JUDAISM’S THREE TIMELESS INNOVATIONS

JUDAISM’S THREE TIMELESS INNOVATIONS

by Rabbi Isaac Jeret
*Adapted from the Palos Verdes Peninsula News (9/16/2010)

Many of us are aware that Judaism introduced to the world, at least 2,500 years ago, the radical theological principle of a belief in one God, as opposed to the then generally accepted   pagan  belief in multiple gods. What may surprise some of us is that this theological innovation is but one of three fundamental principles that Judaism introduced that serve as the foundational values of Western civilization and that we might also recognize among the core principles of the Judeo-Christian heritage.

In addition to a belief in one God, central to Jewish faith and practice is the principle that protecting and saving human life takes precedence over all other Jewish precepts. In addition to the inclusion in the Torah's Ten Commandments of the prohibition against committing murder, the Talmud states that even the observances of Yom Kippur (the most sacred day of the Jewish calendar) and that of the Sabbath (the second most sacred day) must be abrogated to protect, preserve, or save human life.

This core value of the primacy of human life is drawn directly from several verses in the biblical Book of Deuteronomy, each of which suggests that the one God who created humanity could only have intended to reveal a religious and spiritual pathway that would promote and enhance life, and never to bring harm to us. The value of the primacy of human life is intended, therefore, to serve as an ever-conscious purpose for engaging in the entirety of the Jewish spiritual discipline, not merely as an implicit concern; no circumstance other than protecting our own lives or the lives of others, and only when threatened in earnest, justifies taking or risking human lives.

This value, and its nuanced interpretations, guides Jewish considerations regarding everything from health-care decisions   to  preemptive  and  reactive  self-defense,  and  it  obliges  us  to regard our existence in this world as intrinsically more important than any dimension of existence that might await us upon our passing from this world. How we choose to live our lives is infinitely more important than how we choose to die, unless, Heaven forbid, any of us should ever have to endure so grave a circumstance as one in which how we choose to die is the only life-choice left to us.

A third and somewhat related principle introduced by Judaism is the very notion that the future can and should be made to become more life-enhancing - more beautiful, more sacred, more just, and richer in meaning and purpose - than was the past or is the present of our individual or collective experience. Pagan societies anticipated their annual calendars in a revolving manner, with similar periods and their associated experiences thought to recur annually and eternally. Judaism envisaged at its inception, and continues today to encourage us to affirm and support, a revolving cycle of time that spirals upward, always toward the betterment of the individual and collective human conditions, and aspiring toward the evermore sacred.

Interestingly, and most relevant to the current period of the Jewish High Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), all three of these core values - God’s Oneness, the Primacy of Human Life, and our Commitment to a Better Future - are symbolized by the Shofar (the ram’s horn) that is blown throughout Rosh Hashanah and at the conclusion of Yom Kippur in Jewish synagogues worldwide.

The Shofar first appears in our tradition as Abraham is about to sacrifice his son, Isaac, erroneously hearing the call of pagan deities to cause harm to human life -- to his son, Isaac -- to satisfy “the gods.” God then intervenes, demanding of Abraham that he substitute a nearby ram as his sacrifice instead of Isaac. This formative narrative in the Book of Genesis introduced the Jewish value of the Primacy of Human Life by rejecting forevermore any notion of human sacrifice as a means to any desired spiritual end.

As God revealed to the Jewish People at Mount Sinai the Divine legislative foundation of Western Civilization - the Ten Commandments (each of which aims to uphold or achieve one or more of the three core values or principles noted above), the  Shofar’s sound accompanied our ancestors’ most powerful, consequential, transcendent, and collective experience of the   Divine Presence. Thus, the sound of the Shofar and the Oneness of God remain today bound inextricably in a shared and timeless Jewish experience. The One God calls to us, urges us, demands of us, and comforts us - each and all toward valuing and enhancing life, and building a better future.  God's Oneness also presupposes a central locus, One Place, unto which the Jewish People turns forever to find its spiritual center, the heart of the Land of Israel, Jerusalem.  It was unto this place - the historic  locus of the Holy of Hollies - that we have turned throughout our history to find direction and hope, and it remains so today, as we face eastward in our sanctuaries and turn eastward with our hopes and prayers, as much as the center of the Jewish      experience rebuilds in the State of Israel today.

Finally, the Shofar is envisaged by the biblical Prophets to herald the onset of a Messianic Age, an era understood in a more contemporary context to be earned by virtue of a comprehensive and uncompromising human endeavor to eradicate tyranny and terror and introduce true understanding among Peoples with real differences in culture and faith. For the Prophets, these human strivings are inspired by God's ethical  urging and spiritual call, and driven by our commitment to God's teaching of the Primacy of Human Life.  The Shofar then symbolizes an era of true and sustainable peace, one based upon an evolved and shared consciousness on the part of all humanity of these three foundational and revolutionary Jewish innovations. Of course, the Shofar does not act as a magical cure, but rather awakens us to action, allowing our prayers to begin our journey of concern and responsive deed beyond the sanctuary, throughout the year.

On Rosh Hashanah, along with all other Jewish communities around the globe, we will awaken to the call of these three sacred values and principles, as we blow the Shofar together as a community. At the conclusion of Yom Kippur, we will conclude the High Holy Days, united as ever with our   People, with a final sounding of the Shofar. Turning toward Jerusalem, as always, we will pray fervently that the   concluding Shofar-sounding will stir our hearts to hear evermore the moral-calling of the One God, strengthening evermore our commitment to the Primacy of Human Life with all of its profound and significant implications, and inspiring us evermore in our efforts to work, given our Commitment to a  Better Future, for the Jewish People and for all of humanity.

Rabbi Isaac Jeret is the spiritual leader of Congregation Ner Tamid in Rancho Palos Verdes. To learn more about the synagogue’s inspirational Services and classes, please go to www.nertamid.com or call (310) 377-6986.

A Reflection On Teshuvah

A Reflection On Teshuvah

by Rabbi Isaac Jeret

August 29, 2005

In our Torah portion this coming Shabbat, we will read the following verse: "It was in the month of springtime that God your God brought you out of Egypt at night ." [Deuteronomy 16:1]. The Torah appears to present with certainty, and as if to make a point, that our ancestors departed Egypt at nighttime. Several weeks ago, however, we read the following verse: "On the dayafter the Passover sacrifice, the Israelites left triumphantly as the Egyptians looked on." [Numbers 33:4]. In this earlier verse, the Torah seems to teach us rather casually that the exodus from Egypt occurred during the daytime. Which teaching is correct? Did the exodus from Egypt occur at nighttime or during the day? And, presuming that one source is correct and the other is not so, how does an apparent inaccuracy on the part of the Torah in this instance reflect upon the Torah's message on the whole?

The Talmud, aiming to salvage each verse's dignity and the Torah's veracity suggests that both verses are indeed correct. The Exodus began in the evening, the Talmud suggests, and continued into the following day (in the Jewish calendar, each day begins at nightfall and lasts until the next nightfall, hence, the Exodus would still have occurred on one single day even though it began at night and continued into the daylight of the following morning). While this explanation might suffice for some, and it certainly does preserve the wholeness of the text, Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, (known as Rav Kook) the great Zionist, Kabbalist, and Mystic of the previous century, suggests that there were, in fact, two exoduses which occurred, each constituting a sequential stage in the redemption of the Jewish People. The first was the spiritual liberation of the Jewish People from the spiritual bondage caused by their enslavement. The second was the commencement of their physical journey out of Egypt and toward their future. The second could not have occurred without the first.

As I was re-reading Rav Kook's commentary last evening, it dawned on me that while the verses quoted above support his teaching they also beg for additional commentary along the lines that Rav Kook began to draw. The first stage of human redemption, the prerequisite process for any redemption to follow, must be initiated by God, as one finds that God took us out at night [Deuteronomy 16:1]. One might think that it is each human being's responsibility to reach out for help, to seek to heal one's wounds, to rectify one's errors, or to find solace for one's soul. While each of us should strive to take such spiritual responsibility, our tradition does not imagine a God who abandons either those of us who do not recognize the need for a more personal liberation or those of us whose anguish deters us from approaching the spiritual or emotional challenges of our health, our relationships, our financial circumstances, our addictions, or any other aspect of our lives, though we are greatly aware of our need to do so. God reaches out to us at nighttime with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, creating a context for our liberation from all of that which might subjugate us.

Once, however, the door is opened up for us, it is indeed our responsibility to find our way toward the subsequent stages of the inner freedom which we can earn and the practical changes to our lives which we can implement. After all, echoing the Torah's earlier verse quoted above, we can proceed with confidence on the day afterward.

As we enter our annual, sacred period of Returning -- of Teshuvah -- in anticipation of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, let us recognize that the the door is open to genuine, substantive change in our lives. The spiritual opportunity for change might consist at least of our deep and compelling recognition that such change, such liberation, is necessary. For each of us, an open door invites our journey through night - a journey pointing us toward reconsideration, responsibility, repair, andn the great celebration of renewal. And on the morning afterward, may each of us find the strength, courage, and resolve to open those doors which yet lie ahead as we journey further toward our destinations.

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Rabbi Isaac Jeret
Spiritual Leader
Congregation Ner Tamid of South Bay
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Web: www.nertamid.com/rabbi
Blog: rebisaac.blogspot.com

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