|
| |
THE ESSENCE OF JUDAISM
A Sermon Given
by The Reverend Roger Fritts
on January 31, 1999
at Cedar Lane Unitarian Universalist Church
Bethesda, Maryland
Last October, with a small group from this church, I walked through the Jewish District in Budapest. Both magic and
tragedy filled the historic neighborhood, which now has the largest Jewish population of any city on the European
continent, outside of Russia.
The Jewish community in Budapest sprang up in medieval times just beyond the city wall, because Jews were forbidden
to live inside the town. Later, as the city expanded beyond the medieval walls, the Jewish Quarter became one of the
city's more centrally located neighborhoods. By 1940, 220,000 Jews lived in or near the small Jewish district.
Last October, after passing through metal detectors, at the gate of a large fence, we entered the main synagogue. An
enormous building built in 1859, it is Europe's largest synagogue and the second-largest synagogue in the world. Newly
cleaned and restored, the inside of the building suggests that at the end of the twentieth century, the Jewish religion in
Budapest is still alive and healthy.
Nearby, however, are reminders of the Holocaust. On leaving the synagogue we walked past a cemetery where the
community has buried the unidentified remains of an estimated seven thousand Jews who died during the Second World
War. A little farther on is a courtyard with a Holocaust Memorial in the form of a weeping willow tree. Thin metal
leaves, purchased by survivors and descendants to honor martyred relatives, fill many branches.
From the courtyard we walked on to the National Jewish Museum. There we saw displays of ornaments and art. The
museum curators have designated the last room to an exhibit on the Holocaust. Our English-speaking guide, a woman
in her 70s, had a number tattooed on her arm. The Nazis gave her the tattoo when she was a young woman and a
prisoner in Auschwitz. I felt fear for the terrible things we humans are capable of doing. Simultaneously I felt
inspiration because of how that community had survived and rebuilt their place of worship.
The Jewish people, the Hebrews, trace their beginnings to a shepherd named Abraham. Abraham lived about three
thousand six hundred years ago along the Euphrates river, in the area which is now southeastern Iraq. According to the
Bible, God told Abraham to move to the area along the Mediterranean which is now called Lebanon and Israel. There
Abraham, his son Isaac, and his grandson Jacob became the fathers of the Jewish people. The mothers of the Jewish
people were Abraham's and Isaac's wives Sarah and Rebecca, and Jacob's wives, the sisters Leah and Rachel.
Jacob had a daughter, Dinah, and twelve sons. During the early centuries of their history the Hebrews organized
themselves into the Twelve Tribes of Israel, which traced their descent to Jacob's sons. The Bible describes how Jacob's
sons sold one of their brothers, Joseph, into slavery in Egypt. Joseph's wisdom and honesty enabled him to become the
Prime Minister to the Egyptian pharaoh. Joseph invited his brothers and their families to Egypt after a famine struck in
the lands along the Mediterranean. The Israelites lived peacefully in Egypt for many years until a new pharaoh enslaved
them. About three thousand two hundred years ago, Moses led the Jews out of Egypt and eventually they settled again
in the lands we today call Israel. The next thousand years were a history of struggle and oppression with occasional
periods of relative peace. The Jews were annexed by the Assyrians, besieged by the Babylonians, and dispersed to
Syria, North Africa and central Asia. They were controlled by the Persians, conquered by Alexander the Great, and
ruled by the Romans. In spite of frequent attacks, over the centuries Jews settled in every part of the world. Sometimes
welcomed, sometimes merely tolerated, sometimes savagely persecuted, they created vigorous trading communities, and
contributed substantially to the commercial, economic and cultural life of the towns in which they lived.
How were they able to survive? How have they accomplished so much? What is the key to their greatness? What is the
essence of the Jewish faith?
Answering this question is not easy. Jews have no Pope or hierarchy that establishes dogma. The Orthodox,
Conservative and Reform Jews all have different ideas about what Judaism is. Among Orthodox the ideas of the
Hasidic Jews differ so much from those of other Orthodox Jews that, for a while, the rabbis on one side
excommunicated the rabbis on the other side. Nevertheless, a consensus exists among most Jews about the basic
principles of their religion.
First, Judaism is a strict monotheistic religion. "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt,
out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me." The basic principle of Judaism is that only one
God exists. Everything else derives from that. God has no family, no son. No intermediates have special access to God.
This is the one thing in which virtually all Jews believe. By seeing the order and harmony of the world around them
Jews make an intuitive leap and posit that this grand design is by design, which means a designer, which suggests that
God exists. As the creator of the universe, God is unique. Therefore, there is only one God.
Today it is difficult for us to know how bold and radical the doctrine of monotheism was when Jews first introduced it
about twenty-five hundred years ago. It invited anger and hatred. The Egyptians, the Greeks and the Romans are the
most famous examples of polytheistic peoples who had created religions with beliefs in many gods. As Egyptians
visited Greeks or Greeks visited Romans they tended to respect the power of the local gods. However, Jews did not go
along with this custom. They denied that any other gods existed. There was the one God and no others. And to make
matters worse, Jews believed that this one God was ultimately unknowable, and therefore, in keeping with the second
commandment, no statue or painting could be made of God. From the point of view of polytheists, the Jews were
godless people.
Second, virtually all Jews believe that people have free will and that God is the source of ethics and morality. By
attributing the design of the universe to God, Jews gain meaning and purpose for the universe, a knowledge, a felt
certainty that some actions are wrong, because they violate the design and purpose of the Universe. In the words of the
prophet Micah: "What does the God require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with
your God?"
The ethical teachings of Judaism are written out in the Commandments found in the Bible. According to tradition there
are six hundred and thirteen: three hundred and sixty-five negative commandments, and two hundred and forty-eight
positive ones. The Talmud is a collection of sixty-three books based on the Bible, which form the basis of Jewish
religious law.
There is an Eastern European story which illustrates the point. A rabbi is walking to the synagogue for the morning
service. As he does, he walks past the home of one of the members of his congregation. The door is open and he hears
crying inside. The rabbi knocks on the open door and a young mother comes to answer. When she sees the rabbi she
breaks again into tears and the rabbi asks what is wrong.
"I cannot keep going," the woman sobs. "My husband is sick in bed with the flu. The children are begging for
breakfast and there is no milk. The baby was up all night crying and now he needs his diaper changed. All the dishes in
the house are dirty. It is overwhelming. I am worn out."
The rabbi went into the house, changed the baby's diaper and rocked it until the baby fell asleep. Next he walked to the
store and bought a gallon of milk. Then he went to the kitchen and washed every dish in the sink.
When he arrived at the synagogue, very late for the service, some in the congregation muttered under their breath. After
the service, two members of the board of the congregation confronted the rabbi and asked for an explanation. When he
told him where he had been, they indicated that they felt he should have been at the service on time. In response the
rabbi reminded board members that in Judaism neither giving the sermons nor directing the service is a traditional part
of the rabbinical function. The order of service is set and any adult can conduct it. The function of the rabbi is to guide
the congregation in the Jewish tradition, which includes the commandment "There will always be some who are poor
and in need, so I command you to be generous to them."
This story is meant to show that far more important than participation in a ritual is the obligation to do good deeds to
help others. Judaism teaches that God requires Jews to help bring about justice and righteousness. People are expected
to help others, not for reward or for spiritual development, but because God requires it. No one is exempt from the
obligation. In the Jewish tradition, kindness to animals is a pure form of goodness because it is done without any hope
of reward.
Third, virtually all Jews believe that a pious person, a man or a woman who is a dedicated, devout, faithful Jew, does
not focus on prayer, or fasting, or meditation or celibacy. None of these are indications of Jewish piety. There is no
virtue in excessive praying or meditating. Fasting and celibacy are viewed as scorning the good things God has
provided. Study and learning, education and research, are in the Jewish religion indications of piety. While other
religions may encourage fasting or meditation as the way to become more spiritual and to feel closer to God, the pious
Jew pursues the same goal through a devotion to learning. As long ago as the first century, Jews had a system of
compulsory education. The education of the poor and of the orphan was the responsibility of the Jewish community. In
ancient times, on the first day of school, rabbis would give youngsters honey cakes shaped in the letters of the alphabet
so that they would associate learning with sweetness.
A rabbi, by the way, is not the Jewish equal to a minister or a priest. The word rabbi literally means teacher. In
Orthodox Judaism, the rabbi, or teacher, rarely leads the worship service. It the cantor, whose special skill is music and
singing, who conducts worship. Originally, rabbis were not paid for their rabbinical work. They supported themselves
following various trades. This changed in the middle ages. The custom developed of paying them not for their rabbinic
work, but for the time they presumably were taking off from their secular work. Thus a congregation pays a rabbi not
to be a bricklayer, or a carpenter, or a candle maker.
Although Jews traditionally studied the Bible and the Talmud, most Jews today agree that God's truth can also be found
in a laboratory or the observatory. Therefore, studies in physics or genetics have the same religious significance as
studies of sacred books.
Today the importance of study and learning is generally recognized. However, that is a relatively recent development.
With Jews it has been important for centuries because it is a religious obligation. Jews believe in learning for the sake
of learning.
This is the essence of the Jewish religion:
First, there is one God. A single will created the universe. There is no equal, no rival, no go-between. Hidden from
total human perception, God is that connection with the cosmos that we feel in our bones, the unity that underlies all
existence and gives meaning and purpose to our lives.
Second, all people are in a covenantal relationship with God, a relationship that Jews advance by example and witness.
Each has the freedom to obey or disobey God's laws and each exercises ethical freedom in making choices. Sin is
deliberate disobedience of the commandments. Obedience to the commandments is a deliberate choice to obey God's
laws. Ethical responsibility extends to, and is interwoven with, the establishment of a just society.
Third, Judaism is a religion of the book and of written tradition, so scholarship plays a central role. Over time the
learning and study has grown to include the study of the physical and the human sciences. A devout, dedicated faithful
Jew is a life long student who is filled with a love of learning.
Half of Budapest's Jews, over 100,000 people, survived the war. Many moved to Israel, but thousands remain, still
living in a complex of many residential buildings connected by narrow streets and courtyards. Today the courtyards are
in poor condition, dirty and run-down with graffiti-covered walls and abandoned apartments. A dusty park and
playground fill the interior of the district's historic center. One Kosher sweet shop is left in the district, selling pastries,
rolls, and ice cream. Nearby is a store making Kosher salami. In the streets are vendors selling fruits and vegetables. It
was in Jewish communities like this, in Budapest and Vienna and Prague, and in other cities in Europe from which
came Sigmund Freud, Albert Einstein and Anne Frank. Although comprising less than two percent of the population,
the Jewish people have contributed to every field of human knowledge, with a depth and a quality of insight that is
second to none.
Last October, we walked along the narrow streets of Budapest. I felt the cool October air. I smelled the spices of the
salami, the sweetness of fresh bread and pastries, and the aroma of fresh coffee. In the background I heard the sounds
of cars and trucks, the music of radios coming through open windows, and the voices of people conversing in
Hungarian. I felt excitement and joy as I walked, immersed in that rich culture. And I remembered the words from the
opening chapter of the Torah:
"God created the earth and God saw that it was Good."
|
