discharge
instructions—what I can and can’t eat. I can eat all the wheat I want. In fact,
I can eat all the fat I want, but I wouldn’t for health reasons, of course.
But—and this is really important—I can only eat the meat of certain animals:
the nice peaceful kind of animals that have cleft hooves and sit around all day
chewing their cuds. No vicious lions and tigers and bears for me, O My! Maybe
it’s because you are what you eat. If I let that viciousness in, it might
attack my <i>neshoma</i> and destroy or damage it.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I can eat fish, but only normal fish—you know, the kind that
have fins and scales. I can’t eat those weird fish that aren’t really fish at
all, like crustaceans that live in water but walk with legs and look more like
big bugs than fish. It’s just too weird—kinda like eating a spider or a cockroach.
<o:p></o:p></div>
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Also very important: I can’t eat blood. That’s because blood
is the essence of life. The Torah tells us that the <i>nefesh</i> (another word
for <i>neshoma</i>) of the flesh of the animal is in the blood. When the Temple
stood, we would spill the blood against the altar in the Temple. That is, we
would return the <i>nefesh</i>, the <i>neshomah</i>, the life force of the
animal back to God, the source of the life force. I wouldn’t want the <i>nefesh</i>
of the animal getting mixed up with my <i>nefesh</i>. It could cause a serious, even spiritually
fatal <i>nefesh</i> imbalance.<o:p></o:p></div>
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One more thing: when I eat, I can’t mix any dairy product
with the flesh of birds or mammals. I’m not quite sure why this is. The Torah
simply tells us not to cook a kid (a baby goat, not a child—that’s forbidden
under any circumstances) in its mother’s milk. From this, our sages have
devised the system of keeping milk and meat separate. I even have separate pots
and pans, dishes and utensils. What’s most perplexing is why it applies to chicken
and turkey. I’m hardly going to boil a baby chick in its mother’s milk. Eating
a chicken and an egg is okay, though I still don’t know which came first. So
what gives?<o:p></o:p></div>
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The way I see it, milk is a symbol of life. Baby’s feed on
it before they eat anything else, and there’s nothing quite so peaceful and
reassuring as watching your child feed at her mother’s breast. Animals give us
this milk willingly, without a big fuss, with no threat to them or to
us—peacefully, symbiotically. Meat, on the other hand, is a symbol of death. In
fact, it is death. The Torah tells us that humans were not originally meant to
eat meat. In <i>gan eden</i> (the Garden of Eden), we were vegans. It was only
after the vicious nature of humans was discovered in the days of Noah that humans
were granted permission to eat meat. I don’t want life and death struggling
inside me, so I keep these things separate.<o:p></o:p></div>
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So I highly recommend the kosher diet for those seeking to
boost their <i>neshomas</i>. Some people think it’s hard, but it’s really not.
When you shop, the labeling on the packages is pretty clear, and there are lots
of kosher varieties. Kosher restaurants are sure shots, though, frankly,
they’re usually not very good. I’ve found some truly fabulous Chinese vegan
restaurants—no milk, no meat, like in the Garden of Eden. Otherwise, you might
just ask a question or two, far fewer than my hypoglycemic friend. Just make
sure the marinara sauce is really marinara. “Hey Joe, is there any meat in the
sauce?” “Nope!”<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>Bete’avon! </i>Or,
as we say in French, <i>Bon appetite</i>!!<o:p></o:p></div>
Richard Ledermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17050252724017716795noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3875918660224922453.post-3022553048262040962015-02-01T19:58:00.000-05:002015-02-01T19:58:24.774-05:00Can Jews Be Christian? Can Christians Be Jews?<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Summary:</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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This piece has been with me for some time. I’ve been sitting
on it, concerned that my all-inclusive, non-sectarian religious humanism might
be compromised by posting it on this blog. Yet, when I review the entire
spectrum of my experience with Jewish-Christian dialogue, as a
religious/theological question, I find that the discussants often talk past
each other. While it is the case that Jews and Christians share more
theological positions than we might at first acknowledge, as Rabbi Irving “Yitz”
Greenberg taught us in his book <i>For the Sake
of Heaven and Earth</i>, in certain respects, Jews and Christians speak very
different religious languages. The divide actually has little to do with
whether or not the Messiah has already come. The religious quest of
Christianity is, in so many ways, very different from the religious quest of
Judaism. Were we to address this significant difference, we might actually be
in a much better position to understand and learn from each other.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Last year I found myself frequently engaged in thinking and
writing about a topic that seemed quite hot at the time. There were any number
of stories that tackled a topic that seems to rear its head every now and
again, most often around the winter solstice and the spring equinox, i.e.,
Hanukkah/Christmas and Passover/Easter. Can one be both Jewish and Christian? Jessie
Szalay, a contributor to <i>The Jewish
Forward</i>, interviewed Susan Katz Miller, author of a book by that title, <i>Being Both</i>. At about the same time, President
George W. Bush appeared at a fundraising event sponsored by the Messianic
Jewish Bible Institute, and the Pew Research Center’s 2013 Survey of U.S. Jews found
that 34% of respondents said that one can believe that Jesus is the Messiah and
still be Jewish. A report indicated that about half of the members of the South
Dakota State University’s Hillel affiliate are Messianic Jews. So where does
that leave us with regard to the issue of “being both.” <o:p></o:p></div>
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As someone deeply involved in interfaith affairs and who
also teaches Bible, including the New Testament, at a Catholic university, I
would respectfully submit that the question as to whether one can be both
Jewish and Christian actually misframes the issue. Rather I would suggest that
while these two religious traditions have much to share, they also embody very different
world views, having nothing really to do with whether or not the Messiah has
arrived. It seems to me that the primary
religious quest of the Christian, the goal, the <i>telos</i> of Christianity is simply not the same as the religious quest
of the Jew.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Early Christianity was an apocalyptic movement, part of a
widespread view among Jews in Roman occupied Palestine of the 1<sup>st</sup>
century that the current era was about to end. God was about to intervene
through a cataclysmic event that would wipe out the corrupt Roman regime and
institute, at minimum, a new world order if not a new cosmic order. This new
order would be overseen by a Messiah, a descendent of King David, who would
reign as God’s anointed king in the new era. According to the New Testament,
into this cauldron of Jewish visionary ideals stepped Jesus of Nazareth,
announcing “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good
news!” (Mark 1:14)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Of course, only those who were pure, free of sin, would be
able to enter the imminent kingdom of God. That is the background of Jesus’
statement about repentance and that is what motivated the work of John the
Baptist. The contemporary Jewish historian Flavius Josephus praised John as a
good man who encouraged people to become baptized for the purpose of remitting
sin and purifying the body (<i>Ant.18, 5, 2)</i>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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These early Christians were convinced that the arrival of
the Kingdom of God was imminent. As Rabbi David Wolpe pointed out in a <i>Jewish Forward Forum</i> piece, “Why Jews
Should Not Accept Jesus,” the gospel narratives depict Jesus preaching to his
disciples that <a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="gmk9.1">“there are some standing here who will not taste
death before they see that the kingdom of God has come with power</a>” (Mark
9:1) For Jesus’ early followers, including many Jews, disappointment, even
disillusionment arose when the Kingdom did not arrive. In response, Christian
theology shifted from the notion of an imminent apocalypse to a focus on the
related notion of salvation from sin. Only those saved from sin could enter the
Kingdom of God. But as it became clear that this was no imminent earthly event,
the Kingdom of God, or the parallel Kingdom of Heaven, became a sort of
posthumous anteroom for the believers, those saved from sin as they awaited the
Parousia, the second coming of Christ, the final apocalypse and the ultimate
new cosmic and world order that only the saved elect would enter.<o:p></o:p></div>
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For the apostle Paul, whose concept of original sin was the
earliest theological formulation of this shift, sin is an innate quality that
infected all of humanity as a consequence of the first humans’ defiant
consumption of the fruit of knowledge in the Garden of Eden. We are all
infected with this sin, and only Christ’s salvific sacrifice can atone for it.
Only through faith in this salvific sacrifice may one enter the Kingdom of
Heaven. That, it seems to me, is the primary religious quest of the Christian:
to achieve salvation from sin and to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.<o:p></o:p></div>
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That is not the religious quest of the Jew. While Jewish
theology certainly ponders aspects of sin, punishment and posthumous judgment, these
are by no means primary preoccupations. For Jews, sin is not some irreparable
human flaw that only the incarnation and death of God can erase. Sin is a
result of humanity’s free will, a feature of our having been created in the
divine image. It is not something from which we have to be “saved.” It is
something that we struggle to overcome. In that struggle, we turn to God for
forgiveness, and in that turning, we are granted atonement. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Salvation from sin is not the religious quest of the Jew.
Torah is the religious quest of the Jew, not as a means of salvation from sin,
but as a way of fulfilling our covenant relationship to God; as a way of
incorporating the divine will, the divine plan for the universe and for human
society into our lives, projecting that divine will out into the world through
the performance of <i>mitzvot, </i>divine
instructions, thereby sanctifying our lives and the world by injecting it with the
presence of God. This is a very different religious quest.<o:p></o:p></div>
Richard Ledermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17050252724017716795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3875918660224922453.post-86765468101420387932015-01-04T15:03:00.000-05:002015-01-07T08:12:17.700-05:00E.J. Dionne, a Rabbi, Pope Francis and Lord Krishna<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Summary:<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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No, they don’t walk into a bar, but Pope Francis is back in
the news by way of a New Year’s Day piece by <i>Washington Post</i> columnist E.J. Dionne. A committed Catholic, Dionne
is attracted to Francis’ willingness to question matters of faith and doctrine.
But I write that a more effective effort to achieve a connection to the divine
goes far beyond questioning, and some of my recent reading has led me beyond
Francis to Lord Krishna. <o:p></o:p></div>
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No, they don’t walk into a bar, but the Pope is back in the
news. That’s not terribly surprising, considering he is the Pope. However, the
<i>Washington Post</i> columnist E.J. Dionne, a devoted Catholic who writes frequently
on the subject, had a bit to say about Pope Francis in his column on New Year’s
Day 2015. As a Jewish religious humanist, I was flattered by the many Jewish
analogues that Dionne used to make his point: Rabbi David Saperstein, for many
years director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, now the State
Department’s ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom; Dr.
Arnold Eisen, chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary.<o:p></o:p></div>
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But it was Dionne’s first Jewish analogue that most
attracted my attention and seemed to be the main point of the column.
Dionne called his column “Questioning our questions” and quotes the Christian
scholar Jaroslav Pelikan, who cites a Jewish joke about a rabbi whose student
asks, “Why is it that you rabbis so often put your teaching in the form of a
question?” The rabbi replied, “So what’s wrong with a question?” Ha, ha. Get
it?!?!<o:p></o:p></div>
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This is why Dionne is so enamored of the Pope, as am I. As I
have written in another blog post, the Pope is a religious humanist (“Is the
Pope a Religious Humanist?”). He insists on an element of doubt as essential to
a genuine spiritual journey. For Dionne, it was Francis’ question about the
role of gays and lesbians in the church when he posed the rhetorical question
to a group of reporters on his plane, “Who am I to judge?”<o:p></o:p></div>
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However, I don’t believe that Dionne or the Pope take this
quite far enough. It goes way beyond questioning. I was browsing the used book
shelves of my local library the other day. I spotted Yann Martel’s <i>Life of Pi</i> on sale for fifty cents. I
saw the movie, but I have become convinced that the book is always better, so
for fifty cents, what the hell? (Notice my sense of questioning.) <o:p></o:p></div>
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Actually, the movie did not come anywhere near capturing the
sense of the book, at least not in the first 100 pages that I’ve read so far.
It turns out that the book is about religion. It seems that young Pi, raised in
a secular, “modern” Hindu family, had decided as a young adolescent that he
wanted to be a Hindu Catholic Muslim. He told his father that he wanted to buy
a prayer rug and be baptized. His father sent him to his mother, who sent him
back to his father. In the end, young Pi got his way. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Pi explains his approach in one of the most profound
statements of a quest for the divine that I have read in a long time. It’s made
in the course of a denunciation of “fundamentalists and literalists” and
involves a story about the Hindu god Lord Krishna. It seems that Krishna the
cowherd invites the milkmaids to dance with him. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>“…the
girls dance and dance and dance with their sweet lord… But the moment the girls
become possessive, the moment each one imagines that Krishna is her partner
alone, he vanishes. So it is that we should not be jealous with God”</i> (Yann
Martel, <i>Life of Pi</i>, Houghton Mifflin
Harcourt, 2001).<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">That’s it! The moment we believe we have God,
the moment we put God in a box or in a book and insist that we now possess the
true knowledge and true understanding of God, the moment we consign God to a doctrine,
at that moment, God vanishes, and we are left with an empty box, an arcane book
and a shallow doctrine.</span>Richard Ledermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17050252724017716795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3875918660224922453.post-24046226508281433452014-12-14T15:38:00.000-05:002014-12-14T15:45:31.002-05:00The Anthropic Principle: Consciousness Creates the Cosmos<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Summary:<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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I’m increasingly intrigued by what appears to be a rising confluence of science and theology. From Albert Einstein to Steven Hawking,
there appears to be an emerging view that reality arises from consciousness;
that consciousness affects reality. In fact, it appears, according to quantum
physicists, that human consciousness can affect or create reality. What’s more,
the anthropic principle suggests that the cosmos may operate the way it does in
response to human consciousness.</div>
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I’m increasingly intrigued by what appears to be an emerging
confluence of science and theology, but the topic reached a tipping point for
me after reading Walter Isaacson’s biography of Einstein. Apparently Einstein
never truly reconciled with proponents of quantum mechanics, who argued that
the movement of quantum particles could occur by pure chance and, in fact, may
change from one state to another by simply being observed. Einstein couldn’t
accept the notion that anything could occur without being the result of some
immutable law. “God doesn’t play dice with the cosmos,” was his famous retort.</div>
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Perhaps all of this can be traced to a dispute that involved
Einstein and his colleagues back at the turn of the 20<sup>th</sup> century. It
revolves around the question of whether light is a wave or a particle. The
problem arises with regard to how light travels through the vacuum of space. If
light is a wave, then some medium must be vibrating to produce the wave. But in
the emptiness of space, there’s nothing to vibrate, so theoretically, light as
a wave could not travel through space. For some time scientists imagined that
there was some sort of medium in empty space that they called “the ether.” </div>
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Scientists no longer speak of the ether. Instead, they
insist that light sometimes behaves like a wave and sometimes like a particle.
They arrived at this conclusion through the so-called double-slit experiment.
If you shoot bits of matter through a barrier with a vertical slit in it, you
see a pattern on a screen or other medium behind the barrier that appears as a
vertical image that matches the slit in the barrier. If you cut two slits in
the barrier, you get two vertical patterns on the screen. However, if you send
a wave through a single slit, you get a band of intensity on the screen opposite
the slit that resembles the single band produced by the particles. You also get
a continuum of decreasing intensity on either side of the band. However, when
you add a second slit, the two slits produce a so-called interference pattern
with multiple bands of intensity.</div>
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But here’s the dilemma. When you shoot electrons—tiny bits
of matter—through a single slit, you get a single band, like the other
particles of matter. But when you shoot the electrons through two slits, you
get an interference pattern like a wave. So electrons sometimes act like
particles and sometimes like waves.</div>
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To solve the conundrum, scientists decided to “observe” the
electrons going through the two slits, using some sort of measuring device to
actually trace each electron as it went through the slits. Before, they were
simply observing the patterns that appeared on the screen behind the slits.
Now, they were going to be smarter; they were actually going to observe the
electrons going through the slits.</div>
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When they did that, and observed the electrons going through
the two slits, the electrons ceased to behave like waves with the interference
patters, as they did when they weren’t observing, but instead behaved like
particles, with the two bands. The observation changed the reality of the
nature of the electrons. When they weren’t observed, they behaved like waves.
When they were observed, they behaved like particles. The conclusion: consciousness—human
consciousness—creates reality.</div>
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Meanwhile, I have had the temerity to attempt a reading of
Steven Hawkings’s book, <i>A Brief History
of Time</i>. In fact, I’ve made numerous attempts over the past decade or so,
and I must confess, I still don’t get it, and the recent rather mediocre film
presentation of his life and thought, “The Theory of Everything,” didn’t really
help much. However, Hawking introduced me to the word “anthropic,” which
describes an understanding of how the cosmos evolved. Why, the physicists ask,
did the cosmos evolve with this exact set of laws? After all, in order for the
cosmos to evolve with these specific laws so as to produce, for instance, human
beings, these laws would have to be extremely precise. Adjust the laws of
gravity, thermo-dynamics, acceleration, electro-magnetism ever so slightly, and
we would not exist. Is this all by pure chance? Was God, or whatever, simply
taking a roll of the dice and presto, here we are observing this cosmos with
its precision-tooled laws?</div>
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That’s where the anthropic principle enters. According to
Hawking, there is a weak anthropic principle and a strong anthropic principle.
I’m only just getting my mind around any anthropic principle, so I’ll begin by
quoting from Hawking’s book regarding the weak anthropic principle. Consider this
passage:</div>
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<i>“The
weak anthropic principle states that in a universe that is large or infinite in
space and/or time, the conditions necessary for the development of intelligent
life will be met only in certain regions that are limited in space and time.
The intelligent beings in these regions should therefore not be surprised if
they observe that their locality in the universe satisfies the conditions that
are necessary for their existence… One example of the use of the weak anthropic
principle is to ‘explain’ why the big bang occurred about ten thousand million
years ago </i>(that’s British for ten billion years ago)<i>—it takes about that long for intelligent beings to evolve.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
(Steven Hawking, <i>A Brief History of Time,</i> Bantam Books, 1988, p. 124)</div>
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The big bang occurred ten billion years ago because that’s
how long it takes to produce us. That’s <i>why</i>
it happened <i>that way</i>! The universe
operates the way it does in order to produce us. It seems to me that the
implication of what Hawking is saying is that the laws of the universe are what
they are basically because of us. They are what they are in order to produce a
conscious being that can discover and observe these specific rules and laws. In
other words, the cosmos is us. </div>
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But this leads me to take another step, or at least to ponder
another step. If consciousness creates reality as the two-slit experiment
suggests, does the universe operate the way it does because we are conscious of
it operating that way? Do the laws of the universe—the way the universe
functions—emerge from our consciousness of these laws and this functioning? Does
the cosmos evolve as we become conscious of it? Is human consciousness creating
the cosmos?</div>
Richard Ledermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17050252724017716795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3875918660224922453.post-74586435269441816382014-11-24T13:10:00.001-05:002014-12-12T13:31:24.655-05:00Boycott the Kotel<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Summary:</b></div>
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I am calling on people to boycott the Kotel, the Western
Wall of the Temple Mount. I do so reluctantly, with both sadness and
trepidation, since this spot has had and continues to have a powerful hold on
the religious imagination of peoples of all faiths. Not only do many of us
recall our first visit, but who can forget the visit of Pope John Paul II? Yet
I think it is worthwhile to be realistic about what this spot actually
represents, and as extremists on both sides of the Israeli/Palestinian divide
continue to turn this sacred space into a venue for holy war, I would suggest
that we refuse to play any role in that horror.</div>
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<b></b></div>
<a name='more'></a><b>Full text:<o:p></o:p></b><br />
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Like most people who have been to the Wailing Wall, the
Western Wall, the Kotel, I remember my first visit. I suppose I was
appropriately awestruck. It is, after all, quite massive. Not exactly the Grand
Canyon, but similar. I was about three months shy of my 18<sup>th</sup>
birthday. I put on <i>tefillin</i>,
“phylacteries,” as they’re called in English: little prayer boxes attached to
straps that get wrapped around the arm and forehead. It was the first time
since my Bar Mitzvah. It was awkward, unfamiliar, something of a let-down, a
peak experience that wasn’t.</div>
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I’ve had other visits to the Kotel. The last time I was at
the main plaza was in 2006. By that time, I was experienced, knowledgeable, adept
at the art of Jewish prayer. So in the midst of my fervent swaying, rocking <i>davenen</i> (praying), along comes this
black-hatted youngster, who taps me on the shoulder looking for a “donation”
for his “Yeshivah.” Yeah, right! Then there was the phlegmatic old Hasid who
set about adjusting my <i>shel rosh</i>, the
phylactery wrapped around my forehead. It was apparently not properly situated
right between my eyes to his satisfaction. I guess he figured he was just
helpin’ me out. I swore it would be my last visit.</div>
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Then in 2007, I discovered the Masorti Kotel, a section of
the western wall of the Temple Mount south of the Main Plaza that had been
established as a worship site for more liberal, egalitarian Jews. I was there
for Tisha B’Av the commemoration of the destruction of the two Jewish temples:
one by the Babylonians in 586 BCE, and the second by the Romans in the year 70.
At the foot of the wall lay a number of huge boulders. They sat atop an ancient
Roman pavement and were identified as boulders that the defenders had heaved
onto the Roman soldiers besieging the Temple. It was an inspiring moment. No <i>schnorring</i> (begging); no phlegm; just an
encounter with divinity, community, history and tradition.</div>
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Unfortunately, I haven’t been back to Israel since then.
Yet, the next time I go, which I hope will be soon, I plan on boycotting the
Kotel. I do this reluctantly, but I have decided that it is an important
statement to make in opposition to the attempt by extremists on both sides of
the Israeli/Palestinian divide to turn what is recognized as sacred space into a
stage for the enactment of a holy war. If you don’t think this is a holy war,
watch this video posted by Likud MK Moshe Feiglin, a member of the governing
coalition in Israel, on his Facebook page (<a href="http://www.israelvideonetwork.com/future-prime-minister-of-israel-speaks-about-the-temple-mount">http://www.israelvideonetwork.com/future-prime-minister-of-israel-speaks-about-the-temple-mount</a>).
Feiglin is quoted as saying that when he is prime minister, there will be no
Waqf (Muslim religious authority) on the Temple Mount, a scenario that would,
at best, abrogate the Israel/Jordan peace treaty. I refuse to play my role as
an extra in this unfolding horror.</div>
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Why don’t we try a bit of realism, a bit of pragmatism in
this matter? Let’s begin with the wall itself. It’s a wall, for goodness sakes!!
No, it’s not the remains of the Jewish Temple. It’s a portion of a retaining
wall, much of which was built in the first century BCE by King Herod, a brutal
tyrant appointed by the Roman occupiers, who wanted to impress his Roman
buddies and attempt to placate his hostile people by rebuilding the Temple and
expanding the sacred area that surrounded it. Now let’s look at the ancient
Temple itself. All ancient peoples had Temples. They were considered by ancient
peoples to represent the <i>axis mundi</i>,
the center of the cosmos, the place where the gods dwelt, the nexus of heaven
and earth. Ancient peoples would celebrate their communion with the divine
mainly by slaughtering animals as temple offerings to the gods, though some of
the offerings were of a vegetarian variety.</div>
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In the Jewish Temple, as we’re told in the Book of
Leviticus, the celebrants were enjoined from eating blood, so all of the blood
of the animal was used in the ceremony, mainly by pouring it on the altar.
Portions of some of these sacrificial animals were eaten by the celebrants.
Other portions were given to the priests and their helpers, the Levites, while
some portions and sometimes whole animals were offered on the altar of burnt
offerings as a “pleasant aroma for God.” We’re told in the Book of I Kings that
when King Solomon built the Temple, “the entire assembly of Israel that had
gathered about him were before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and
cattle that they could not be recorded or counted” (I Kings 8:5)</div>
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The truth is, most of the Hebrew prophets had at best an
ambivalent attitude toward the Temple. Jeremiah, who was himself a priest,
declared in God’s name, “For in the day that I brought your ancestors out of
the land of Egypt, I did not speak to them or command them concerning burnt
offerings and sacrifices” (Jeremiah 7:22). Jeremiah insisted on other
covenantal requirements, like “do not oppress the foreigner, the
fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place”
(Jeremiah 7:5) He correctly predicted the Temple’s destruction by the
Babylonians, but never mentions a rebuilding. </div>
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I understand that when we approach the Kotel, we’re to contemplate
its sanctity as the <i>axis mundi</i>, that
sacred space that facilitates connection to the divine. I acknowledge the power
of history and tradition that permeate this place. But the next time you go
there, maybe you can think about this. Think about the sweat and tears of the
slave and corvee laborers who were conscripted into the building of these
temples. Think about all of the blood that must have poured out of it, as
countless animals were slaughtered and bled. Listen for the sounds of the cries
of those animals as they were slaughtered in their hundreds and thousands.
Think of the stench as these thousands of carcasses waited to be flayed,
butchered and cooked. </div>
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While you’re thinking those lovely thoughts, consider that our
understanding of the divine and our relationship to God has evolved after 2,000
years; that God is omnipresent; that every spot can be an <i>axis mundi</i>; that “God is near to all who call upon God, to all who
call upon God truly and faithfully” (Psalm 145:18/<i>Ashrei</i>).” And think about this. Two Jewish temples were destroyed.
There are no more temples. Perhaps God is trying to tell us something.</div>
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I would urge you to find connection to God anywhere and everywhere,
and to keep yourself, body and soul, away from the holy war that the extremists
are planning for this spot. Boycott the holy war. Boycott the Kotel!</div>
Richard Ledermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17050252724017716795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3875918660224922453.post-42910119599634927262014-11-03T17:18:00.000-05:002014-11-05T05:10:59.837-05:00Israel and Zionism<div class="normal">
<b>Summary:<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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There is a crisis in Zionism combined with a worldwide crisis
filled with sectarian and nationalistic wars, disease and economic malaise.
Yet, part of the crisis of Zionism stems from a blurring of the line between
political Zionism—a nationalistic struggle for a Jewish state—and a Messianic,
utopian Zionism embedded within traditional Jewish religion. For the sake of
both of these visions, the boundary between them should be consciously
reestablished.</div>
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<a name='more'></a><b>Full text:<o:p></o:p></b><br />
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There is a crisis in Zionism. I suppose it’s but one element of
the overall crisis that confronts the world today. There is so much violence,
so much anger, so much of the demonization of the other and a sense of
religious and national triumphalism that it is hard to imagine a way out. It
seems as though everyone is egging for a major apocalyptic battle believing
that their side will prevail and bring about whatever image of utopia their
particular culture might bear. Add to this the demon of Ebola and I dare say
that it seems that something of the end days are upon us. For Jewish Zionists
of all stripes, it would appear that the many threats faced by Israel could
spell an end to the Zionist dream, the demise of the State of Israel.</div>
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At this threshold moment it may be worthwhile to take a look
back at what we actually mean by Zionism, and perhaps use this as a spotlight
for showing the way forward. If you look at the way the word Israel is used in
Jewish tradition—at least since the close of the biblical period—it is used to
refer to a land and a people. The reference to a land is clear. But in 1970 an
article by Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel originally published in Hebrew as <i>Torah min ha-shamayim</i>, “Torah from
Heaven,” appeared in English translation as “God, Torah and Israel.” Heschel
used as his starting point the Jewish expression declaring the unity of these
three elements. Throughout the article, Heschel reflects on the interdependence
of Torah and the people of Israel. Indeed, it becomes abundantly clear that
Heschel, writing 22 years after Israel’s Declaration of Independence, is using
the term Israel to refer to the covenant community, not the State of Israel. </div>
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<i>“Our
share in holiness we acquire by living in the Jewish community. What we do as
individuals may be a trivial episode; what we attain as Israel causes us to
grow into the infinite.”</i></div>
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In this short pronouncement, “Israel” and “Jewish community”
are synonymous. </div>
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If we take a brief survey of the traditional Jewish expressions
of the connection between the land of Israel and the people of Israel, i.e.,
the Jewish people, we see that it is essentially a mystical connection. Perhaps
the most profound expression of this is found in the <i>berakha</i>, the benediction that immediately precedes the recitation
of the <i>shema</i> in Jewish liturgy. We
ask God to bring us upright into the land of Israel “to thank You and to
declare Your unity.” We then proceed to declare the Oneness and unity of God.
The Oneness of the divine is existentially connected to the unity of Israel—the
people and the land.</div>
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Jewish mystical tradition understands that Israel’s <i>galut</i>, its exile from the land of
Israel, is coincident with or an emblem of God’s <i>galut</i>, the separation of the <i>shekhinah</i>—God’s
indwelling presence in the world—from God’s cosmic unity. This breach will only
be corrected by a return of the people of Israel to their ancestral homeland.
This is a vision of a Messianic world, a world in which all breeches have been
filled and all brokenness has been repaired. It is a vision of human and cosmic
unity and harmony.</div>
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This is a truly utopian vision, a Messianic vision, one for
which every religious Jew longs. It is, in a certain respect, Zionism before
there ever was Zionism. However, as a religious, Messianic, utopian vision, we
must separate it from the modern State of Israel. This is a terribly painful
confession for many of us who both cherish the State of Israel and at the same
time long for that utopian vision. Yet, this attempt to connect the utopian,
Messianic vision with modern political Zionism, i.e., the State of Israel, is
perhaps the greatest flaw in the unfolding of modern Zionism, one which
Zionists must overcome if we expect both visions to survive. This flaw is most
notably demonstrated in the words found in the contemporary prayer for the
State of Israel that define the state as <i>reishit
tsemihat ge’ulateinu</i>, “the first flowering of our redemption.” These words
refer to the religious, Messianic, utopian vision noted above. </div>
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While early political Zionism may have contained elements of a
socialist, utopian vision, I must recall the vision attributed to David
Ben-Gurion, the first Prime Minister of the State of Israel. It is said that he
envisioned the State of Israel as a normal state like other states. When there
would be Jewish thieves and Jewish prostitutes in the State of Israel, only
then would we know that the Zionist vision had been fulfilled; that the State
of Israel was a normal state, a normal nation among the community of nations.</div>
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I have become convinced that we Zionists have to return to
Ben-Gurion’s vision. We make a serious mistake in allowing utopian, Messianic
visions to interfere with what is an essentially political response to Jewish
powerlessness in the modern world. With what now appears to be a Christian
apocalyptic element added to the mix, we are faced with a volatile concoction.
Unlike much of the Jewish Messianic tradition, Christian apocalyptic end-days
visions include a cataclysmic cosmic war based on the New Testament Book of
Revelation. If anyone doubts the danger to Israel, the Jewish people and, in
fact, the whole world presented by this vision, I would recommend the book <i>Jerusalem Countdown</i> by Pastor John
Hagee, founder and executive director of Christians United for Israel.
Connecting political Zionism—Israel as a state among states—to a Messianic,
apocalyptic vision is, as I’ve written elsewhere, “a dangerous and delusional
mix.”</div>
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So often I am told that I have to be realistic about the
existential danger facing Israel. So let’s be realistic. Despite the efforts of
Jewish settlers in the Palestinian village of Silwan, King David is not about
to return and take his seat on the throne in the City of David. In the event of
a nuclear exchange between Israel and Iran as predicted with great anticipation
by John Hagee, there will be no rapture to translate the faithful to heaven,
only death and destruction. Hearing the footsteps of the Messiah, as Hagee
claims he does, should be sending him to an audiologist—or better yet, a
psychiatrist—not to an AIPAC conference as keynote speaker.</div>
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This is not to say that Jews should reject the hope and
aspirations that our Messianic visions provide. It is to say that we must
separate these Messianic visions from our understanding of modern political
Zionism. We can begin by excising the words “the first flowering of our
redemption” from our prayer for the State of Israel. We have to arrive at the
understanding that Israel is a state like all other states. Like other
states—like the United States—Israel has Nobel Prize winners, great artists and
philosophers, writers and scholars and high tech manufacturers. Like other
states—like the United States—it has thieves and swindlers and prostitutes. And
yes, like other states—like the Unites States—it has chickens**t politicians
who place their own political necks ahead of the welfare of their people and
their nation.<br />
<br />
Imagine that!!</div>
Richard Ledermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17050252724017716795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3875918660224922453.post-10765490620847748822014-10-27T19:49:00.000-04:002014-10-28T06:53:27.671-04:00Human Conflict is Sin<div class="normal">
<b>Summary:</b></div>
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I realize that I’ve written a number of posts dealing with the
subject of sin, and the struggle to overcome the barriers that divide human
communities was the denouement of “A New World: Tear Down Those Walls.” But
something struck me during a class that I was teaching recently that revealed
the overlap of these two topics. What struck me as result of reviewing some of
the classroom material that I use was that the human alienation that
accompanies human conflict can itself be construed as sin in that it alienates the
human community from God. Our relationship and connection to God cannot be
separated from our relationship and connection to one another.</div>
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</div>
<a name='more'></a><b>Full Text:</b><br />
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In my course titled “Biblical Literature and the Ancient World”
taught at the School of Continuing Studies at Georgetown University, I use one
of the sessions to explore the topic of universalism and particularism, both in
the Bible and in contemporary religious life. In the Bible, I ask students to
explore what is something of a paradox. The Book of Ezra represents a rather narrow,
particularistic understanding of the covenant community. This biblical work
emerges from a Judean community that had recently returned to Judea following
the Babylonian exile. The so-called "restoration" had been decreed by
the Persian king Cyrus, conqueror of Babylon. Pursuing a theology that came to
see exile as punishment for covenant disloyalty--an idea inherited from
pre-exilic prophets like Jeremiah--the leaders of this Judean community are
depicted as rejecting the participation of any elements of the community that
had not experienced exile. If the Babylonian exile was God's way of punishing
and purifying the covenant community, then only those who had experienced the
exile were eligible for participation in that covenant community.<br />
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But there is another voice that arises from this post-exilic
restored Judean community. Beginning in chapter 40 of the Book of Isaiah, we
hear the voice of a prophet whom scholars recognize as
"Deutero-Isaiah," or II Isaiah, preaching to the exiles recently
returned to their homeland. Likely a devotee of the earlier Jerusalem prophet
for whom the book is named, this post-exilic prophet begins his work by
validating the theology of exile and restoration. </div>
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<i>Comfort,
comfort my people,<br />
says your God.<br />
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,<br />
and proclaim to her<br />
that her hard service has been completed,<br />
that her sin has been paid for,<br />
that she has received from the Lord’s hand<br />
double for all her sins. (Isaiah 40:1-2)<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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For this visionary, however, the exilic experience was a clue
to another aspect of the divine/human relationship. Only a universal deity--a
God of all humanity--could micro-manage the historic process that both enabled
Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon to affect the requisite punishment of destruction and
exile and also orchestrate the subsequent restoration of the destroyed
community by the Persian king Cyrus, whom this prophet calls God's
"messiah"--God's anointed king.</div>
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It is precisely this vision of a universal God that elicits a
profoundly inclusive definition of the sacred community. Even eunuchs and
foreigners--emblems of those who had heretofore been excluded from the sacred
Temple service--are invited to bring their offerings into the newly rebuilt
Temple, now called by this prophet "a House of Prayer for all
people."</div>
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This forms a significant piece of the biblical perspective on
universalism and particularism that I share with students. The corollary
involves an examination of four contemporary documents that explore this theme
from the perspective of four faith communities: Protestant, Catholic, Muslim
and Jewish. The Protestant contribution consists of a policy statement of the
National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA titled "<i>Interfaith Relations and the Churches."
</i>This document reveals a true tension among the council’s 50 member
denominations that boils down to an apparent conflict between the church's
evangelical mission on the one hand and its interfaith mission on the other.
Can the church both spread the Gospel while also affording peoples of all
faiths the love and respect that the Gospel demands?</div>
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From the midst of this clearly confounding theological
struggle, the following statement arises:</div>
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<i>"Too
often we set ourselves against each other. We become separated from God, and
alienated from God’s creation. We find ourselves in seemingly irreconcilable
conflict with other people. We confess that as human beings we have a
propensity for taking the gift of diversity and turning it into a cause of
disunity, antagonism and hatred—often because we see ourselves as part of a
unique, special community. We sin against God and each other."<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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What an incredibly profound statement! Conflict, disunity,
antagonism, hatred, seeing ourselves as somehow unique, special,
"exceptional," are all sins. They alienate us from one another and
thereby alienate us from God. I have said this before, but I feel compelled to
say it again. This is the struggle and the sacred mission of all people of
faith, and we must acknowledge that it is a struggle no less intense than the
struggle in which the various messianic/apocalyptic religious triumphalists are
engaged. It is a struggle to affect the essential unity of the human community
as the human counterpart to the unity of the divine. Indeed one might be so
bold as to insist that God's unity and the divine/human connection depend on
the unity of the human community. We cannot be denigrating, hating and fighting
one another while proclaiming “God is One.”</div>
Richard Ledermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17050252724017716795noreply@blogger.com0