Experiencing Sinai

Rabbi Wolfe from Isralight was an amazing addition to the Saw You At Sinai back to camp Labor Day weekend. Aside from good humor, good nature and personable character, he had a seemingly endless supply of magical metaphors (and similes). It appeared to me that he was able to grap the essence of experience of the Divine. Simple ideas made connection to God and even practice of religion not only palatable but desirable.

For example, he described sheet-music. When you look at it, what you see is cold, very mathematical, complicated, calculated, and unfeeling. But when you play it, the music comes alive, your body moves in tandem to the beat, your spirit soars. So too with Halachah. He didn't claim that it was the only mechanism but it is the mechanism which we have successfully used over thousands of years to experience God. Halachah is very technical and cold but when you live it, it is transformed and it transforms you. It directs you on a mission to be a light unto the nation and achieve tikkun olam.

He also described halachah as a window. We spend time cleaning our window, people compete to say my window is better and shinier than others but they fail to realize that the window is just the means to go beyond. The purpose is to see the view and that view is God. People get lost in their window never using it to its proper end.

It was a spiritually satisfying and physically rewarding weekend. I have to rate Sinai as THEEE best shabbaton I have ever been on. They (all 3 back to camp weekends) have never failed me. One caveat. This weekend was a liberal/conservadox weekend. It wasn't the uptight machmir Nachamu. I hear that nachamu was stiff and awkward, less feeling. They didn't want to sing havdalah (so I heard). We had such an emotional havdalah with guitar and singing and dancing. Poor Nachamu machmirites lost in their own rigid window never allowing themselves to glimpse the essence and experience of God. How sad for them.

Just remember life is full of sheet-music.
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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.