10 Thoughts From A Rabbi

[Lounge Daddy]

I thought these were interesting, and discussion-provoking, observations from (one of) [url="http://rabbirami.blogspot.com/2009/08/ten-thoughts.html"]Rabbi Rami Shapiro's blog[/url]:

[indent]I woke up this morning and these ten thoughts just gripped my fingers and controlled the keys. Here they are as raw and unedited as they came to me. Comments welcome.

Judaism is the invention of the Jew. Different Jews invent different Judaisms. There never was, nor will there ever be, just one Judaism.
• • •
The Jew is the invention of the Torah. Torah is the story of the Jews, and there are no Jews without this story. But Torah is also the invention of the Jew. Hence the Jews invented themselves.
• • •
The Jews invented God. Well, not GOD, but YHVH, their God. Different Jews, different Gods. Priestly Jews invented a spectacle¬–hungry God who loves priestly pomp and power. Prophetic Jews invented a righteous God who hates what the Priestly God loves, and demands justice and compassion instead. Rabbinic Jews invented a lawyer God who loves legal wrangling and obedience to rabbinic law. Secular Jews invented a doubting God who denied even Himself. Zionist Jews invented a realtor God who loved land more than law, especially now—Century 21 indeed!
• • •
All gods are as real as those who invent them, as powerful as those who profit from them, and as immortal as those who worship them.
• • •
Christian Jews invented a powerless God. Can you imagine YHVH hanging from a cross? The YHVH who terrorized the Egyptians and slaughtered their firstborn sons being captured, scourged, and crucified by Romans? Of course not. Jesus was the son of a powerless God worshipped by a powerless people who, since they couldn’t save their sons, invented a God who couldn’t save his either.
• • •
The God of Jesus eschews power, for Jesus had none. And the God of his followers eschewed power until they get some.
• • •
While the early Christians embraced death and their crucified God, elevating martyrdom to the greatest mitzvah, the Jews imagined new life into their old Warlord and went to war. But imagination wasn’t sufficient, and Rome won.
• • •
This should have been the end of the Jews, but it wasn’t. They imagined differently, and YHVH went from a God who rewards those he loves to a God who tests (read allows to be hounded, hunted, brutalized, tortured, and gassed) those he loves. The Jews imagined a Divine Batterer and loved him all the more for it. Jews imagined themselves as the Bride of YHVH, and made a religion out of Battered Wife Syndrome. Maybe that’s why we invented psychotherapy?!?
• • •
Today the questions are these: Will the battered become the batterers? Can the Jewish imagination invent a new Jew, a new Torah, a new God, a new future? Or are we too old, too tired, too tied to what was to imagine what might yet be? [/indent]

[Hassan]

[quote name='Lounge Daddy' post='1946146' date='Aug 11 2009, 12:13 PM']I thought these were interesting, and discussion-provoking, observations from (one of) [url="http://rabbirami.blogspot.com/2009/08/ten-thoughts.html"]Rabbi Rami Shapiro's blog[/url]:

[indent]I woke up this morning and these ten thoughts just gripped my fingers and controlled the keys. Here they are as raw and unedited as they came to me. Comments welcome.

Judaism is the invention of the Jew. Different Jews invent different Judaisms. There never was, nor will there ever be, just one Judaism.
• • •
The Jew is the invention of the Torah. Torah is the story of the Jews, and there are no Jews without this story. But Torah is also the invention of the Jew. Hence the Jews invented themselves.
• • •
The Jews invented God. Well, not GOD, but YHVH, their God. Different Jews, different Gods. Priestly Jews invented a spectacle¬–hungry God who loves priestly pomp and power. Prophetic Jews invented a righteous God who hates what the Priestly God loves, and demands justice and compassion instead. Rabbinic Jews invented a lawyer God who loves legal wrangling and obedience to rabbinic law. Secular Jews invented a doubting God who denied even Himself. Zionist Jews invented a realtor God who loved land more than law, especially now—Century 21 indeed!
• • •
All gods are as real as those who invent them, as powerful as those who profit from them, and as immortal as those who worship them.
• • •
Christian Jews invented a powerless God. Can you imagine YHVH hanging from a cross? The YHVH who terrorized the Egyptians and slaughtered their firstborn sons being captured, scourged, and crucified by Romans? Of course not. Jesus was the son of a powerless God worshipped by a powerless people who, since they couldn’t save their sons, invented a God who couldn’t save his either.
• • •
The God of Jesus eschews power, for Jesus had none. And the God of his followers eschewed power until they get some.
• • •
While the early Christians embraced death and their crucified God, elevating martyrdom to the greatest mitzvah, the Jews imagined new life into their old Warlord and went to war. But imagination wasn’t sufficient, and Rome won.
• • •
This should have been the end of the Jews, but it wasn’t. They imagined differently, and YHVH went from a God who rewards those he loves to a God who tests (read allows to be hounded, hunted, brutalized, tortured, and gassed) those he loves. The Jews imagined a Divine Batterer and loved him all the more for it. Jews imagined themselves as the Bride of YHVH, and made a religion out of Battered Wife Syndrome. Maybe that’s why we invented psychotherapy?!?
• • •
Today the questions are these: Will the battered become the batterers? Can the Jewish imagination invent a new Jew, a new Torah, a new God, a new future? Or are we too old, too tired, too tied to what was to imagine what might yet be? [/indent][/quote]


I'd agree with a lot of that. Don't know why he's a Rabbi though.

[LouisvilleFan]

[quote name='Hassan' post='1946152' date='Aug 11 2009, 01:18 PM']I'd agree with a lot of that. Don't know why he's a Rabbi though.[/quote]

He is to Judaism what a number of Anglican priests are to Christianity (I say Anglican because he is almost certainly a Reformed Jew). He's obviously very cynical and suspicious of all authority, human and divine. A product of his generation, just as we are products of our own.

Pardon the pun, but I think he nailed it about Christ. Jesus indeed became powerless. What Rabbi Shapiro rejects is the Resurrection: without it, the Cross is pointless, but through it the Cross becomes the focus point of all history.

Edited August 11, 2009 by LouisvilleFan

[Hassan]

[quote name='LouisvilleFan' post='1946169' date='Aug 11 2009, 11:40 AM']He is to Judaism what a number of Anglican priests are to Christianity (I say Anglican because he is almost certainly a Reformed Jew). He's obviously very cynical and suspicious of all authority, human and divine. A product of his generation, just as we are products of our own.

Pardon the pun, but I think he nailed it about Christ. Jesus indeed became powerless. What Rabbi Shapiro rejects is the Resurrection: without it, the Cross is pointless, but through it the Cross becomes the focus point of all history.[/quote]


I really don't know where you all get off always dumping on the Anglicans.

I assure you I can find a number of Roman Catholic theologians and Clergymen who fit your description. For example Hans Kung. Who rejects Church Infallibility, has suggested that Rome should recognize Muhammad as a prophet, seems only nominally Christian and any number of other things which, were he an Anglican, you all would use as an example of the deteriorating rigors of Orthodoxy within the Church.

I mean I understand your example and thank you for offering it. I don't mean to focus on you or anything it just seems like I constantly see snide remarks about Anglican and Episcopalian Priests from people who don't know much about the Church outside of what they read in articles about extraordinary happenings in the Church. I understand you aren't in that category and I don't think you ment to take a cheep shot so I'm sorry for reacting strongly.

Edited August 11, 2009 by Hassan

[LouisvilleFan]

I specified an Anglican priest because one who holds similar views as this rabbi doesn't stand out as a force of opposition within their own hierarchy. Usually it is the more orthodox Anglicans who are a force of opposition against their bishops and ecclesial authority, whereas it's the progressive Catholics who find themselves increasingly at odds with our bishops and Church authority. I've never heard of any progressive Orthodox rabbis (doesn't mean it hasn't happened, of course). While there is definitely a strong identity among Jews with Judaism, I sense it's like the Protestant identity with Evangelicalsm: believers tend to maintain the general identity while feeling free to move to whichever denomination or movement they identify with.

And I admit, it is easy to poke a little fun at Anglicans, but there are plenty of Episcopalians who aren't thrilled with the direction their Communion is taking. The sarcasm is intended to point out the irony of representing Christ, yet refusing to stand up for any beliefs that are uniquely Christian.

Edited August 11, 2009 by LouisvilleFan

[CatherineM]

I agree that he sounds Reformed.

[Resurrexi]

[quote name='Hassan' post='1946173' date='Aug 11 2009, 11:48 AM']I really don't know where you all get off always dumping on the Anglicans.

I assure you I can find a number of Roman Catholic theologians and Clergymen who fit your description. For example Hans Kung. Who rejects Church Infallibility, has suggested that Rome should recognize Muhammad as a prophet, seems only nominally Christian and any number of other things which, were he an Anglican, you all would use as an example of the deteriorating rigors of Orthodoxy within the Church.[/quote]

Hans Kung no longer has permission from the Church to teach theology, thanks be to God!

[VeniteAdoremus]

This Rabbi is definitely not Orthodox, or he wouldn't write GOD They usually keep it at G-D if they can't get around it. (And Judaism doesn't really have a Magisterium like we or even the Anglicans do, it's more like some protestant denominations where you study for the ministry and then have to be hired by a specific community.)

He isn't, of course, the first one to state that God is just a product of religion. Personally I would turn it around: Jesus had no power, because the God of Jesus eschewed power

And the idea of a punishing God is hardly a post-WWII development. Think Job, think half of the Psalms! It is very tempting, of course, to highlight those already existing parts of your religion in circumstances like the Shoah, he is certainly right about that.

That being said, I do think it very interesting Just wanted to mention those points.

[Fidei Defensor]

[quote name='Resurrexi' post='1946241' date='Aug 11 2009, 12:34 PM']Hans Kung no longer has permission from the Church to teach theology, thanks be to God![/quote]
That doesn't mean he won't teach. Thanks be to God for free will!

[Fidei Defensor]

double post

Edited August 11, 2009 by fidei defensor

[Hassan]

[quote name='Resurrexi' post='1946241' date='Aug 11 2009, 02:34 PM']Hans Kung no longer has permission from the Church to teach theology, thanks be to God![/quote]


He is still a Priest, a Jesuit I believe.

And it was his license to teach as a Catholic Theologian I believe. He just teaches in a Protestant slot.

[CatherineM]

I never understood why someone who wants to teach to Catholics, but isn't allowed to because he disagrees with church teachings, takes a protestant teaching slot, but doesn't just become a protestant.

[Hassan]

[quote name='CatherineM' post='1946404' date='Aug 11 2009, 05:11 PM']I never understood why someone who wants to teach to Catholics, but isn't allowed to because he disagrees with church teachings, takes a protestant teaching slot, but doesn't just become a protestant.[/quote]


From reading his books the best answer I've ever gotten was that the Church is his home. He was raised in it and it formed much of his life. He feels comftorable there and doesn't want to go somewhere else.

[Hassan]

[quote name='Lounge Daddy' post='1946146' date='Aug 11 2009, 12:13 PM']• • •
This should have been the end of the Jews, but it wasn’t. They imagined differently, and YHVH went from a God who rewards those he loves to a God who tests (read allows to be hounded, hunted, brutalized, tortured, and gassed) those he loves. The Jews imagined a Divine Batterer and loved him all the more for it. Jews imagined themselves as the Bride of YHVH, and made a religion out of Battered Wife Syndrome. Maybe that’s why we invented psychotherapy?!?
• • •[/quote]


Psychotherapy was developed by Freud before the Holocaust.

A good friend of mines father was in WWII (they are Jewish).

He always said that before WWII he didn't think there was a God. After WWII he said he knew there was not a God. She also told me that hasidic Jews will go into the woods to argue with God about the Shoah and why he allowed it. This struggling with God is one aspect of religious Judaism I've always liked.

Edited August 11, 2009 by Hassan

[Hassan]

Actually what I really like about Judaism, American Judaism anyway, is that Jews tend to not be religious.



I really only know a very few Jews, my mothers best friend is pretty devout, although that only occurred after she got married, who are even nominally religious.

Also I'd point out that the whole Reformed/Orthodox/Conservative et cetera division is really an ashkenazi thing as far as I know.