Most
Jews I’ve met—99% of them!—live with a certain sense of deficiency about their
own level of observance of or belief in Jewish practice. For those who live
with any sense of guilt about it, they can rest assured that there are always
Jews who are far more knowledgeable or observant than they. But suppose, due to
some scientifically fictitious attack of aliens from a distant planet, every
Jew who was more religious than you disappeared, and you remained, in fact, the
most observant Jew in the world. Before anyone made a Jewish move, they would
look to you for guidance and you were suddenly forced to be an example of
respectable Jewish practice. What would Judaism look like?
The
Judaism that you would end up presenting to the world would be in consonance
with how so many Conservative Jews live. You would encourage Jews to evolve to
deeper degrees of Jewish practice and knowledge, without judging those who may
resist. At the same time that traditional practices would be held in great
regard, the creation of new rituals to promote ancient values would be
welcomed. Your Judaism would be highly inclusive—recognizing the complicated
nature of the Jewish family which encompasses so many other religious
traditions or sexual orientations. No one connected with our families would be
made uncomfortable.
Your
Judaism would make room for prayer and meditation, but the mitzvah of all
mitzvot would be study, the recognition that all truth is in some way Torah,
and all Torah is Godly in nature. Because of that disposition, one which values
learning so highly, there would be an enhanced receptivity to the spiritual
insights of other religious traditions and of the men and women who have chosen
a path to God different from our own. Your Judaism would be one based on a deep
regard for all people irrespective of gender. Women would clearly be
first-class citizens with access to every aspect of Jewish life, on a par with
that of men.
At the
heart of your religious practice would be ethical practice. No one would ever
be caught wondering how an “observant Jew” could have bilked the government, or
abused a child, or engaged in illicit business practices. Because of your
example, it would be clear that such a person was never an “observant Jew,” but
a fraud from the beginning. And finally, your Judaism would bear no trace of
triumphalism, no condescending positions that would suggest superiority over
and above other peaceful religious traditions. Your Judaism would be a path
toward a world repaired, a world of deep sensitivity to the environment, and a
world at peace.
Avraham
Avinu, Abraham our Father, the man who took the first bold steps to craft this
thing we now call Judaism, asked God for one thing: a child. Eventually,
Abraham and Sarah would be blessed with one child, but God’s promise to Abraham
was far more generous, for God said, “Look toward heaven and count the stars,
if you are able to count them…so shall your offspring be” (Genesis 15:5). God
may have been counting Abraham’s physical offspring, but equally plausible would
be a census of all of Abraham’s disciples, the people who might be so inclined
as to embrace Abraham’s Judaism, of which you are now the most prominent
representative.
We are
humble Jews and so we play up our weaknesses without adequately acknowledging
our strengths. These days, the world is exposed to a religiosity that is
irrational, violent, imperious, coercive, homophobic, and mysoginistic. And the
thing about religion is that, like politics, it doesn’t go away. It is too much
a part of our humanity to wish it away. Then again, like politics, not all
religious sentiments are worthy of our esteem or God’s blessings. But ours is a
great tradition, one that welcomes the wisdom of antiquity into an age of
Twitter and FaceBook.
Conservative
Judaism has something to tell the world, something to teach the world. But the
message will never be heard as long as we leave the fate of Jewish tradition to
those who are presumably more religious than we. We should never diminish the
depth of our own spirituality out of some tepid respect for “a more observant”
Judaism we ourselves reject. Our Jewishness deserves a large shelf in the
global market of ideas and philosophy and religion. We should be welcoming
those who are searching for a way to God to step onto the derekh, the path we
have chosen ourselves. It is not the only path to God but it is a fabulous path
which deserves to be promoted. Many speak about the Tree of Life, our Torah, as
having roots deep within the soil of Jewish wisdom and ethics. And it’s true. It
is now time for the branches of this Tree of Life to grow ever higher, to touch
the stars in the heaven, however many we can count.
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