Curious Jew

Curious Jew had an interesting post about the underlying reason for opposing religious factions attempt to persuade others of their ‘truth’. CJ claims that it is out of love for others that the truth is perpetrated upon those uninterested in hearing. It’s a worthwhile post which should precede reading my comments below. BTW, most of her post are exceptionally well written, especially the literary ones. My response, which was comment number 29, is quoted here:

What you have so eloquently reimagined as love misdirected, is actually a by-product of evolution. Humans have depended upon cooperation and coalitions to survive. Coalitional dynamics require special group thinking. Pascal Boyer in Religion Explained points out that the way we view people is in terms of their associations with a broader, more general social category. John is from the Smythe Clan, Eddie is Asian and Tommy, black. From there we further note- John is from our clan/group while the others are not. There are things I expect to do for John and him for me without personal benefit but for the good of our group. His non-cooperation with our group expectation is akin to defection and would be punished or rebuked. Loyalty to the group is essential.

Eddie and Tommy are not from our group. No matter what these individuals do, we will extrapolate their actions to be characteristics of their group (regardless if true or not). Actions of these individuals would warrant response against their group as a whole. (Racism is starting to make sense, isn't it?).

So within the group we tend to enforce cooperation and compliance so we would expect our neighbor to keep us in line with the group philosophy. This would apply to why different sects of Jews try to enforce their thinking on other Jews. Simply put, we are all Jews and that requires commitment to the group. However there are also elements of out-group thinking. Inevitably when dealing with a large group, smaller subgroups will tend to form whose social dynamics also take on in-group/out-group thinking. Each group thinking that their group consists of finer characters than those of other groups. Each group would value their view of Judaism as more correct than another sub group of Jews. Then out-group dynamics come into play. For example if we hear of a hasid involved in an abominable act, the first thing we say is, "Those hasidim..." we extrapolate an individuals actions as representative of the whole. In that way, there are divisive forces at work.


People believe that others represent the world as they do. If they view an act as morally wrong, they just assume you do as well. (Moral Realism) This is where their attempt to re-educate you comes in because of course they know they are correct, you just need some prodding to realign you. People also have a vested interest in believing their truth to be absolute.

I did, however, enjoy the optimistic, hopeful message of your post. It shows the depth of your good nature and your eagerness to find the good in others or in outwardly negative experiences. If more people were like that or in the very least strove to be that way, the world would be unrecognizable to us today. Unfortunately, the representations you have of others are not necessarily the ones they hold for themselves. There are people with other agendas and other baser drives who don’t have as peaceful a view of the world and are willing kill for their beliefs. But don’t let me stop your enthusiasm and quest for a better world.

Finding the good in things is better than finding the truth.

Hello, Brain...

I’m starting to get a little worried here. Three days ago I lost control of my car and now I feel like I’ve lost control over my mind. This morning I dropped off my car to be fixed at the mechanic close to work. At 6pm, I realized that they hadn’t returned my keys and they all had left for the day. I didn’t get upset. Everyone in my office said to call them at home and make them come back or ask for gas money or carfare. They couldn’t understand why I wasn’t more upset. My response was, “Would any of those things get me home or change what has happened?” So I shrugged it off. I started to figure out how many buses and transfers it would take to get home. I called my sister and she insisted on coming to pick me up. She thought she found a spare key to my car in my house but alas it was not. So we rode home together, leaving my poor vehicle abandoned to the cruel city elements.

My sister is an amazing woman (like my mom). She will rally behind the family, go the extra mile and always be counted on to go above and beyond the call of duty and expect nothing in return. She has done more for me in my life than anyone (except of course, yep, mom).

We had some nice time to catch up during the long car ride. When she dropped me off, I started to walk up to my house. I reached into my pocket and took out the house keys only to realize those are the very same keys that sport the ignition key. The words, “I’m an idiot” were played on a permanent loop this night. So the keys were returned to me after all. For some reason, I never even checked my pocket even though I went to see where the mechanic parked my car. Worse than that, I have absolutely no recollection of him handing me the keys. He did stop in a few time to ask me what tires I wanted and how much I was willing to spend. I recall giving him some free photos but the hand-off…well, that must have been so smooth that even I don’t recall it.

Somehow, I managed to keep my cool, not take out my frustration on my little ones and got them all to bed quite smoothly and tenderly. Then I again tried to find the best bus route to work because there is no way in hell I was going to ask my sister to go out of her way for my incompetence. But as usual God sends His salvation and today his name is NJG. I want to thank NJG for offering to take me to work in the morning. You’re a true friend. This Bud’s for you…

I’m too embarrassed to tell my sister what transpired, especially considering the inconvenience I put her through (one of her cars was in the shop and her large family was vying for evening use of the car). I’m worried that I have so many things to attend to, that I’m going to forget something important. Which reminds me of another incident a week ago. (You see, it took until this late in the evening, after writing this post for me to make this other connection, ugh). I put milk in a pot on the stove to make farina for my daughter. I went out to feed the cat and my son came running to the door to say the pot was on fire. Apparently it overflowed and the residue in the aluminum piece beneath the burners caught fire. I just had to blow it out. Later that same day I left the toaster on at work and burned my food.

I’m beginning to feel like I’m becoming a danger. Could this be what Alzheimer’s patients experience in the early stages? I’m angry with myself; disappointed that I’m not multi-tasking as successfully as I had in the past. I’m losing it. What is scarier is that I don’t feel it until well after it’s too late.

Calgon take me away…

Accident

Coincidence, I think not. Yesterday I was reading a post by XGH about slowing down (May 8,2007 “Davening Violation-4 Points”). This morning my live-in said I’m always in a rush. Well, I should’ve registered warning. It had rained this morning but the roads were only mildly wet. Imagine my surprise when I spun out while rushing to work. I was in the left lane merging into the middle and I started to skid but there was another car in the right lane. I tapped the brakes to give me some distance so I would ease behind it and the next thing I knew I lost control. I veered back to the middle lane as the tail end of my car started to 360 the wrong way. I made eye contact with the lady in the left lane as the front of my car faced the front of her car. I thought we would become intimately involved any second. But she must have slowed just enough for me to pass to her left, my tail end still turning. This short stretch of the Southern State Parkway just happened to have a wide grass divider before a metal guardrail. My tail was still turning on the grass as the back hit the divider and bounced me to a stop facing forward.

I want to thank the MTA man, whose name I didn’t get, for stopping immediately to see how I was. I, thank God, am fine. My bumper is somewhat scratched and some paint chipped. It’s off its hinges a small bit and I have one broken taillight. So I’ll have to shell out for a new bumper but at least I don’t need to by a coffee today because, as you might very well imagine, my adrenaline is through the roof. It’s a miracle I wasn’t hurt and that there were only frayed nerves instead of secondary accidents.

I was surprised by how cool I was during the spinout and afterwards. Sometimes you have to let life take the driver seat for a while, while you become to be the spectator. Thanks for the show, glad its over.

P.S. Thanks God, you get my eternal thanks and my vote.

Triumph of Life

Rabbi Irving Greenberg, president of the Jewish Life Network/Steinhardt Foundation, gave an interesting lecture last night at Queens College. The topic was The Triumph of Life: Towards a Unified Theory of Judaism. His approach leaned towards the humanistic version of Judaism by showing how the stories and themes in the Bible point towards respect for human dignity with the ultimate goal of creating a better world (Tikun Olam).

I shall try to do justice to his well-presented lecture.

He began by stating that there are three main stories or themes that are central to Judaism which ultimately have one unifying idea. The themes are Creation, the Covenant, and Redemption.

The creation story teaches us that life isn’t purposeless, meaningless, or random. There is a Creator who has interest in our lives. Within the story of creation there is a threefold rhythm. The world moves from:
A. Chaos to order (big bang/universe formation)
B. Non-life to life (evolution)
C. Complexity that is manifest as increasing consciousness/will and thereby approaching god-likeness (Tzelem Elohim/image of God).

Tzelem Elohim (which is discussed in Sanhedrin 37a) is further broken down in a threefold manner. Being made in God’s image affords humans:
1. Infinite value to human life (Save a life, save the world).
2. Equality (racial, sexual, religious). No human is better than any other human just as if we were to imagine one theoretical image of God not being any better than any other likeness of ‘Him’ {Masculine. pronoun for simplicity sake and to be true to the sources, ancient Israel envisioned God as masculine. But, of course, our consciousness is raised to the point of not assigning gender to God – so says smoo}
3. Uniqueness. Just as God is unique, so too every human is unique.

The world we live is filled with social injustice and affronts to the dignity of beings created in God’s image. Sexism and racism are a quantitative denial of the dignity due to a Tzelem Elohim. Poverty is a rejection of the infinite value of human life (and all life for that matter). For pennies a day a child’s life can be saved with mosquito netting to protect them against malaria. Skimping on the cost for what should’ve been a double hull, allowed the Exxon Valdez ecological disaster to occur. Hunger is the rejection of human equality by forcing the hungry to resort to begging and dependence on others. Sickness, like a stroke, robs a man of his uniqueness. War kills infinitely valuable human beings.

This brings us to the third story, that of redemption (bypassing the second, for now). The goal of redemption is to overcome all the previously mentioned maladies (and more). The focus on redemption is for THIS world not the next. Tradition teaches that the world was intended to be perfect but it is our own task to work towards that end.

The way we get to that end is via the second story, that of the covenant. Redemption will not come about through miracles like rapture or by escaping this world (through ideas like Hinduism or Buddhism). It won’t happen through martyrdom and escape to the next world and it won’t happen if humans walk alone independent of God. It will happen through a partnership between God and humans. And in that covenant the underlying, unifying ideal is the commandment to choose life. Deuteronomy 30:15 says, “Behold, I have placed before you today life & good and death & evil.” There are no neutral acts in this world. There will be acts for good that will sustain life and evil acts that will drain life. We can choose healthy food, which will prolong our capacity for life or junk food, which can be detrimental. In our speech, we can respond in a positive affirming manner or in a degrading tone. Of the 613 commandments, 610 can be abrogated to save a life.

The final three are exceptions that prove the rule {at least to Rabbi Greenberg}.
1. If someone says you should kill John or you would be killed, the law is you should accept death. Whether you kill John or not, there will be one life lost but if you do the killing you have taken upon yourself the devaluation of life. A witness to your crime will learn from that. Should you refuse, you will affirm life and any person who hears the story should be inspired to affirm life as well.
2. Idolatry is taking something made by humans and making it absolute. The person knew the statue was made yet this person invokes that statue/god in order to control the world around him. This kind of control ends up leading to oppression. (I know, kind of weak. Can’t I just pretend by going through the motion? God knows where my heart is).

{LATER NOTE thanks to discussions with NJG: Perhaps the problem with idolatry at least from a modern viewpoint is that any social force especially one as influential as religion is, should not gain credence by accepting the use of violent coercion (threat of death) to gain adherents and control. By acquiescing, a person validates devaluing human life for the dissemination of ideology.}

3. Sexual perversion is destructive to the human psyche (like becoming obsessively focused on an act) and possible damaging to other peoples as well (some things are demeaning others devaluing). {I know, if no one is getting hurt, why get killed over this. I guess 611 out of 613 is unifying enough to prove the point that choosing life is most important.}

Tikun Olam (perfecting the world) is contagious. Start at a human pace, at home, then your community, then pan out. You start with your own poor first, and then expand to others and ultimately to all. Recognize that you are human and have flaws and failings but that should stop you from striving to do the best you can. The characters in the Bible were fallible as we are. They are truly human models trying their best, flaws and all.

We should recognize that we won’t accomplish this in our lifetime so we use the Mesorah (and the Mitzvah of Be fruitful) to pass on our increasingly evolving higher consciousness.

So choose life, mutual respect, dignity for all of God’s creation, and strive to make the world a better place. That is what Judaism is all about. That will be our redemption.