AMERICANJEWISH.BLOG 2005

(Comments may be directed to AmericanJewish.Blog@NCEJudaism.org)

 Does God Act in History? The concept of God has changed over the centuries.
The atheist and the literalist are on the same petard, assuming that God acted/failed to act in a situation, such as the Holocaust. God is present as men act or fail to act. The people who killed Jews in the Holocaust were believers in a religion. By their actions they showed their faith. The problem was not God''s, but man''s.
Today, God acts in history through the actions of his believers. There is no existential evil--there is the action of humans, who perform evil and can choose to perform good.

To deny God has acted in history is to deny history.  God acted in Auschwitz, because people who believed in God acted, and did evil.

Anyone who professes a belief in some kind of God and acts, acts his belief.

God exists as long as someone thinks of Him.

DOES THE PAST EXIST?

We can not deny the past, even as we forget it.  We may not want to repeat it, which means that we remember it.  What we were is part of what we are.  The Germans who had a Nazi past can not claim to have a clean history.  Jews who do not remember the past can not have a Jewish future.

            We are what we were, even as we do not want to become what we were.

            Tradition without thought defeats tradition.

            The Holocaust’s difference with the past is that this was rational murder to exterminate an entire people, just as the Christian Bible is rational anti-Jewishness. In the past there was religious irrationalism, without a plan.  Holocaust was hatred with a plan, in societies where anti-Jewishness was in the religious belief.

A LIVABLE CONCEPT OF GOD: 

We accept the Bible, and the expectations and sagas of the past, but we relate them to our own needs and experience.  Whatever concept of God you can live with—as long as you don’t bother other people—is a valid concept.

            In our view:  We can not live with the concept of an omnipotent God.  He was not that throughout the Bible.  We can not live with the concept of an omniscient God—6 billion people on earth, how many in the past, what kind of computerized memory? 

            We can live with a God of responsibility—the power/force/thought/unknowable outside the box, the linchpin in morality, the leveler of favoritism, so we are accountable for our actions, we cling to a united system of behavior.  Whatever we do, we are responsible for.  We can not claim the devil made us do it, or the other person is the devil, or we are doing God’s work in killing others.

            Judaism allows for that concept, as for the others.  Each person reaches his own framework of behavior.  I can say this works for me, as the other concepts, and other religions, do not. 

THE GREAT TRAUMAS OF JEWISH HISTORY:   

The split into Israel and Judea.             

The loss of the second Temple. 

The writing and spread of the anti-Jewish  Christian Testament. 

The crusades and Inquisition.   

The Holocaust.

THE GREAT TRIUMPHS OF JEWISH HISTORY:  

Jews have survived. 

Jews have retained the concept of an abstract God, over all, with no prerequisites for recognition or praise. 

The re-establishment of a state of Israel, in our time. 

The contributions of Jews to society—because they had a Jewish mindset.

Jews exist and can flourish in a free market atmosphere.

Jews by being Jews testify to God’s place in history.

JUDAISM’S NEEDS: 

            -Appeal to the intellect.  It will never win over those who see eternal life as better than life on earth.  But it can win over those who no longer can accept the mythologies of their previous faiths, and can live with an abstract God and good works on earth.  Jews started with literacy—now they have to keep ahead.

            -A rabbinate that is willing to be friendly and to work to keep and attract people; that does not see its assignment as a “professional” sinecure.  The most important element for them to teach is Judaism—not social action, the environment, or whatever.  People need to know why they should be or become Jewish.

            -Solution to the problem of high membership costs.  What would Judaism be like if you passsed the hat?

WILL ANTI-JEWISHNESS CONTINUE:  

Sadly, the answer is Yes—as long as believers in the Christian testament do not discount and put aside the anti-Jewishness in its political reporting, just as we no longer take literally the stoning instructions in the Jewish Bible.  

            Jews think of Amalek and Haman as fierce opponents.   But we have to remember, a good many Christian groups see Jews as an Amalek, because of their testament.

PRESBYTERIAN DIVESTMENT: 

The Presbyterian call to consider divesting any investments it has in companies doing business with Israel recalls the investment the Presbyterians have in their missionary efforts in the Middle East, with Presbyterian colleges—and not so many converts.  It and the World Council of Churches aren’t nearly so concerned with other problems in the world—but Israel (and the Jews) are a huge mote in their eye. 

IS JUDAISM PREFERABLE? 

When our synagogues are afraid to teach Judaism too positively, for fear of offending intermarried families who’ve sent their children to Religious School, are we letting a supposed tail wag the real dog? Are we offering up a platter of comparative religion and telling the kids, You choose?  Are we afraid of antagonizing the churches, where there’s no such modesty and reticence?

THE NEED FOR JEWISH OUTREACH: 

A good many people can no longer believe the Christian-Hellenic stories of  a sacrificed god, an external devil, and the practice of  mass.  They do want to believe in God, and they can accept the Jewish story of and struggle with God.  But Jews need to feel that they have a story they can and should tell.  Jews have to overcome the diffidence of many of their synagogues and of  many of their members.

CHARGING TO LEARN: 

JCCs, and others, charge for classes to learn about Judaism—example, $50 for a member, $65 for nonmember,  for a single to attend Judaism 101 for the Jewish/Interfaith Household.  Wouldn’t you think Jewry should be pleased to have people want to learn? Is there any way a Jewish Federation could pick up such bills?  We WANT people to come in—don’t we?

OUTREACH RABBIS: 

Southern Baptists have over 5400 missionaries, says a report.

            What if Jewish denominations had Outreach Rabbis—who would go around to each synagogue and teach how to set up an outreach program and increase friendliness, and welcoming.  It might be at least as valuable as social action.

IS PALESTINE VIABLE? 

Is anybody asking if a Palestinian state, once established in the West Bank and Gaza, can make it on its own?  This is an artificial state that never existed and would not be close to statehood today if it were not for the massive subsidies funneled through the United Nations that have kept it growing (six-fold) as the world’s greatest welfare state, dependent on continuing handouts.  The handouts, in effect, are a horsetrack bet to overthrow Israel eventually.

THE BEST ROUTE FOR PALESTINE

 is to become one with Jordan, which was established in Trans-Jordan from the earlier Palestine mandate.  Call it Palestine.  Then it has a chance.

SOCIAL SECURITY FIX:

If we were really serious about helping Social Security, all it would take is an increase in the interest rate on its federal government bonds.  Forget private savings accounts.

            SAVINGS FIX:  If you want to increase the rate of savings, apply the same 15% tax on interest that we do now on dividends and capital gains.  Why should interest income be taxed at a higher rate?

(Comments may be directed to AmericanJewish.Blog@NCEJudaism.org)