Download Page 1 Judaism The Rev. Roger Fritts March 3, 2013 Once there

Judaism
The Rev. Roger Fritts
March 3, 2013
Once there was a Rabbi who was fond of reading the religious declarations on car bumper
stickers.
The Rabbi noticed, “I Found It!” on the cars of evangelical Christians.
The Rabbi noticed his Unitarian Universalist neighbor had a bumper sticker that exclaimed, “I
Am Still Looking!”
So, the Rabbi pasted an appropriate reply on his own car bumper, “We Never Lost It!”
The Jewish people trace their beginnings to a shepherd named Abraham. For three thousand six
hundred years, they have never lost their faith, although it has never been easy.
A few years ago, I walked through the Jewish District in Budapest, Hungry. With the largest
Jewish population of any city on the European continent, outside Russia, both magic and
tragedy fill the historic neighborhood.
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.
During my visit a few years ago, I passed through metal detectors and I entered the main
synagogue. An enormous building built in 1859, it is Europe's largest synagogue and the
second-largest synagogue in the world. Cleaned and restored, the inside of the building
suggests that the Jewish religion in Budapest is still alive and healthy.
Nearby, however, are reminders of the Holocaust. On leaving the synagogue, I 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, I walked onto the National Jewish Museum. There I saw displays of
ornaments and art. The museum curators have given over the last room to an exhibit on the
Holocaust. My English-speaking guide had a number tattooed on her arm from when she was a
prisoner in a concentration camp.
Abraham lived three thousand six hundred years ago along the Euphrates River, in southeastern
Iraq. According to the Hebrew Testament, God told Abraham to move to the area along the
Mediterranean we now call Israel and Palestine. In this land Abraham, his son Isaac, and his
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grandson Jacob became the fathers of the Jewish people. The mothers are Sarah, Rebecca, and
Leah and Rachel.
Jacob had a daughter and twelve sons. The Hebrews organized themselves into Twelve Tribes
that traced their descent from 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 Assyrians annexed the Jews, who
were also 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. Over these centuries Jews settled in other parts 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 communities in which they lived.
How were they able to survive? How have they accomplished so much? What is the key to
their greatness?
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 with the other Orthodox 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, Traditional 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. God has no family, no
son. No intermediates have special access to God. As the creator of the universe, God is unique.
Today it is difficult for us to feel how bold and radical the doctrine of monotheism was when
Jews first introduced it thousands of 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, and as Greeks visited
Romans they respected the power of the local gods. However, Jews did not go along with this
custom. They denied that any other gods existed. 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 a polytheist, the
Jews were godless people.
Second, nearly 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
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for the universe. They gained a 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?”
An Eastern European story illustrates the importance of morality. A rabbi is walking to the
synagogue for the morning service. As he does, he walks past the home of a member of his
congregation. 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 he asks what is
wrong.
“I cannot keep going,” the woman sobs. “My husband is sick. The children are begging for
breakfast and I have no food. The baby was up all night crying. All the dishes in the house are
dirty. It is overwhelming. I am worn out.”
The rabbi went into the house, and rocked the baby until it fell asleep. Next he walked to the
store and bought bread to feed the children. Then he went to the kitchen and washed every dish.
When he arrived at the synagogue, very late for the service, some in the congregation muttered
under their breath. After the service, two members, leaders of the congregation confronted the
rabbi and asked for an explanation. When he told them where he had been, they said 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 worship are a traditional part of the
rabbinical function. The order of worship is set and any adult can conduct it. The role of the
rabbi is to teach the congregation the Jewish tradition. The tradition includes the commandment
“There will always be some who are poor and in need, so I command you to be generous to
them.”
Far more important than participation in a ritual is the obligation to do good deeds to help
others. God expects people 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
should be done without any hope of reward.
So in Judaism first is monotheism, second is morality. Third, nearly all Jews believe that a
pious person, a man or a woman who is a dedicated, devout, faithful Jew, does not focus on
prayer, fasting, meditation, or celibacy. None of these are indications of Jewish piety. There is
no virtue in excessive praying or meditating. Jews view fasting and celibacy as scorning the
good things God has provided. What makes for a truly pious Jew? Study and learning,
education and research, are 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. Ancient rabbis on the first day of school would give
youngsters honey cakes shaped in the letters of the alphabet so that they would associate
learning with sweetness.
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A rabbi is not the Jewish equal to a minister or a priest. The word rabbi literally means a
teacher. In Orthodox Judaism, the rabbi rarely leads the worship. The cantor, whose special
skill is music and singing, conducts worship. Originally, congregations did not pay rabbis for
their rabbinical work. They supported themselves following various trades. In the middle ages
the custom developed of paying them not for their rabbinical 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.
Traditionally the study of the Torah is sacred. Today many Jews agree that although reading
and understanding the Torah is the most holy form of study, God’s truth can also be found in a
laboratory or an observatory. The study of physics or biology or astronomy is also sacred.
This is the wisdom of the Jewish religion.
First, there is one God. A single will created the universe. There is no equal, no rival, no gobetween. 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. We each have the freedom to
obey or disobey God's laws, and we each exercise 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. Our ethical responsibility extends to the establishment of a just
society.
Third, scholarship plays a central role. Over the centuries learning and study has grown to
include the study of the physical and the human sciences. A devout, dedicated, faithful Jew is a
lifelong student who loves learning.
Monotheism, morality, and scholarship. These are Judaism’s gifts to world religion.
Half of Budapest’s Jews, more than 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, or ice cream. Nearby is a store selling Kosher meat. In the streets are vendors
selling fruits and vegetables. Out of Jewish communities like this, from places like Budapest,
Vienna and Prague, came Sigmund Freud, Albert Einstein and Anne Frank. Comprising less
than 2 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.
A few years ago, I walked along the narrow streets of Budapest. I smelled the spices of the
meats, the sweetness of fresh bread and the aroma of coffee. In the background, I heard the
sounds of cars and trucks, the music of radios coming through open windows, and the voices of
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people. Immersed in that rich culture I remember the benediction of Moses, when he spoke to
the weary ex-slaves in the wilderness, at the very beginning of the amazing journey: “The Lord
bless thee, and keep thee; The Lord make His face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto
thee; The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.”
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