Jewish Folk Thoughts
Our wise sages teach that the commandments are G-d's mind. As usual with such sayings, there is plenty hidden within a very short phrase.
The first place a seeker must begin is with a correct notion of the nature of G-d. This does not necessarily mean the Jewish version of this Being. One must acknowledge that man's perception of the Divine has been influenced by history. Another way of stating this is that religions do not exist in a vacuum, and one should keep this in mind at all times. Rabbis and clerics of other faiths want the new seeker to believe that their particular faith is the pure, unfiltered word of the Divine. This cannot be possible if one understands history properly. However, this is an essay about religious development, not a historical one.
I want to point out some simple facts before I begin. Judaism is one of the earth's oldest living religions. This is a fact; no one can dispute it. A seeker, Jewish or not, is therefore advised to search through Jewish literature and thought about the Divine. One argument its clerics make for the strength of its Truth is its longevity. There is merit to this line of thinking, for surely nothing false could withstand the test of time. However, a real seeker will not be satisfied with this and will press onward. As one presses further into Jewish theology, one finds some quite interesting sayings and teachings. Some are unique to the faith, and others are obviously of outside origin.
(This was an unfinished essay, without a date. It seems that I continued, with the same pen, but writing with a different purpose. In my journal, the next page begins with the passage below.)
Continuation from my journal
One can easily see the connection with the past, and realize very soon after that all is unified in the world. There is no separation. No secular or religious, holy or unholy. All of this is a matter of the elevation and perception of the person involved. This is quite a profound idea, and more examples must be given to demonstrate logically how it is so.
Mainly it begins with the True Understanding of the Divine. All existence is within the Divine. Nothing can exist without It, as many have stated. However, they do not take this belief to its logical conclusion, and quickly deviate into describing us in relation to G-d, as if we could exist essentially on our own! This is surely not true; therefore it must be evident that Nowhere can It Not Be. The problem is one of perception, and of a person's ability, or lack of it, to grasp this concept.
The major problem lies in our language, which is completely inadequate even to begin to describe G-d. Therefore it is best to reflect upon the natural world, as some of religion's most brilliant sages and wise teachers have prescribed. For once one begins to use words for the Divine, one invariably creates a picture in one's mind of what G-d is, and this is surely incorrect. Worse still, even if one were able to hold Nothing in one's mind and claim understanding, one would be far off the mark; G-d is certainly Everything and not Nothing!
The Rambam proposes beginning by listing negative attributes, what G-d is not, to arrive at the best (but still not the right) notion of the Divine. Again, this list of what G-d is not is equally endless, because any word is wrong. G-d Itself knows this, and finds the best remedy is to tell us what Its nature is. This is accomplished through revelation to people, whether through prophecy or scientific discovery. One must not get confused and believe that one excludes the other. Science and religion only use different terms and methods to arrive at exactly the same conclusion.
This surely proves my earlier teaching that G-d is One, and that for It there is no separation of this or that, except in our minds. One must accept this as true if one claims to believe that G-d is One. It would be pointless for me to repeat what Maimonides says about this Truth of G-d's Unity. I am only elaborating on what I feel are some key points. It cannot be overemphasized: to develop oneself further in understanding G-d, it is absolutely necessary to accept and understand, as best one can, G-d's unique nature.
Atlanta, 1999
The next journal entry I "told over" while living in Atlanta, at Calibre Woods, sometime in 1999, after May for sure.
It has often been said that the genius of the Bible is its universalism, its common call to all mankind to love thy neighbor as thyself, and not to murder, et al. These holistic principles are found in the Bible. Perhaps they are among its more enduring and eternal gifts to mankind. However, as one progresses through the Five Books of Moses (the Torah to observant Jews, the Old Testament to the Christian world), one finds another message that rings equally loud, and for the faithful Jew, eternally.
This message is found in the last book of the Torah, Deuteronomy, or Devarim. "Behold," G-d begins in chapter 1, verse 8, "I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give to them and to their seed after them." Later, G-d continues this message with conditions, in chapter 4, verse 1: "Now therefore hearken, O Israel, to the statutes and to the judgments which I teach you, to do them, that you may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord G-d of your fathers gives you."
And why do we get to have G-d on our side in this matter of possessing the land? Is it because we are righteous? The Bible's answer is a resounding no! Chapter 7, verse 7: "The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people; for you were the fewest of all peoples; but because the Lord loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn to your fathers." Furthermore, we learn: "Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go to possess their land; but for the wickedness of these nations the Lord thy G-d doth drive them out from before thee, and that he may perform the word which the Lord swore unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."
What are we to make of these and other passages that explicitly state that the more we follow G-d's will, the more the Land of Israel and G-d's protection remain ours, and that if we don't follow, we lose? As our esteemed rabbis would have it, the rest, as they say, is history. Our current situation, they would argue, is a direct result of a lack of religious observance. Look, they almost want to yell at us, G-d Himself is saying this, not us. Follow X, Y and Z and get A. Don't follow X, Y and Z: bad results. One could not state it in clearer or stronger language than the Bible itself does throughout its last book.
What are we to do? What are we to believe? Can it really be that if the majority of Jews worldwide listened to G-d's words, statutes and judgments, everything would be okay? There are many pressing problems with this line of thought. Where does the individual Jew fit into this equation? What exactly do we mean by statutes and judgments? Has what observant teachers propose as the answer been diluted by 3,000 years of history?
The crux of the problem lies within each one of us. As most of us strive to understand G-d, ourselves and this organism called Judaism, we must bear in mind the explicit and strong language of the foundational text of three major world religions. Whether or not we believe these words are Divine, we must deal with the message they send to the world.
I began tonight by addressing a common perspective: that the Bible is universalistic, with a timeless, world-encompassing message for mankind. This is certainly true. Seemingly juxtaposed to this theme of universalism is one of particularism toward the Jewish nation. While I do not propose to solve or answer the questions I raised tonight, I do want to impart this thought: perhaps the Truth lies somewhere in the middle between these "two opposites." That really, all G-d wants from us is to relate to It better and listen to Its voice.
And so I will end with: Shema Yisrael, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai Echad!