“So you (Pharaoh) will know there is none like our God” (8:6)
“So that the Egyptians will speak of My name throughout the land” (9:16)
“So that Egypt will know that the earth is the Lord’s” (9:29)
Noticing a trend?
The plagues affecting Egypt had a purpose.
Pharaoh and his people were being taught a lesson: God rules the world.
This week’s Haftorah notes the lesson is meant to be internalized by Jews as well.
“The Jews will dwell securely in the land…and know that I am Hashem their God” (Yechezkel 28:25)
The Haftorah concludes with the words, “And they shall know that I am the Lord. (29:21)
There is a not-so-subtle lesson that creating God awareness is an important part of the religious experience. There should be a loud, public affirmation of belief in God.
How’s that going?
A bookkeeper named Roy Torcaso, an atheist, refused to declare that he believed in God in order to serve as a notary public in Maryland. His case went all the way to the Supreme Court, and in 1961 the court ruled unanimously for Mr. Torcaso, saying states could not have a “religious test” for public office.
But 53 years later, Maryland, Arkansas, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas still had articles in their constitutions saying people who do not believe in God are not eligible to hold public office. Pennsylvania’s Constitution says that no one can be “disqualified” from serving in office on the basis of religion — as long as they believe in God “and a future state of rewards and punishments” (a reference to heaven and hell).
The bans are legally unenforceable, but for some secular Americans removing the bans is a priority. Todd Stiefel, the chairman of the Openly Secular coalition, said:
“If it was on the books that Jews couldn’t hold public office, or that African-Americans or women couldn’t vote, that would be a no-brainer. You’d have politicians falling all over themselves to try to get it repealed. Even if it was still unenforceable, it would still be disgraceful and be removed. So why are we different?”
I am sure you’re not surprised to hear that politicians are in no hurry to take the lead on this issue. Who wants to be known as the crusader to excise God?
How about Judaism? Does Judaism require an affirmation of God?
Judaism requires such an affirmation in only one situation – conversion. It is strange that our religion, based on God, makes almost no demand to declare that belief. We don’t require any discussion about faith nor encourage public articulation of the relationship with God. We do so at our own spiritual peril.
The Pew Forum's U.S. Religious Landscape Survey conducted in 2014 found that 62% of the US population is absolutely certain in their belief in God. (That’s down from 71% in 2007.) Another 20% are fairly certain. (Up from 17% in 2007.) That’s 82% overall. For Jews, the percentage of those with absolute faith is 37%, while another 27% are fairly certain. (Down from 41% and 31% in 2007.) That’s just 64% total, significantly less faithful than the average American and adherents of other religions. (I guess we are a stiff-necked people.)
The late Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, reflecting on his years of visiting students on college campuses around the world, once commented, “I ask students what they are. If someone says, ‘I’m a Catholic,’ I know that he’s a Catholic. If they say, ‘I’m a Protestant,’ I know that she’s a Protestant. If they say, ‘I’m just a human being,’ I know that’s a Jew.”
What happened to our faith?
Times have changed. Until the modern era, there were fewer choices. The Enlightenment brought new ideas and additional opportunities for religious expression. One could voice skepticism and even disbelief and still find one’s place in society even outside the Jewish community. While faith remains the foundation for Judaism, demanding affirmations runs the risk of alienating many whose faith has been shaken by contemporary conditions.
Today, God also gets a bad rap due to the seeming inconsistency between faith and behavior. An interesting statistic is that states with the highest proportion of believers rank very low on many of the standards of societal health. In addition, we encounter terrible actions performed in God’s name. It is not easy to believe when the results and actions inspired by faith can be so horrible.
“You will know there is none like our God”
How do we bring God back to the appropriate place in Judaism?
“Speak my name throughout the land.”
One way to strengthen faith is to talk about God. Speak about it out loud.
I am often surprised at how comfortable other religions are in speaking about God out loud. I realize that some segments of the Jewish community are more comfortable in saying “Baruch Hashem” all of the time, but standard Orthodox practice doesn’t provide the best opportunities for speaking about God out loud. We need to create these opportunities. Here are two possibilities.
1) Elevate our prayer experience.
Several years ago, I attended a prayer breakfast in honor of Reverend Martin Luther King’s birthday at Cardinal Timothy Dolan’s residence. These guys don’t mess around. It was called for 7:30 am. I got there on time, and the place was hopping. The prayers that were offered were chosen so as not to offend any of the participating religions. After each prayer was offered, the congregation was encouraged to recite out loud, “For this we offer our prayer!” I looked around. The rabbis were somewhat perplexed by this. We pray out loud, but usually not in English. We hide behind the Hebrew or the text of the Siddur.
We engage in prayer, but do we internalize prayer? Does the Siddur speak to us? We need to add relevant expressions of faith into our conversation with God - even if not as part of the formal worship service. We don’t have to change how we pray, but we can express our faith more powerfully by, at times, using our own words of prayer and add more God to the religious lives of our community. We need to let the spirit soar a little more.
2) Speak aloud about God.
Rabbi Eli Mansour, a rabbi in Brooklyn, has the practice of asking everyone around the Shabbat table to share an event from the past week when God was present in their life. You can imagine it is not easy, and some have difficulty being specific. There are also answers like, “I didn’t fully prepare for my test, but then the teacher was sick and we didn’t have it.”
The rabbi’s young daughter never participated. One week, she said she had a moment to share. She went on to tell how one night that week, they were traveling home from Manhattan to Brooklyn. On the road, one lane was moving faster and the other one slower. They were stuck in the slow lane and got home 45 minutes later than planned.
The people around the table asked, “Where’s the story? Where is God in that?” She replied, “Hashem wanted us to get home later that night.”
I don’t know if that is what God wanted or not. I do know, though, that talking about Hashem in appropriate ways with our children or with adults is a way to ensure a more concrete connection to God which has spiritual and religious benefits for one’s Judaism.
Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote, "God will return to us when we let Him in - into our banks and factories, into our Congress and clubs, into our courts and investigating committees.”
This is really an interpretation of the famous story of the Kotzker Rebbe, who asked his students, “Where does God exist?” “Everywhere,” the surprised disciples answered. “No,” the rebbe answered. “God exists only where people allow God to enter.”
Let us allow God to enter our hearts, our homes, our conversations, and a world very much in need of God’s presence.
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