Ambivalence
Over time I have become ambivalent in my attitude towards Judaism. On the one hand, I am a convinced atheist, having decided long ago, probably as early as 15, that there is no God and that the concept of God is a human invention to explain what humans did not understand in the past. Also, having received a strong scientific education helps me to explain most of the former mysteries in the real world.
However, interacting with my religious daughter, son-in-law, grandchildren and their friends has opened to me a whole world of Jewish life that I have come to know intimately. While I do not and cannot share their belief system, I do respect not only their right to have it, but also I see how it sustains them and contributes to the continuation of the Jewish people. To me this is no small thing, because I became a Zionist and made aliyah to Israel precisely because I feel that it is impossible in the long run to maintain the continuation of the Jewish people in the Diaspora, the galut or exile, with the overwhelming intermarriage rate and the weakening of Jewish life there.
I do respect the Bible and its study as a legitimate way to focus attention on the amazing history of the Jewish people and I do see the weekly recitation of the Torah in the Synagogue as a means to ensure the vibrancy of that history and relationship to God in the lives of those believers. However, of course, I do not believe that the words of the Bible are divinely inspired and I cannot accept many of the practices required of an observant Jew.
Let me give a few examples:
1. A few years ago I was in shool, on one of my rare visits, and all the lights and the a/c suddenly went out. The whole congregation was left sitting in the dark and it became hot. I saw a gaggle of men mingling by the door, so I went out to see if I could help. Noone was doing anything except they were looking at the fuse box. One of them said that the automatic clock had been set wrongly and the main switch had tripped off. I asked which switch and he pointed at it, so I simply flicked the switch and all the lights came back on and the a/c started running. In the congregation I heard an appreciative murmur and some even said that God had intervened. I have never understood why it is not allowed to flick an electric switch when electricity was not discovered until long after the period of the Talmud and so the laws relating to it have been adapted from ancient doctrines, such as not working and/or not lighting a fire. First, flicking a switch is not "work", it requires minimal effort and is not an activity that is paid for, second, electricity is not fire, it has nothing whatsoever to do with fire, it is electrons moving in a circuit and the physical similarity of the electric light bulb turning on, that produces heat as a secondary effect, is not fire! I would rather commit such a "sin" than sit in the dark.
2. Every Shabbat my family and other Orthodox Jews tear the toilet paper before Shabbat so that they won't have to do this during shabbat. The idea that this would be a sin is ridiculous to me because they already did the tearing, so using the torn paper is tantamount to accepting the tearing that was done for this purpose.
3. This Succot I had a typical "talmudic experience," someone left the gas light on under a saucepan after the Chag had started. It was forbidden to turn it off, and they would not let me do it, so they put a small container of water on it, so that it could boil and every now and then they had to remember to add more water. There was a whole discussion about what could be done about this, and it was generally agreed that it could not be physically turned off as long as there was no imminent danger. But, if the water boiled over and caused the flame to go out, then the gas itself could be turned off, since then it was not dowsing a flame/fire. I regarded this as ridiculous nitpicking. Anyway, good sense prevailed and somehow someone contrived to turn it off.
4. I cannot accept the ceremony of "kapura" before Succot when a live chicken is twirled over the head of someone, usually a child, while a prayer is said, to take away their sins (a "scape chicken"), which are then removed when the chicken is killed and eaten, how primitive!
5. On Succot the ceremony of shaking the four species of plants in different directions is totally ridiculous.
6. My wife won't mix milk and meat plates in the dishwasher because my son-in-law argued that they have "meatoids" and milkoids" attached to them, even when clean, and so it is not allowed to let them mix together. But, I pointed out that in the dishwasher the temperatures produce superheated water, and all the milk and meat products are washed away to produce superclean crockery, and the idea of "milkoids" and "meatoids" is a product of his vivid imagination.
I would not expect any Orthodox Jew to change his practices as a result of my rational arguments, since religion by its very nature is irrational. But, I refuse to practice irrational acts based on the concept that there is a God to please or displease by such rituals. What really matters in life is whether or not a person is basically "good," and in my experience there is no correlation of that characteristic with being a believer. Thank goodness, to protect us against those who are not good, we have civil laws.
However, interacting with my religious daughter, son-in-law, grandchildren and their friends has opened to me a whole world of Jewish life that I have come to know intimately. While I do not and cannot share their belief system, I do respect not only their right to have it, but also I see how it sustains them and contributes to the continuation of the Jewish people. To me this is no small thing, because I became a Zionist and made aliyah to Israel precisely because I feel that it is impossible in the long run to maintain the continuation of the Jewish people in the Diaspora, the galut or exile, with the overwhelming intermarriage rate and the weakening of Jewish life there.
I do respect the Bible and its study as a legitimate way to focus attention on the amazing history of the Jewish people and I do see the weekly recitation of the Torah in the Synagogue as a means to ensure the vibrancy of that history and relationship to God in the lives of those believers. However, of course, I do not believe that the words of the Bible are divinely inspired and I cannot accept many of the practices required of an observant Jew.
Let me give a few examples:
1. A few years ago I was in shool, on one of my rare visits, and all the lights and the a/c suddenly went out. The whole congregation was left sitting in the dark and it became hot. I saw a gaggle of men mingling by the door, so I went out to see if I could help. Noone was doing anything except they were looking at the fuse box. One of them said that the automatic clock had been set wrongly and the main switch had tripped off. I asked which switch and he pointed at it, so I simply flicked the switch and all the lights came back on and the a/c started running. In the congregation I heard an appreciative murmur and some even said that God had intervened. I have never understood why it is not allowed to flick an electric switch when electricity was not discovered until long after the period of the Talmud and so the laws relating to it have been adapted from ancient doctrines, such as not working and/or not lighting a fire. First, flicking a switch is not "work", it requires minimal effort and is not an activity that is paid for, second, electricity is not fire, it has nothing whatsoever to do with fire, it is electrons moving in a circuit and the physical similarity of the electric light bulb turning on, that produces heat as a secondary effect, is not fire! I would rather commit such a "sin" than sit in the dark.
2. Every Shabbat my family and other Orthodox Jews tear the toilet paper before Shabbat so that they won't have to do this during shabbat. The idea that this would be a sin is ridiculous to me because they already did the tearing, so using the torn paper is tantamount to accepting the tearing that was done for this purpose.
3. This Succot I had a typical "talmudic experience," someone left the gas light on under a saucepan after the Chag had started. It was forbidden to turn it off, and they would not let me do it, so they put a small container of water on it, so that it could boil and every now and then they had to remember to add more water. There was a whole discussion about what could be done about this, and it was generally agreed that it could not be physically turned off as long as there was no imminent danger. But, if the water boiled over and caused the flame to go out, then the gas itself could be turned off, since then it was not dowsing a flame/fire. I regarded this as ridiculous nitpicking. Anyway, good sense prevailed and somehow someone contrived to turn it off.
4. I cannot accept the ceremony of "kapura" before Succot when a live chicken is twirled over the head of someone, usually a child, while a prayer is said, to take away their sins (a "scape chicken"), which are then removed when the chicken is killed and eaten, how primitive!
5. On Succot the ceremony of shaking the four species of plants in different directions is totally ridiculous.
6. My wife won't mix milk and meat plates in the dishwasher because my son-in-law argued that they have "meatoids" and milkoids" attached to them, even when clean, and so it is not allowed to let them mix together. But, I pointed out that in the dishwasher the temperatures produce superheated water, and all the milk and meat products are washed away to produce superclean crockery, and the idea of "milkoids" and "meatoids" is a product of his vivid imagination.
I would not expect any Orthodox Jew to change his practices as a result of my rational arguments, since religion by its very nature is irrational. But, I refuse to practice irrational acts based on the concept that there is a God to please or displease by such rituals. What really matters in life is whether or not a person is basically "good," and in my experience there is no correlation of that characteristic with being a believer. Thank goodness, to protect us against those who are not good, we have civil laws.
posted by Jack Cohen at 6:55 PM
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