Post by Rabbi Neil on Nov 29, 2019 18:53:33 GMT
Religion as a way of relating to God is a modern concept. That might surprise many people who think back to the thousands of years of Jewish history and theology, but the idea of religion as people usually understand it today is actually very new. There is no Biblical Hebrew word for religion. Judaism was, and has always been, a way of life. Yes, it was a way of life with a unifying belief system, a unifying mythology and corresponding world view and social organization, and of course, unifying practice, and yes, all of these things might be used to describe religion today, but while we might today call that religion, it did not call itself religion. Indeed, it could not even conceive of what religion is. In fact, I think that the modern use of the word “religion” is deeply flawed, and used mainly for the purposes of critique.
This is why I internally cringe a little when people say that they’re “spiritual but not religious.” That statement carries two underlying beliefs about religion that I feel are untrue. The first underlying belief is that religion suppresses free thought and creative expression and is merely a means to control the masses. The second underlying belief is that one can engage in spirituality in isolation from a religious community. From my experience of Judaism, at least, I can say that I believe both of those statements to be false.
Of course, for much of human history, religion became a means of control of patriarchal, oppressive societies, but that does not mean that religion is itself controlling. The idea of mitzvah, of commandment, was never meant to be about following dictated orders but about the formation of a brit, a covenant, a relationship of love. The word yirah is not fear, but awe. We perform mitzvot not out of fear, but out of awe that we can have a relationship with God. Human society, which has for millennia been patriarchal and oppressive, has tended to suppress free thought and creative expression, and yet Judaism has regularly encouraged the opposite. The very notion of midrash, for example, is to seek new meaning, to explore new depths of our tradition, to find and reveal hidden voices and perspectives. Judaism is not about the answer, but about the question. It is not about the closing down, but the opening up. It’s about the struggle with the concept, not the received answer of tradition.
I also believe that spirituality in isolation from a religious community is misguided and self-serving. Yes, we often need to remove ourselves from the noise of every day in order to give space to the voice of God. But spirituality in isolation, spirituality without community, is easy. It does not challenge us. It does not ask questions of us. Our tradition specifically implores us not to remove ourselves from the community. God’s presence is in the encounter, in the challenge of the other. God is not in the silence, God is in the still, small voice, in the voice of the Other, which means in the encounter and the relationship with the Other. In isolation, we can believe what we what and do what we want. There has to be something that unifies us for spirituality to be real in contemporary society.
This is why I earlier mentioned a unifying belief system, a unifying mythology and corresponding world view and social organization, and a unifying practice. Today, I think we can safely say that especially in Reform Judaism there is no unifying belief system, no unifying mythology or world view and no unifying practice. If that is the case, is Reform Judaism a religion at all? I think it is, for one simple reason. I believe that Reform Judaism is a communal commitment to a unifying social organization using religious metaphors as the language to describe that unifying vision.
What is that unifying social organization? It is the creation of a truly moral society. An eschatological vision of a perfect future when all of us can live in peace, unoppressed. Reform Judaism is a way of life based on thousands of years of Jewish spirituality that makes moral requests of us. Thirty-six times Torah adjures us not to wrong the stranger. The central verse of Torah begs that we love our neighbor as ourselves. Reform Jewish religion is about making this world moral. That is what makes it religious. Before the word “religion” became infused with aspects of Divinity, it meant “conscientiousness, a moral obligation, a duty.” In Hebrew, we would say, a brit, a covenant. Mah Adonai elohecha sho’el mei’imach – what does the Eternal your God ask of you? Spirituality is a state of being, religion is a question. How will you create the ethical society? How will you free those from oppression? We sit together in prayer to give us time to personally and communally reflect on the social journey from immorality to amorality and eventually to morality. To wonder how we might, in the words of the prophet Micah, “act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with God.” That is the essence of Reform Judaism, and it is a deeply religious act. It necessitates prayer and protest. It is informed by debate and dialogue. It demands relationship and respect. May that be our religion, and let us say, Amen.
This is why I internally cringe a little when people say that they’re “spiritual but not religious.” That statement carries two underlying beliefs about religion that I feel are untrue. The first underlying belief is that religion suppresses free thought and creative expression and is merely a means to control the masses. The second underlying belief is that one can engage in spirituality in isolation from a religious community. From my experience of Judaism, at least, I can say that I believe both of those statements to be false.
Of course, for much of human history, religion became a means of control of patriarchal, oppressive societies, but that does not mean that religion is itself controlling. The idea of mitzvah, of commandment, was never meant to be about following dictated orders but about the formation of a brit, a covenant, a relationship of love. The word yirah is not fear, but awe. We perform mitzvot not out of fear, but out of awe that we can have a relationship with God. Human society, which has for millennia been patriarchal and oppressive, has tended to suppress free thought and creative expression, and yet Judaism has regularly encouraged the opposite. The very notion of midrash, for example, is to seek new meaning, to explore new depths of our tradition, to find and reveal hidden voices and perspectives. Judaism is not about the answer, but about the question. It is not about the closing down, but the opening up. It’s about the struggle with the concept, not the received answer of tradition.
I also believe that spirituality in isolation from a religious community is misguided and self-serving. Yes, we often need to remove ourselves from the noise of every day in order to give space to the voice of God. But spirituality in isolation, spirituality without community, is easy. It does not challenge us. It does not ask questions of us. Our tradition specifically implores us not to remove ourselves from the community. God’s presence is in the encounter, in the challenge of the other. God is not in the silence, God is in the still, small voice, in the voice of the Other, which means in the encounter and the relationship with the Other. In isolation, we can believe what we what and do what we want. There has to be something that unifies us for spirituality to be real in contemporary society.
This is why I earlier mentioned a unifying belief system, a unifying mythology and corresponding world view and social organization, and a unifying practice. Today, I think we can safely say that especially in Reform Judaism there is no unifying belief system, no unifying mythology or world view and no unifying practice. If that is the case, is Reform Judaism a religion at all? I think it is, for one simple reason. I believe that Reform Judaism is a communal commitment to a unifying social organization using religious metaphors as the language to describe that unifying vision.
What is that unifying social organization? It is the creation of a truly moral society. An eschatological vision of a perfect future when all of us can live in peace, unoppressed. Reform Judaism is a way of life based on thousands of years of Jewish spirituality that makes moral requests of us. Thirty-six times Torah adjures us not to wrong the stranger. The central verse of Torah begs that we love our neighbor as ourselves. Reform Jewish religion is about making this world moral. That is what makes it religious. Before the word “religion” became infused with aspects of Divinity, it meant “conscientiousness, a moral obligation, a duty.” In Hebrew, we would say, a brit, a covenant. Mah Adonai elohecha sho’el mei’imach – what does the Eternal your God ask of you? Spirituality is a state of being, religion is a question. How will you create the ethical society? How will you free those from oppression? We sit together in prayer to give us time to personally and communally reflect on the social journey from immorality to amorality and eventually to morality. To wonder how we might, in the words of the prophet Micah, “act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with God.” That is the essence of Reform Judaism, and it is a deeply religious act. It necessitates prayer and protest. It is informed by debate and dialogue. It demands relationship and respect. May that be our religion, and let us say, Amen.