Rabbi Joshua Waxman: October 2007 Archives

Rabbi Krause writes that she is not scared of new influences coming into Judaism--that bringing in new ideas and perspectives helps keep Judaism dynamic and relevant. This assertion is central to Reconstructionist Judaism’s approach to understanding how our religion works. Judaism is not, and never has been, a static series of laws and rituals that were commanded once and for all time. If Judaism hadn’t been able to evolve and adapt, we never would have survived the destruction of the Temple, the end of the priesthood, and the cessation of sacrifices. So it's central to Biblical Judaism that the better part of two books of the Torah are devoted to them. If Jews hadn’t adapted local practices--drawing on the larger cultural influences wherever they went--we wouldn’t have the variations of minhag(custom) that were a hallmark of local communities for two thousand years.

The connections Rabbi Stern and Rabbi Grossman have drawn between the story of Noah and the modern environmental crisis are, sadly, very much to the point. One of the salient points of the Biblical story is that the crisis is brought about by sinful human action. In the words of the Torah, “Now the Earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw that the Earth was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted its ways upon the earth. And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the Earth is filled with violence because of them; now I am going to destroy them along with the Earth.” (Genesis 6:11-13)

Interestingly, many ancient peoples have stories of vast floods that nearly destroy humankind, but the Torah is unique in attaching a moral lesson (for example, in the Babylonian epic of Atrahasis, the gods decide to destroy the world because people are so noisy that they are disturbing the gods’ rest!). The Torah articulates a clear moral view in which our actions have consequence: if we act for goodness we will receive blessing, and if we act selfishly and against God’s will, we will reap the consequences of our actions.

In thinking about Senator John McCain’s comments in his interview with Beliefnet-- that America is a Christian nation--I spent some time online trying to figure out what the substance of the label is. Certainly ‘Christian nation’ sounds like it should be a clear concept, but I’m not sure that it is. And the various evangelical websites I explored didn’t shed much light on the question either.

By this time of year, many Jews are holidayed out. We’ve sat through Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur and used our personal days at work for the privilege. Perhaps we managed to celebrate Sukkot. But hold on, there’s still Hoshanna Rabbah, Shemini Atzeret, and Simchat Torah--all this week! That’s right, the Jewish month of Tishrei is chock full of enough holidays to exhaust any rabbi and wear out all but the most devoted congregants. What gives?