Judaism and God
Davidoff Feb 2010
Just returned from shul and a morning group with Rabbi Moshe Waldoks ? funniest rabbi you could come across and the most profound lesson for me of the day ? and I think will carry me a long way in my future struggles (wrestles of Israel) with faith
?God is a verb and not a noun?
I interprerted that as it is through doing that you will experience higher levels of day to day living and beyond
Leveen January 2010
which you must starve and days on which you must overeat.
Many Jews observe no fewer than 16 fasts throughout the Jewish year,
based on the time-honored principle that even if you are sure that you
are ritually purified, you definitely aren?t.
Though there are many feasts and fasts, there are no holidays requiring
light snacking.
Note: Unlike Christians, who simply attend church on special days (e.g.
Ash Wednesday), on Jewish holidays most Jews take the whole day off.
This is because Jews, for historical and personal reasons, are more
stressed out.
The Diet Guide to the Jewish Holidays:
Rosh Hashanah ??- Feast
Tzom Gedalia ???? Fast
Yom Kippur ????? More fasting
Sukkot ??????? Feast for a week +
Hashanah Rabbah ?- More feasting
Simchat Torah ??? Keep right on feasting
Month of Heshvan ?? No feasts or fasts for a whole month. Get a grip
on yourself.
Hanukkah ?????- Eat potato pancakes
Tenth of Tevet ??? Do not eat potato pancakes
Tu B?Shevat ???? Feast
Fast of Esther ???Fast
Purim ??????? Eat pastry
Passover ?????- Do not eat pastry for a week
Shavuot ?????? Dairy feast (cheesecake, blintzes, etc.)
17th of Tammuz ??? Fast (definitely no cheesecake or blintzes)
Tish B?Av ?????? Serious fast (don?t even think about
cheesecake or blintzes)
Month of Elul ???? End of cycle. Enroll in Center for Eating
Disorders before High Holidays arrive again.
There are many forms of Judaism:
Cardiac Judaism ???- in my heart I am a Jew.
Gastronomic Judaism ? we eat Jewish foods.
Pocketbook Judaism ?? I give to Jewish causes.
Drop-off Judaism ??? drop the kids off at Sunday School; go out
to breakfast.
Twice a Year Judaism ? attend service Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
You know you grew up Jewish when:
You did not respond to the teacher calling roll on the first day of
school because you thought your name was ?Princess?.
You?ve had at least one female relative who drew eyebrows on her face
that were always asymmetrical.
You spent your entire childhood thinking that everyone calls roast
beef ?brisket.?
Your family dog responds to complaints uttered in Yiddish.
Every Sunday afternoon of your childhood was spent visiting your
grandparents.
You?ve experienced the phenomena of 50 people fitting into a
10-foot-wide dining room hitting each other with plastic plates & forks
trying to get to a deli tray.
You thought pasta was the stuff used exclusively for kugel and kasha
with bowties.
You watched Lawrence Welk and Ed Sullivan every Sunday night.
You were as tall as your grandmother by age seven.
You never knew anyone whose last name didn?t end in one of 6 standard
suffixes (-man,-witz, -berg, -stein, -blatt or -baum).
You grew up and were surprised to find out that wine doesn?t always
taste like year-old cranberry sauce.
You can look at gefilte fish without turning green.
You grew up thinking there was a fish called lox.
You can understand some Yiddish but you can?t speak it.
You know how to pronounce numerous Yiddish words and use them
correctly in context, yet you don?t exactly know what they mean.
Is that Kenahurra or is that kaninehurra? (I say it?s kenahurra)
You have at least one ancestor who is related to your spouse?s
ancestor.
You grew up thinking it was normal for someone to shout ?Are you okay?
Are you okay?? through the bathroom door if you were in there for
longer than 3 minutes.
You have at least six male relatives named Michael or David.
Your grandparent?s furniture smelled like mothballs, was covered in
plastic and was as comfortable as sitting on sandpaper.
Baruch Hashem and G-d willing, may you have a day full of mazel and
shalom!
(Davidoff)
Now I needed some input on SA jewry and religious practice after coming across an interesting cultural phenomenon on a recent trip to Ogunquit Maine ? a quaint sea resort ? 90 minutes out of Boston. My wife Naomi and I were taking some time out for the weekend when we came across a group of beloved SA couples who belong to ?Orthodox? communities in Boston enjoying lobster
This reminded me so much of our way and the way for many SA Jewish families ? Orthodox synagogues, driving to Shul from half a mile away, and eating lobster thermidor and shrimp peri peri in restaurants and sometimes at home as well
My wife reads torah ? loves to do it, and when it came time to choose a synagogue ? the orthodox mechitzah did not do it for her ? so we joined the conservative community with all its USA variances and heterogeneities but no shrimp lobster ham pork or the like in restaurants nor of course at home
Thought would open this phenomenon to the group ? What are the practices like today in SA and Ozzieland Is there a conservative movement at all in SA Is the reform movement growing or shrinking? Ritual is such an interesting phenomenon !
(Leveen)
As for Orthodoxy and kosher, when in Maine do as the Maine?s do so eat lobster. I prefer the Orthodox service out of tradition (I sound and look like Tevya) but am now even left of reform. It will be interesting to hear what the folks in RSA and OZ say about this. I had not thought about the mechichah in decades but at least it is not as primitive as the Burkah. Burgers, voortrekkers, and burkahs are about as primitive as I can think. Actually now that I returning to the dawn of civilization I read somehere that the first humans who likely were upright lived on a beach near cape point and their diet was primarily shell fish. Maybe they were orthodox jews from Joburg before they moved to seapoint? I wonder if they took the Blue train on the spoorweg
(Hellman)
Hi All,
to answer Ashley, JHB Jewry is at around the 50,000 number. I would imagine that reform % is below 5%. A lot has changed here we have a very strong Lubavich, Ohr Sameach, Mizrachi and other chareidi organisations. Younger generation more connected to real ortodoxy than ever before. We still have Shuls, Linksfield, Sydenham Highlands North, Sandton who remain orthodox, however many of there congregants remain so called orthodox as you remember,they all believe in the given Torah and Torah as brought down by the Rabbis but choose to drive to Shul, go shopping on Shabbos and eat treif out. Herein lies the major difference between our ortodoxy and your conservative and reform congregants. (Seeff)
To add to Stanley?s explanation, there is also a community of alternate believers, Stephen Friedman (Eli) amongst them, who are very involved in ideological issues in this country. Stephen I think was part of the conservative movement but am not sure whether he is still part of that. And then there are those of us who love the tradition but cannot identify with the beliefs and practices, so Friday night candles and chaggim but no kashrut either at home or out. Small minority I think.
(Sharp)
Michelle. I guess I am part of your traditional group. At the risk of offending some of the rest of you, I am at close to being atheist, (the term does appear to have more than one interpretation but you get the picture) but also enjoy the Friday night rituals, my wife coming from a religious family. For example, I get a kick out of the ?Shabbat Shaloms? that pop up on this page. I go to Shule on Friday because there is an Orthododox Rabbi who is about my daughter?s age and gives two five minute sermons which are little gems about the living of a good life. He would be the last to agree but I think that there is much wisdom in Jewish teachings that would survive and have meaning even without the concept of a God. But perhaps I stray. Let me just say that beyond that, for me, Jewishness is as much about the warmth of an extended family than anything else.
I?m declaring myself on the side of agnostics, atheists and unbelievers. My only concession is a once-annual liberation theology speech which I make to my kids at Pesach
(Sharp)
the Rabbi is Richie Moss, who also has the great distinction of being a cricket fan and former player whose Tsitsit used to stream behind him as he dashed for a quick single, according to his Dad.
(Levenberg)
That is a fabulous picture ? even the name somehow seems to suggest a marginal link to the profession of Rabbi. Have you met Jeremy. He and I spent many hours debating existence and the nature of religion. I am in the midst of reading God is not great and quite frankly it is unsurprising but alarming. Fundamentalism in all its forms is unpalatable. One day when we meet I will tell you the story of my second bris.
(Davidoff)
Thanks for the frankness and perspectives ? mostly, it seems like for some there are important rituals that are maintained ? candles and challah. (+/- prawn peri peri) The social and historic importance of a large +/- genetically linked family is all important But what do you say to your kids when they are young ? and then what do you say to them when they are older We sent our kids to public schools and to Jewish summer camps from the time they were able to bear separation for 4 -8 weeks ? ?Camp Ramah? . The spirit imbued by these camps,- the closeness and the depth of the experience has been remarkable ? They develop friends for life and feel part of a bigger family ? ?bigger and more powerful then the individual? shines right through When they were young we taught them about God in the same way we were taught ? in the same way that our parents taught us ? or most of us and so the story goes around and around
(Sharp)
Re the religious theme and our kids. Very interesting what you say Ash. Ours did not have the camp experience but went to a Jewish private school but more religious than KDHS I would say. The result. Pretty much the same I think. Of course the critical moment is when they choose a partner. In my girls? case they chose Jewish guys and we did not face the test. I tell myself that I would have supported their choice whatever it would have been but conflict would have certainly arisen within the broader family. This is the challenge I guess for many families.
(Perkel)
My religious inspiration has been drawn from my observance of patients, and families into whose homes I enter everyday. Sometimes I am amazed at the faith that people have and their strength that they have to overcome adversity. I also believe that there are modern day miracles and not coincidences. So I have to believe that there is a power to whom we can give honor and reverence.
With regard to our South African style Jewish observance versus that in the United States, we miss the community of our childhood. However, the South African community in which we were raised was unique and South African Jewry seem to still be a close and coherent community. A lot of ex S. Africans here do not find synagogue inspirational and unfortunately many of the Jewish institutions are quite diverse and at times, we lake a united community. Gideon Shimoni in his book ,? Community and Conscience?.? describes something about the SOuth AFrican Jewish community and I think his statement helped me comprehend our dilemma as ex pat Jewish South Africans. Gideon Shimoni wrote, ? The outcome of South Africa was a blend of Litvaki misnagdi religious orthodoxy in a rather lax fashion , with Anglo- Jewry?s already acculturated United Synagogue form of synagogue ritual. ?.characterized as conservative traditionalism and also as ?Non-observant orthodox?. It has been described as the pouring of Litvak spirit into Anglo-Jewish bottles?.
So perhaps we came from a very unique tradition and it has been difficult to find a community that is close to the one that we left. So it is rather nice to meet again on FB.
My last memory of our class of ?69 was the last day of high school where we had a sort of farewell at the tennis courts. From that moment, we all went our own ways and I doubt that anyone could have imagined how far we have all travelled. Forty years of ?wondering? and we are now meeting again ? technology of cyberspace that we never dreamed of in ?69 has reunited us.
(Kooper)
In the USA, I have travelled my journed from Orthodox, to COnservative, to Traditiional, to almost nothing, and then back to Chabad and orthdox. I have always maintained a kosher home, but I do not think that KDHS emphasised enough that what comes out of ones mouth is more important thatn what goes in. There was a changing event in my life that turned me back to a greater belief. One of my patients who was sweating and blue in the face after walking 30 feet huffed and puffed and told me that his greatest goal in life was to go to church on the following Sunday morning. That statement started me thinking. I hoped and prayed that one day I would find the spiritual fulfilment that would make me want to go to synagoue with such passion. That day did come. I studied with Rabbi Flinkenstein, a Chabad Rabbi. We learned in depth from Leviticus, 19 : 11-16 which basically deals with how to treat each other with respect, refraining from gossip, not to place stumbling block before the blind, not to stand by while your fellow?s blood is shed and ends with the famous? and you shall love your fellow as yourself- I am Hashem?. SO from that point on , I started to study the TOrah portion on my own every week and I go to shul weekly to hear it read. I have studied the tehillim on my own from the Hirsch commentaries and this is always inspiring. Currently in between patients I attend a weekly class on Megillat Rut. I am grateful to have had the background in Hebrew that I have because I am able to seek greater meaning and increased understanding by comprehendin the Hebrew text. (BTW we are not completely Shomer Shabbat in our home either, and I just do shat I am comfortable doing, though there is no business and shopping here on Saturdays)
For me Megillat Rut is an amazing story because in it we learn how the Jewish orthodox conversion process is modelled completely on this text. We can find ourselves in the pages of the Torah here in 2009. One last example of this is that after the Mumbai episode last November, we read how the Indian nanny Sandra while hiding in a closet, heard a baby crying, and she was able to muster up courage to run to save that two year old Moshe?s life. Is that different to the courage that Pharoah?s daughter had when she saved the other ?Moshe? when she heard his cry?? and that was the start of our Torah debates for thousands of years to come.
Now my thoughts on recent thread of things dear and near to me and which I struggle with all the timeFor me it is the understanding of Oneness
This may be found in Levs trips to the land of free energy and entropy
To Terry?s Tai Chi
To three prayers a day to find that height once in a while
To a walk in a cool green forest surrounded by quietness
So I have struggled for years along the lines of Sams statement ?philosophical materialist, of the belief that there is matter and the rest we invent for our own comfort?
Through observation in -science nature and biology I have the current thoughts
Snippets of units to unity
the power of building and where it takes us
the letter to the word ? the word to the sentence and the sentence to the
the oneness of a great book (genius of Shakespeare)
The first yellow brush stroke and subsequent strokes that brought the genius of van Goghs sunflowers
The genius of E = MC squared
The first note of beethovens fifth to oneness of the final genius product
The Oneness of the pefect Dance
The Oneness of Eureka
The cold shivers of a profound experience
At oneness in sorrow
At oneness in joy
The oness of that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction
The Oneness of a Tiger Woods drive or a Graeme Pollock 6
The similarity of the atom to the universe with biology in between
The similarity of the hydrogen atom which makes up 65% of our body (preceesing around a magnetic field) and the earth
So if you get the drift ? in a nutshell thats it for me A lifetime of thoughts and struggles ? and still struggling ?
Sam Sharp (10/08/09)
Terry wants to talk about Faith. He gave us the topic but not yet the direction which is good since we are freed up to interpret this the way we wish to.
Faith is acceptance without the requirement of proof or evidence. It is most frequently associated with religious belief but I think it is inescapable regardless of one?s world view. For example, atheistic philosophers who like to pour scorn on faith nonetheless are subscribers of a faith of their own. It is known as Reason. There can be no proof of the validity of Reason because this cannot be turned on itself. And so it is accepted without proof. Even the postmodernists, who like to deny any overarching narrative, principle or ground, are quick to defend their views by means of an appeal to Reason.
Scientists have an unshakeable belief in the principle of causality. Only Hume of the great philosophers was skeptical about its validity. But causality cannot be proven ? it is a metaphysical concept and so is beyond the reach of empirical or rational confirmation ? it is an article of faith. Scientists have other types of beliefs which cannot be established, at least not yet, with the usual empirical approach. For example, no-one has yet seen an electron. Yet it is close the very foundation of atomic theory. As my friend Tibor likes to say, all of science can be summed up as a quest to answer one question: ?What must the world be like to explain what we observe??. And current theories of physics posit the existence of the electron precisely because it plays this role. We can say the same about energy or force. These are epistemic constructs designed to help us explain the world. I think a lot of faith is involved right there.
We all, Rabbis and priests included, demonstrate a faith in the laws of physics each time we get on an airplane or use the internet. Yet the Rabbis will not accept some theories born of the same scientific tradition, e.g. the theory of evolution. And the laws of physics cannot be proven. They are postulated and we wait for a falsification.
But faith is not certainty. Are there degrees of faith or belief? This could be a direction we follow if this debate goes anywhere.
I will end here for now and look forward to others? views.
But talk of the theory of evolution reminds me of something my father said a year ago. It was Erev Yom Kippur and he was in hospital with a life-threatening infection. At his bedside I reminded him that it was almost time for Kol Nidrei. He smiled and said he was not aware of this and that he had become such a heathen. He said that he had no sense of faith in religion (even though he had been a choir boy in Cape Town, said Kaddish for his parents, Kiddush every Friday while I grew up etc), and that it meant nothing at all to him. He said that he had only two heroes: Einstein and Darwin. He then said ?My only regret is that Darwin was not a Jew?. Go and explain that!!
Terry Levenberg 10/08/09
Is it not in the very divide hat you define here, between preparedness to prove or not that blind faith and the nature of religion sits. It is the lack of preparedness to be proven false that makes religious faith so false.
I have no truck with tradition if that is your bag.
It is nice to have a script for Fridays.
But I have always found, as did your father perhaps that the simple pursuit of tradition without interrogation leaves one bereft of faith.
To me an understanding of universal structure through proof an evidence is a far more convincing platform for the belief in the divine nature of our universe. And there is enough in it which is of such remarkable magnitude and wonder that there is little room for the need of faith to explain what will one day be explained.
Thanks Sam ? love your logic and your father?s story resonates so deeply with me. I love Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan and Gustav Mahler and am so proud that somehow, I am of their identity (despite myself). I had this idea for the school here to produce banners that would be space 6 feet apart down every corridor that would celebrate the life of someone who had contributed greatly to the way we see the world for their origins as a Jew.
A step too far for a traditional community I am afraid and they dive straigt back into an antique language which provides no solace and only distance for the majority as Latin does for the Catholic Mafia.
Sharp
But talk of the theory of evolution reminds me of something my father said a year ago. It was Erev Yom Kippur and he was in hospital with a life-threatening infection. At his bedside I reminded him that it was almost time for Kol Nidrei. He smiled and said he was not aware of this and that he had become such a heathen. He said that he had no sense of faith in religion (even though he had been a choir boy in Cape Town, said Kaddish for his parents, Kiddush every Friday while I grew up etc), and that it meant nothing at all to him. He said that he had only two heroes: Einstein and Darwin. He then said ?My only regret is that Darwin was not a Jew?. Go and explain that!!