THE ESSENCE OF JUDAISM
A few years ago, at a rabbinic meeting in Boston, we were asked to write a statement, which could be read in thirty seconds or less, about Judaism and the role we play as clergy. Obviously, the exercise was to force us to identify the essence of our religion in a clear and concise manner. This is what I wrote:
“For
me, the essence of Judaism as a religion is found in its teaching of empathy
for other human beings who are facing existential issues. As a Rabbi, my role
is to be a more derekh, a spiritual guide, pointing to viable
alternatives that lead to wholeness and personal integrity.”
WHAT UNITES ALL JEWS
I have often been
asked: If you maintain that there are various definitions of God in Judaism, just
as there are different paths of Jewish spirituality, what then binds us, Jews, together? My answer is this: we share the same history; we have the same
tradition that is optimistic and “this-world” oriented; we cherish the same
sacred books; we celebrate the same holidays and life-cycle events; we have a
strong “tribal” connection; and we welcome anyone who wants to share our life
and fate. To be a Jew is a privilege, and we should be proud of it.
PERSONAL INTEGRITY
Religious beliefs
are stronger when they are authentic. They cannot be imposed; they have to be
accepted freely. During my entire professional career, I sought a path that
reflects my personality. I made it my cause to elucidate the religious
alternatives promoted by our sages, and have encouraged my readers and listeners
to find their own way within this diversity. This is one of the strengths of
Judaism. For centuries, Jews have created a way of life and a system of
community discipline that bound one Jew to another. However, in matters of
belief, Jewish teachers were much more open to alternatives. After having
proclaimed a few principles of faith, such as the belief in one God, the
foundational myths about the giving of the Torah at Sinai/Horeb and our hopes
for the future, they still allowed
individual Jews to choose from the traditional sources those that are in
consonance with their own thinking, even allowing them to add newer ones in
line with the traditional Jewish spirit. We can ignore this tradition or we can
embrace it. I opt for the latter, and urge other fellow Jews to do the same.
LIFE AFTER DEATH
Judaism has
espoused various views, all of them projected from our own existence here on earth,
about the afterlife. No one believes today that after death, he/she will go to Sheol,
an undisclosed place perhaps located under the earth, where they shall
live a shadowy kind of existence.. This idea went away by the end of the
Biblical period. During the rabbinic period, resurrection of the body became a
dogma disseminated by the Pharisaic teachers. Later on, some Jews subscribed to
the idea of immortality of the soul or reincarnation, just as others maintained
that after death there is a total disintegration (For more details, see our
book, What Happens After I Die? R. Sonsino and D. Syme, URJ, 1990).
After
viewing all the Jewish alternatives, I believe that one lives on biologically through
children, through an association with the Jewish people, and, ultimately,
through his/her good deeds. Personally, I assume that after I am gone, the
energy I represent will blend with the energy of the universe. I hope, however,
that whatever influence I have had on others through my books and other types
of teaching will remain in the minds of my students and congregants.
In the meantime, I
hope to live as long as it is possible fully, creatively, with personal
integrity, with good health and surrounded by family and friends. And to all this
I say, dayenu! (“It is just enough for me”).
Rifat Sonsino
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A thoroughgoing rationalist.
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