GOD,CORONAVIRUS AND RELIGIOUS NATURALISM

Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, Ph.D.

In traditional western religions, the dominant view is that God, conceived in theistic terms as a loving and caring divinity, rewards and punishes every individual according to his/her deeds. God, in fact, “causes death and gives life…He guards the steps of His faithful, but the wicked perish in darkness’ (I Sam. 2). Therefore, if, by definition, God is omnipotent and all-good, and still evil exists in the world, the only solution is to assume that it is because humanity is at fault. As one ancient Rabbi put it, “If a person sees that painful sufferings visit him, let him examine his conduct” (Ber.5a). Ultimately, there is no satisfactory solution to the problem of evil within classical theism, as another older sage acknowledged, “It is not in our power to understand the prosperity of the wicked, nor the suffering of the righteous” (PA. 4:19). The corona virus pandemic has once again raised the issue for us. Why are people dying, especially innocent people, both old and young, who did nothing wrong?

The proper understanding of evil has a long history in philosophic speculations, and no satisfactory answer is found within theism proper. In trying to get out of this dilemma, some have suggested that we need to look for an explanation outside of theism. For example, there are those who have argued that God’s power is self-limited on purpose, and therefore God cannot enter into moral relationship with human beings (See, Gersonides, 14^th cent. France).  Another view is Martin Buber’s “radical evil” (19^th cent. Germany), which maintains that, at times, God actually withdraws from humanity. Yet, others (like Alvin Reines, 20^th cent. USA) affirm that evil is the necessary concomitant of existence and is not willed by God.

Religious naturalism follows this lead. Based on the insights of the great Dutch philosopher Spinoza (17^th cent), who argued that God, representing the totality of everything, is beyond good and evil, and acts by necessity. As a Jewish religious naturalist, I, too, would similarly suggest that God is simply the energy of the universe, who acts according to the norms that are still not totally understood by us. God did not create the coronavirus in order to punish humanity. That is how nature operates, and every day we are trying to learn more about God’s mysteries. We, too, are part of God, and owe our existence to the internal energy that keeps the universe going. The more we know about God, the better our condition will be. We must hang in there and put our heads together to study, investigate and analyze God in order to improve our lot.

Westborough, MA (USA)

PS. More on this subject, see the author’s book, Finding God, 2002 (With D. Syme), or The Many Faces of God (2004)

LIVING WITH THE THREAT OF THE VIRUS

Today, I am thinking about living with the threat of the coronavirus, and want to share my impressions with you.

I live in one of the suburbs of Boston called Westborough. We are part of a large complex, called the Willows, and have an apartment in the independent living section with two bedrooms and two baths. We have about 150 residents. Right now, we are asked to stay indoors for an unforeseeable future because of the coronavirus. We do not know how long this curse will last. In the States, we just started to peak, and it will take some time to flatten the curve. Maybe a few weeks?

We are fortunate to live at the Willows where our meals are delivered daily in the evening. But our gym is closed and our library is shut down. We are locked down in place. I am looking out of the window, and there is no one walking. It is eerie!!

When I served in the Turkish army in the late 50’s, I was stationed at the Greek border in a large tank unit. I was a 2^nd lieutenant in charge of 5 tanks. However, when the revolution against the Menderes government began , I was told to take over the military jail because I have a degree in law. So, I stayed behind and assumed my new position. But I lived outside of the jail, not inside.

Now I feel as if I am inside a jail, and do not like it. I feel constrained and unable to walk freely. We cannot visit our grandchildren; we can only talk to them by Face time. We do the same with friends and other relatives around the world. We understand this is done for our benefit, in order to avoid contamination. Regrettably the number of people affected is going up. Right now in Boston we have 413 confirmed cases and one death.

We will eventually get over this curse. In the meantime, we need to sit tight and do our best. We are thinking of others around the world who are not as fortunate as we are. I hope this virus will teach us to be more caring, more empathetic and more supportive of each other.

Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, Ph.D.

Saturday, March 21, 2020

THE CORONAVIRUS AND THE BLAMING GAME

It is part of human nature to try to find the cause of everything. We are curious and want to find the reason of almost everything in order to understand the world around us. The Coronavirus pandemic is not different.

According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) in the US, this virus was first detected in China and has now been found in more than 100 locations internationally, including the United States. The virus has been named “SARS-CoV-2” and the disease it causes has been named “coronavirus disease 2019” (abbreviated “COVID-19”). It was originally caused by bats. But to some fanatics, religious or otherwise, this is not enough. They are looking for human behavior that gave rise to this terrible disease. The Chinese already blamed some US soldiers for bringing it to China. In the past, some Evangelical Christians have blamed LGBTQ people for all sorts of natural disasters and diseases, from Ebola to earthquakes, and now they’re starting to falsely link the community to the new coronavirus COVID-19. Some claim it was brought about by Zionists; some even attributed it to the fact that during religious services many people keep talking about secular matters. How far can this lunacy go?

I think many people are recommending behavior that is extreme, simply because we don’t really know how to control the pandemic: close schools, shut down museums and sports events; don’t shake hands, maintain social distancing, stay at home, clean everything. In our independent living complex, one couple even decided to self-quarantine themselves. I find that we are going to extremes. There seems to be a mass hysteria about this disease. People are hoarding hand lotions or toilet papers.

I think we need to take reasonable precautions until this passes over, but please, please do not look for easy answers or find easy human targets. We have enough problems to deal with. We don’t need fanatic responses.

Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, Ph.D.

Boston, March 15, 2020

HOW TO READ AN ANCIENT TEXT? LITERACY IN THE PAST AND PRESENT

In the past few centuries, mass literacy was unimaginable. Most people did not read or write but told stories orally, from one generation to another, and, often they embellished their contents to make the events come alive or reflect the realities of their own situations (See, article on “Literacy” in ABD, pp. V: 1022 ff).

In the ancient Middle East, writing emerged in South Mesopotamia in the 4^th millennium BCE. Egyptian hieroglyphics came out around the same time. People used clay or papyrus to write down their messages. Romans used vellum (animal skin) for their written texts. The first hand-written books appeared in Rome in the 1^st cent. BCE. Guttenberg, a goldsmith, is usually cited as the inventor of the printing press in Germany in the 15^th cent. CE. And metal presses began to surface only in the early 1800.

There are a number of rabbinic texts showing that in some communities of the past, only one or two people knew how to read and write, and only a few could actually read from the Torah (that is from the Hebrew scriptures, in the original) ( See Tos. Meg. 3:12 and many others). Most people who needed official documents went to see the TUPSHAR (an Akkadian word, meaning a professional scribe), who studied at the E-DUBBA (namely, in “the house of the scribe”). In the Hebrew Bible, the SOFER (“scribe”), living in the court or local temples, had the same role.

I grew up in Turkey. My father went to College in Paris and became an engineer. His father, however, went only to elementary school. My grandmother, on my father’s side, never went to school. My own mother went to an American High school in Istanbul but did not go to College. Her parents did not have a formal education at all. I, on the other hand, went to Law School in Istanbul, attended the Rabbinic institute in Paris, and later on received ordination from the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati (in 1966), and even got a Ph.D from the U. of Penn (in 1975). The same year my brother went to College in Istanbul and became an electrical engineer.

In our time, it is expected that most people will go to College. My students at Framingham State University are mostly first generation college students. However, it is becoming more and more evident that College today is what we had in High School in the past. In order to get anywhere in life today, you need to get a Master’s degree.

Furthermore, it is becoming evident that now we also need to be proficient in computer technology. You simply cannot function in society these days if you do not know how to work with a laptop. Cell phones are now “de rigueur.” We are paying the price for it, too: few people pay attention to proper English, correct spelling or punctuation.

The other challenge for us is to try to understand what exactly ancient people meant when they used terms that we still do in our time. Even though, in some cases, the meaning remained constant, often basic concepts such as love, wisdom, or law have undergone major changes. Therefore, when we read an ancient text, like the Hebrew Bible or the Quran, or even a medieval document, we must try to understand what it meant in its own time first and, only then, attempt to find relevance for our own days.

Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, Ph.D.

Feb. 25, 2020

SONSINO’S BLOG, rsonsino.blogspot.com

Temple Beth Shalom, Rabbi Emeritus

Framingham State University, Dept. of Psych. and Philosophy

THANK YOU, MY VIEWERS

I have been blogging since 2009, and so far, I have published about 150 blogs, drawing altogether almost half a million viewers. Each blog tends to be about a page long. In the early years, it was called, “From Istanbul to Boston,” and, in 2012, I changed it to “Sonsino’s Blog.”

I write on topics that matter to me and on issues that I think would interest my greater audience: history, theology, life cycle events, and reminiscences.  I write as an academic, as a Rabbi, as someone who has traveled to many parts of the globe. My approach tends to be critical, liberal and based on reason. A review of my blogs show that I have viewers all over the world: the USA, Europe, Russia, Latin America, the Far East, and in the Arab world (primarily in the UAE).

I will continue to blog as long as I have something to say. I appreciate your readership. Please continue to view my texts and send me your comments, for this gives me the incentive to write more.

Gratefully yours,

Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, Ph.D.

Feb. 14, 2020

Temple Beth Shalom, Rabbi Emeritus

Framingham State University, Dept. of Psych. And Philosophy

rifatsonsino@gmail.com

THE EXODUS FROM EGYPT-DID IT HAPPEN?

This past week, I led the first of the four Bible seminars on the Book of Exodus for  the faculty and staff at Framingham State University in the greater Boston area, where I teach Ethics. I decided to concentrate on Exodus, because I consider it to be one of the most fascinating stories in the Hebrew Bible as well as one of the most important narrative in the history of the Jewish people.

The biblical Book of Exodus has four major sections:

1.     The story of the enslavement of the Israelites in Egypt and their liberation (ch.1-15);

2.     The journey of the Israelites to the Sinai desert (ch.16-18)

3.     The covenant with God and the giving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai (ch.19-24)

4.     The building of the portable sanctuary (ch. 25-40).

The major problem we encounter in the story of the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt is its historicity, because there are no references in any of the contemporary Egyptian sources, or in other ancient Middle Eastern texts, to the sojourn in and departure of a group of people called the Israelites from the land of Egypt. The only mention of the Israelites in Egyptian texts is found in the victory hymn of Merneptah over the people of Israel in Canaan (13th cent. BCE), when the king states, “Israel is laid waste; his seed is not” (ANET, p. 378).

There is no knowledge in Egyptian literature of an Israelite leader who went by the name of Moses. In the Hebrew Bible, the name of the Pharaoh, who is involved in the Exodus, is not identified. We do not know when, if ever, the event took place. We also do not know where the crossing occurred. Was it through the “Red Sea” or “the Reed Sea”? And, where is it? (See my article, “Did the Israelites Escape though the Sea”? (In Did Moses Have Horns, 2009, 70 ff). There are also so many generalizations in the Bible about this event that makes it unbelievable. For example, the Hebrew text tells us that the Israelites numbered 70 when they came down to Egypt (Ex.1:5), and, in three generations (Ex.6: 16-20), they left with “about 600,000 men on foot, plus children” (Ex. 12: 37-38), bringing the total to more than one million! All of these assertions make the Hebrew text highly speculative and, at best, legendary. No wonder why so many scholars deny its reliability as an historical event.

Yet, I consider the Exodus a foundational story in the history of the Jews. Over and over again we are told that we were “slaves/strangers in the land of Egypt” (Ex.13: 3; 22.20, Lev. 19:34 Deut. 15:15). Furthermore, as Michael Coogan points out, there are a number of “indisputably Egyptian elements in the account of the Exodus” like, the names of Moses, Aaron, Phinehas and others (The Old Testament, 2006, p. 97) ,which point to an Egyptian origin. Israelites have carried the memory of this fascinating event for centuries, which makes is plausible that it occurred, even if only its kernel is historically correct. Maybe the real event occurred differently and various legends emerged in time; maybe, as some modern scholars now argue, only  a few departing tribes joined up with others already living in Canaan, thus creating a loose confederation of tribes called “Israel” (See, the discussion in my Modern Judaism, 2013, p. 3).

The enslavement and liberation of the Israelites from Egypt have become a symbolic model for all those who are struggling to become free in the modern world. And that is worth noting and even celebrating, as Jews do at every Passover. 

Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, Ph.D

Feb. 2, 2020

SONSINO’S BLOG, rsonsino.blogspot.com
Rabbi Emeritus, Temple Beth Shalom, Needham. MA. USA
Framingham State University, Dept. of Psych. and Philosophy

TAKING AN OATH BY TOUCHING SEXUAL ORGANS

In Biblical times, children were said to issue from the YAREH of their father (Gen. 46:26). The question is, what does this Hebrew word mean?

According to the Bible dictionary, BDB, a YAREH refers to: a) the outside of a thigh, where a sword is worn (Ex.32: 27); b) the side of an altar (2 K 16.14); c) the base of a candlestick (Ex. 25: 31), and d) the loins, as the seat of the procreative power in humans (see below). 

Furthermore, in ancient times, during oath taking, one used various gestures: Raising the hand (Gen. 14: 22), holding a sacred object (See, Talmud, Shev. 38b) or touching a sexual organ.

In the Bible, putting one’s hand under the thigh of another person appears to have been used in connection with a promise: a) Abraham asks his senior servant, maybe Eliezer, to place his hand “under the thigh” of Abraham, swearing that he, the servant, will not take a wife for his master’s son, Isaac, from the Canaanites among whom he lived (Gen. 24: 2, 9). b) The patriarch Jacob asks Joseph, his son, to place his (Joseph’s) hand under the “thigh” of his father Jacob, promising him that he will not bury him in Egypt (Gen. 47: 29).

 What does the “thigh” refer to in these texts? It is not clear if the subordinate is expected to touch his superior’s testicles or his penis, and for what purpose. In an Old Babylonian letter from the city of Kisurra, in southern Mesopotamia, the author refers to an envoy who is about to get hold of both organs simply as a sign of loyalty, not during an oath taking. He states, “Let your envoy grasp my testicles and penis and then I will give it (an object, perhaps) to you.” (Malul, “Touching sexual organs,” VT, 37, 1987, 491).

The Jerusalem Targum renders YAREH as “penis.” Similarly, most of the ancient rabbinic commentators state that the subordinate must touch his superior’s penis, arguing, like Rashi (12^th cent. France), that according to Jewish law, one touches a sacred object during a promise, and, in the case of Abraham, circumcision was the first commandment that God gave him. Others, like Ibn Ezra (12^th cent. Spain), disagreed, and stated that putting the hand under the thigh simply means to acknowledge the authority of the superior, and does not mean touching a sexual organ.

It is interesting to note a parallel in ancient Rome: In Latin, the word TESTIS, means both “witness” and “testicle”. It looks like there was an old Italic rite in which the participant held his own testicles or those of a sacrificial animal while making some kind of solemn pronouncement. Some critics therefore assume that even in Rome, as it was in the ancient Near East, one touched a sexual organ during the act of witnessing. However, the likelihood that Roman and ancient Biblical customs coincide is very slim, especially because there is hardly any written confirmation of this Roman practice. Besides, it is strange that a person swearing does not touch his own penis, instead of the other person’s.

What would be the purpose of this touching, anyway? Some argue that it is a sign of loyalty to a superior. Most likely, however, it implies a self-curse. In other words, the person who is uttering an oath, touches the sexual organ of the other, the organ that stands for life and productivity, by saying, if I do not carry out my word, let me suffer from sterility or loss of children.

The custom is strange to us; we favor privacy and modesty, but in the past, people obviously had a different attitude regarding their bodies.

Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, Ph.D

SONSINO’S BLOG, rsonsino.blospot.com

Jan. 16, 2020